SNOW

On Saturday we received over eight inches of heavy snow, the most we’ve had in a single snowstorm in years.  On Sunday we dug out.  Yesterday I was able to go for a walk with my camera.    

While the snow is beautiful to watch, it certainly brings its difficulties as well.  Saturday just before noon our power went out, only a few hours before the Chief’s home playoff game.  Both our sons and son-in-law were at the game.  Unfortunately, we opted to watch from the warmth of our home, which didn’t happen. 

This was the second time this season we’ve lost power due to snow.  The last outage was nine hours.  What made that time a challenge was we had our ten and seven-year-old granddaughters here for a sleepover at the time.  This time our power was out for 24 hours.  Our daughter’s house in the city is still without power, three days later.

We worried for our little fish pond, without power to keep the filter and pond heater going.  I’m happy to say the fish survived, although our cherry trees did not.  I have never found fresh cherries in season locally and the thought of not having them again is heartbreaking.

The first time when the girls were here we talked a lot about Little House on the Prairie and what it was like to live in a farmhouse without power.  We read, played the piano, had a shadow puppet show and struggled with keeping them entertained, as well as warm.  This time around it was a little less stressful.  Being adults we could suffer in silence, well almost.  And we could keep ourselves entertained.  I had just picked up three library books, some I had been on the wait list for, so it was the perfect time to dive under blankets and start. 

My camera is two years old and in that time I have never ventured off the manual setting.  For me, understanding aperture, shutter speed, and ISO have never been easy.  On Saturday I started reading Understanding Exposure by Bryan Peterson.  It was also very handy that my husband, who also had nothing to do, was sitting next to me and available to answer any questions I had.  He even pulled out his equipment and helped me with visuals.  Yesterday I had the confidence to shoot some photos on manual, but not enough confidence to not shoot in manual as well.