Holy Crap! Snow!!

WTF?!? It's snowing outside! In Austin. On Christmas Eve! It's a Christmas miracle!! OK, so it's light snow and the ground is warm, so it won't stick, but it's snowing! Look (look close - it is really windy outside and the snow is mostly blowing sideways):





As I noted above, the wind is really tearing across the countryside today and it is freaking cold outside. The weather changes so quickly here. Just yesterday it was 73 degrees and the Redbud was thinking about blooming:



And the trees just started to lose their leaves for the winter. Yeah, in December. I know. It's weird. Shouldn't the leaves all be gone from the trees by October? Nope, not in Austin. I still can't get used to it. The leaves fall off at the end of December and start returning at the end of February or the very beginning of March. That is 2 months sans foliage. I mean, why even bother? Sheesh.

I took these photos 2 days ago when the leaves all started falling off the trees. All at once (again, so weird). Today, the wind has blown whatever leaves were left clinging to the branches off and away:





Only the orchid tree is stubbornly holding onto it's leaves today. It will stay semi-evergreen unless we have an ice-storm to freeze off the leaves. It, therefore, makes a great place for the resident birds to hide from the elements. The White-Crowned Sparrows are all huddled up in the orchid tree sheltering themselves from the winter chill:



Stay warm and Merry Christmas, and a Happy Winter Solstice everyone!!