Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Wordless Wednesday - Misplaced autumn


Impassable
London, ON, October 2008 [Click image to embiggen]


I'm stretching things a bit with today's photo selection. This week's Thematic Photographic theme is autumn (click here to jump in now). This photo was taken the morning of Octtober 29th, when London awoke to a freak blizzard that dumped a huge amount of heavy, wet snow on trees that still retained a large proportion of their leaves. The result? Chaos. Everywhere.

The snow was pretty much gone after three days, but sidewalks and streets throughout the city remain littered with massive remnants of entire trees that were brought down. The kids, understandably, are quite upset at what's been lost.

So this is a perfect example of seasons not behaving as they should. Don't you hate when that happens?

Your turn: Three things, actually...
  1. There's still time to participate in last week's Thematic Photographic challenge. Click here to get all autumny.
  2. If you haven't submitted your caption for the latest Caption This, head over here.
  3. Start mulling over the next Thematic Photographic theme, rows. I'll post the first entry for the new theme at precisely 7:00 p.m. Eastern on Wednesday. But it's never too early to start thinking about how you'll tackle it, right?
Oops, one more thing: For more photos of the Great Freak London Blizzard of 2008, head over to my Flickr set here.

29 comments:

Mojo said...

I remember one fine April 15th (easy to remember the date, eh?) I was under my car in the parking lot of my apartment building working on one thing or another and suddenly noticed it was snowing. Now in London Ontario that might not be an especially surprising occurrence, but here in the Sunny South, it's virtually unheard of! In fact, I believe that's the latest I've ever known it to snow here. At least in this part of the state. It only came to about 6 inches, but it definitely surprised a bunch of people.

smarmoofus said...

Ahh! I feel rather silly for not making the connection between early snowfalls and the heavy leaves causing trees to buckle under the weight! Oh, but I do feel the kids' loss. I'm quite fond of trees. Ridiculously attached to them, even, and I often personify them when a branch or whole tree falls... attributing to them feelings of pain.

Geez, Mojo... I just sat here for almost a minute trying to figure out the significance of April 15th. And I'm American! I think I'm caffeine-deprived today.

we_be_toys said...

See, and that's the kind of snowstorms we get in the mid-Atlantic all the time. not as much of the white stuff, maybe a touch more ice, but the outcome is about the same- it makes my parents start bitching that they haven't moved far enough away from Buffalo!
Autumn indeed!
Great pic!

Anonymous said...

Holy Crap! I remember one in April a couple yrs back, 23 inches in Northeast Ohio, but I don't ever recall anything like that in October! That's EARLY!
Nice photo!

Anonymous said...

Me fail meteorology ?: thats unpassable !

Bart Simpson

Jim said...

I blame it all on global warming! What have we done to our planet!
We usually get a little snow here in the Houston, Texas, area about once every ten years.
Happy WW, thank you for your visit and nice comment. BTW, I don't use food deliveries.
..

Anonymous said...

I've seen snow fall at 40+ degrees. How's that for science?

Heya, Carmi. Good to see you're still doin' it. :)

Anonymous said...

It's 17 days earlier this year for our winter. I blame it to global warming too..sigh

Nice shot!~Happy WW!

Anonymous said...

I'm not sure if my comment went through? Anyway, happy WW!

Pamela said...

A seasonal ice storm will rip the trees apart, too.

A few years ago we had 70plus degrees on New Yrs Eve -- normal it is sub freezing.

stephanie said...

This juxtaposition of beauty & destruction is awesome.

As much as I love autumn, I can't help but adore a hearty snowstorm whenever it happens (though I could do without trees falling all over :( )

Anonymous said...

Wow! My friend experienced something similar in Oklahoma a year or two ago.

Robin said...

Poor trees. My own kids would be consumed with envy at the sight of all that snow though, since it never snows here in TA. They live in hope each winter that we'll decided to do the three hour drive up to the Hermon so they can play in the snow for a few hours!

They were actually in the States for not one but two blizzards years back, but they're too young to remember.

Anonymous said...

Amazing how dramatic black and white photography can be...well, I guess since snow is white, that would make sense.

We had an late snowstorm in Oklahoma one year that brought down not only hundreds of trees but most of the power lines that ran around and under them. Usually the culprit is ice.

Nice photo. I enjoyed scrolling down to view your others.

Maureen Hayes said...

This is my first visit to your site and I am amazed at your photos!! I am one of the odd folks who actually enjoys snowstorms and ice storms, because of the beauty they seem to bring out and the quiet right after them.

I am sorry to hear about the damage to the trees of course. The black and white made the photo that much more beautiful.

I plan to come back regularly, I am just an amateur but I can tell that just looking here will teach me things. Thank you so much for sharing your work with us!

Check out my offering this week at:

http://beingchronicallyillisapill.blogspot.com/2008/11/wordless-wednesday-falls-last-hurrah.html

Happy WW!

Maureen

Beth@Pages of Our Life said...

Happy WW! I am glad you "stretched" it. My photo had too much lens flare on it so I had to go BW but it turned out to be a creative venture.

http://pagesofourlife.blogspot.com/2008/11/wordless-wednesday-remembering-our.html

I have got to figure out how to link back over here when I post!

Thanks for all the photo and writing inspiration you are cultivating for all of us!

DNLee said...

that is a striking shot. I've been through a couple of ice storms, so I know these types of scenes all too well. That is beautiful in B/W.

Happy WW. Check out my Scenes of Autumn (I'm participating in the Thematic Photographic, too. I also use your site for my ww prompts and participate if I can. So far so good.

I'm also asking for you and your readers to stop by page, check itout and Vote for me. I’m a finalist in a Blogging Scholarship. I'm a student and I need Financial Aid :)

Visit this link and select Danielle Lee.

Thank You very much.

Anonymous said...

Nice photo, I love the treatment & how it was converted into black & white.

I wonder if you might wanna join our Monochrome Friday meme, this Friday's theme is about Windows/Door.

Anonymous said...

We had a freak snowstorm like this once when I lived in Montana -- on June 4! There were tree limbs everywhere, and many crushed cars. I remember waking up to the sound of splintering wood and thinking that someone was breaking into the house. Then when I looked outside I saw what seemed like half a tree suddenly plummet to the ground. Because it was June the snow was gone by the next day, leaving downed branches everywhere.

Anonymous said...

Beautiful! Winter Wonderland in October!

We had snow a couple of weeks ago locally. Some parts of my stat not too far from got pretty slammed by the storm. We only got a few wet flakes.

Dianne - Bunny Trails said...

That's so heartbreaking to lose trees like that. That was a common occurrence in spring in our old neighborhood - heavy, wet snow taking down huge branches. You captured the chaos quite nicely. I like it in b&w.

Indigo Children said...

Poor trees -- but a great photo.

I love the (visual) effect of snow on trees -- surreal.

Anonymous said...

Nice shot. I really like the black and white mode.

b13 said...

Thanks for stopping by :) And I'm working on it ;) I have a few submitted to a juried show. I'll keep you posted.

Robin M said...

Beautiful shot. I like it. But you always take amazing pictures.

My ww is up now at www.mytwoblessings.blogspot.com



Robin

A Gilmore Girls Fan said...

Though a tree has been lost, this image is beautiful. In Arkansas, where I am, I haven't experience anything that bad yet. It snows like crazy here, but not too many trees fallen. It is one of those images that is beautifully sad. Great post.

Happy Wordless Wednesday!

Bridget said...

Wow! A lot of snow! It is still a beautiful picture though!

Anonymous said...

There's something that seems so desolate about this photo.

carrie said...

we had something like that happen one October about 10 years ago here in KS. It's sad to see all those trees down.