Winter's back!

What better way to celebrate the official start to Spring (which was March 20th) than with...SNOW!!

SNOW!!

Here is our first real snow of the season! This is looking out of my bedroom window at the neighbor's house.

Looking out the front door at the well.

Looking from the well down the driveway to the street.

From the street looking back up the driveway at the well. To the right is the casă mare (big house), which is basically just storage. Mama-G used to live in it with her husband (now deceased) and 2 kids, but since it is just her (& lil ol' me) now, we live in the casă mică (small house) together...which is cozy. :o]

Frozen eggs from the chicken coop! 

What happened to toamnă??

So it seems Autumn lasted here for about 2 weeks! These pics were taken about 1.5 weeks ago on Friday morning, which means it was still October and SNOWING!!! 

(Outside our front door looking onto the driveway, casă mare ["big house"], and porch swing...the closest i've been able to "rock" since being in Moldova)

(Mama-G's car lightly dusted in snow!)

This is about as prepared as i am for iarnă (winter)...should i be worried??...i am. In this picture I'm wearing multiple layers, which being from SoCal, i'm totally not accustomed to - thermal pants, jeans, silk long-sleeved undershirt, 3/4 sleeved t-shirt, super thin hoodie sweater, down vest, (later my down hoodie also), beanie, ear-muff hat thingy, awesome super-comfy-lined wool gloves from Stacy, aka Stesi, aka my "PC Sister", thick socks (only 1 pair, which i later learned is definitely NOT ENOUGH, and rubber boots...definitely not winter boots, but they're the closest thing i have to any kind of winter foot wear!...opă! (oops!) That day i sat outside in 3 different bus stops, each for 30 mins - 1 hour and i thought my toes were becoming frostbitten...maybe naive, but i was concerned...still have my toes though, thankfully ;op

The day after it snowed, the trees were outlined in ice - every single leaf and needle were outlined in beautiful, crystal-like, sparkling ice! It was amazing! I now know where the idea for tinsel on Christmas trees came from and maybe even wind chimes! It was totally surreal! I've never experienced anything like it! And apparently my fellow PCVs and i weren't the only ones in awe of the spectacular beauty...we managed to hitch a ride on a Russian tour bus (another story) and even they, the Russians, some of the most snow-bound people, were taking pictures of the profound beauty of the scenery! It really was amazing! Unfortunately, i wasn't able to capture how intensely beautiful it was with my sucky iPhone camera...sorry.