winter wonderland

[my_daroga]

Happy Holidays, to those who celebrate! As a secular Christmas person by tradition, today's the day with presents and candles and a decent meal and things, which we'll be sharing later with new roommate E. and dog, Auryn. This is the second person from the internet who's moved into my house, by the way, and I highly recommend it.

As anyone thinking about it may have predicted, it was a Wellesian-flavored Christmas. I got Orson Welles at Work and Making Movies with Orson Welles by Gary Graver, as well as The Third Man on blu-ray. We also got the yearbook edition of Freaks and Geeks from Mr. Daroga's parents (funny, since we got them the same series). Among other things, I got Mr. Daroga a set of Mercury radio plays. So I predict some curling up with Orson today.

It's been snowing here for a week, and Seattle has a no-salt, no-real-plowing policy. They actually want to pack the snow, meaning it's unsafe for anyone without four wheel drive or chains to drive anywhere. We've done some anyway, because life doesn't stop for snow, but while E. and I can make fun of people who can't drive in snow all we want, there's a reason it's harder, here. We're just not equipped. But the dogs have enjoyed it, and it's funny how the whole city comes to a standstill. Which leads me to my next batch of photos, taken on Sunday after 11 pm. The cloud cover was low, the night was totally silent, and non one was about. The diffused light looked almost like daytime, or maybe a strange dream-like daytime. I haven't done anything to these at all. Without any cars or people out, we let Mr. Darcy run around wherever he wanted, and he finally got to tear through the cemetery near us.








Sean fell down!


Blurry hound.




This is the bike/walking path behind our house.






If you're curious, yes, I believe I have seen prostitution and drug activity behind the house.












Aww. And yes, that's a Jayne hat.

Comments

[sparklybee.livejournal.com]

It's been snowing here for a week, and Seattle has a no-salt, no-real-plowing policy.

I just made a mental note to never move to Seattle! ;) I just can't stand snow anymore, but at least they plow and salt around here when we get it. Not that it does much good most of the time...

The snowy trees look very pretty though! And the sign about prostitution and drug activity is weird!

[my_daroga]

Well it hardly ever snows here, so it's not a big deal (IMO). Growing up in NH, it was a different story. It still wasn't a big deal, I guess, but it was there all the time. I'm sure Seattle thinks it no cost-effective to be fully prepared for something that hardly ever happens.

It's actually been pretty cool, but not if you have to go anywhere.

[stefanie-bean.livejournal.com]

Pretty! I like the almost-sepia palette.

[my_daroga]

Yeah. Sepia-toned real life is very strange.

[phantoms-siren.livejournal.com]

I wish we had snow, except anything within 5 miles of the office is 'walking distance' so I'd still have to work, which would suck.

[my_daroga]

Oh, that's too bad. A friend of mine who's pregnant has had to walk to work, which takes twice as long in the snow. Especially when it's not shoveled/plowed well.

But it's really pretty.

[phantomgirl110.livejournal.com]

Merry Christmas!

Gorgeous photos, as yours always are. For whatever reason, I especially like the shot of the Christmas lights on the branches. It's kind of whimsical.

[my_daroga]

Merry Christmas to you, too! I hope it was lovely.

And thank you. I like photos like that, very simple things that are found.

[malica77.livejournal.com]

Is it really a 'no salt, no plow' policy so much as a lack of salt and a lack of plows? I remember seeing cars that were well past their prime out there and yet still had all their original body work intact without rust -- the no salt policy did certainly had a big role to play in that.

[my_daroga]

According to an article I read in the paper, it's a policy. Perhaps motivated by a lack of budget, but the city says they don't want to damage the water and roads (though some research indicates sand is as bad for the sewers) and they acknowledge that only 4-wheel-drive vehicles can really get around. I thought it was just lack of preparedness due to the unusual nature of the situation, but according to this article it's at least somewhat intentional.

I'm not saying I completely disagree with it, but it means that my street has been unnavigable for a week, despite my car being 20 feet from a clear road. And while I have a choice whether to go to work or not, I'm not sure what you do if you don't have that flexibility.

[malica77.livejournal.com]

I guess you guys wouldn't even have all-season tires on your cars either. I had a tiny VW Scirocco as my car for a good 4 years or so and only got stuck in Ontario snow just once. Thankfully it was just in my own parking lot and the car is actually small enough that I could push myself out. Yes, we plough fairly often but we still get sudden storms that don't always stop us from driving when really it should...

[my_daroga]

I grew up in New Hampshire, and I don't recall anyone putting "snow tires" or chains on. We just had all-weather tires and diligent plowing. Here, everyone freaks out--but I guess they have good reason, considering out experience this past week.