{"id":574,"date":"2008-11-02T08:28:19","date_gmt":"2008-11-02T12:28:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/reflectionsfromacountrygirl.com\/?p=574"},"modified":"2008-11-02T08:39:45","modified_gmt":"2008-11-02T12:39:45","slug":"do-you-see-what-i-see","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/reflectionsfromacountrygirl.com\/?p=574","title":{"rendered":"Do You See What I See?"},"content":{"rendered":"

I recently traveled to Pennsylvania for a week to visit friends. These days I have decided to drive to my destinations when I travel.\u00c2\u00a0 I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve found a love for driving I did not have when I was busily working and raising a family.\u00c2\u00a0 My son went with me.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve learned, as some of us have, that the most direct route is not always the prettiest. Instead of driving straight up 95 I decided to take 77 to 81.\u00c2\u00a0 It was a more westerly route and carried us through the Shanandoah Valley area and in to some lovely mountains.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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On the way up, I noticed the beginning of a brilliant change of color on the trees.\u00c2\u00a0 It was a lovely ride.\u00c2\u00a0 The closer we got to Pennsylvania, the brighter the leaves became.\u00c2\u00a0 There was an occasional gold, yellow, orange, bright red tree along the way.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Fall was in the air. \u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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As it is this time of year, the weather was crisp at night and warmed up nicely during the day.\u00c2\u00a0 We knew there might be rain but my weather icon on the phone told me there may also be a few snowflakes on Tuesday. \u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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I smiled when I saw that.\u00c2\u00a0 Since I love snow and we rarely get any in South Carolina where I live, I thought how nice it would be to see a few snowflakes while on our trip…knowing full well that October is not the best time to see the white stuff. \u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Monday night we enjoyed a fire on the patio of our friends\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 home.\u00c2\u00a0 Blankets surrounded us as we cuddled near that fire and enjoyed the fresh brisk air, a cup of tea, and some good conversation.\u00c2\u00a0 The night was clear and promised to be colder before morning. \u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Tuesday I got my wish.\u00c2\u00a0 Snow.\u00c2\u00a0 It first came down with rain and then quickly turned into the biggest snowflakes I have ever seen.\u00c2\u00a0 We decided to go out – as northerners do regardless of the snow. I drove. \u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Now I not only love snow but I enjoy driving in it.\u00c2\u00a0 I think my friends were a littler nervous when I jokingly said I wanted to do a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153wheely\u00e2\u20ac\u009d in the parking lot.\u00c2\u00a0 I constrained myself.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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The more we drove the harder and faster it came down. By the time we arrived at our destination it was starting to stick.\u00c2\u00a0 It was not just the frosty white blanket we see in SC when it turns to ice.\u00c2\u00a0 These were the fluffiest, biggest flakes I have ever witnessed.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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When you are a Northerner, you become an expert at snow. \u00c2\u00a0 I learned there is snow that comes down with rain.\u00c2\u00a0 It doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t stick and is a very wet snow.\u00c2\u00a0 Then there is the snow that comes from a particular location.\u00c2\u00a0 Lake effect snow may be different than snow coming from the west or whipping around from the east.\u00c2\u00a0 There is fast snow and slow snow.<\/span><\/p>\n

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I just knew I liked snow. Period. \u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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After a few hours of shopping, visiting a friend at her worksite, and stopping for lunch, there were several inches on the ground and on our cars.\u00c2\u00a0 It was beginning to be slippery to walk on.\u00c2\u00a0 My son felt a need to hold on to me as we walked so I would not fall. \u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Wonder if this would be good snow for snowballs?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d I said with a bit of glee in my voice.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Yes.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0 as I started to form one.\u00c2\u00a0 When I had a few well formed, I threw them toward others.\u00c2\u00a0 A snowball fight ensued and, just as quickly, ended.\u00c2\u00a0 After all, bare hands make for cold fingers when playing in the snow. \u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Just as quickly as it came, it ended.\u00c2\u00a0 But not before fun ensued and laughs filled the air. \u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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The contribution that weather made to the leaves changing was dramatic. It was almost as though mother nature took a paintbrush and whisped yellow, red and orange over most of the trees that morning.\u00c2\u00a0 It looked like fire filled the streets and mountains on the way back through the Shanandoah Valley. \u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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My wish for you today <\/strong>is that you savor moments like this when they occur.\u00c2\u00a0 Just as quickly as they come, they go…and life may continue as normal.\u00c2\u00a0 I suspect it is a subtle reminder that there are many things right with the world if we take the time to look.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

~ Joellen<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I recently traveled to Pennsylvania for a week to visit friends. These days I have decided to drive to my destinations when I travel.\u00c2\u00a0 I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve found a love for driving I did not have when I was busily working and raising a family.\u00c2\u00a0 My son went with me.\u00c2\u00a0 I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve learned, as some of us have, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25,16,27,23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-574","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-familyfriends-gatherings","category-life-events","category-living-life-to-the-fullest","category-nature-events"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/reflectionsfromacountrygirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/574","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/reflectionsfromacountrygirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/reflectionsfromacountrygirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reflectionsfromacountrygirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reflectionsfromacountrygirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=574"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/reflectionsfromacountrygirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/574\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/reflectionsfromacountrygirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=574"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reflectionsfromacountrygirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=574"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reflectionsfromacountrygirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=574"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}