Snowflake

We've just come to the end of five days of gloriously sunny and very cold (by our Island standards) clear, icy weather. At one point we even had a few snowflakes. 

When the beautiful snowflakes briefly appeared I wondered how and why the term had been appropriated in the news and social media to describe people. Then it occurred to me that, apart from the fact that the people I know who use it seemed to be regarding it as a derogatory term, I hadn't a clue what it meant. Do you know?

I did some research.

According to Wikipedia the definition is a 2010s derogatory slang term for a person, implying that they have an inflated sense of uniqueness, an unwarranted sense of entitlement, OR are overly-emotional, easily offended, and unable to deal with opposing opinions.

  

However a little further research turned this up from The Independent (UK now online only newspaper): On Christmas Eve 2019 the Donald Trump campaign launched a website called snowflakevictory.com to give guidance to Trump’s supporters about how to deal with their “liberal relatives” over the holiday period. It featured 12 hot-button topics (immigration, impeachment, the environment) and witty comebacks to frequently-cited Democrat arguments.

For someone reading that the year before, it might have seemed odd to include a weather reference. But in the 12 months preceding the website, "snowflake" entered the general lexicon as the epitome of Trump’s opposition. Used to mean everything from weak and wet, to a synonym for the millennial age bracket, snowflake had become a political buzzword.

So it would appear that it can mean all things to all people with one common denominator - it's not a compliment.

I think it is sad that we use beauty to define ugliness.

I had a gift from across The Pond just before Christmas and it greeted all my visitors by hanging in the window of my front porch until this afternoon. It is a crocheted snowflake. In my house a snowflake represents beauty and, of course, uniqueness.

Winter Stornoway

Stornoway has a splendid golf course. It's  well over two decades since I walked round it trying to hit a little white ball as few times as possible. What is the saying? "Golf is a way to ruin a good walk." However it can provide good companionship with exercise after a long day behind a desk.

I pass the course a lot because it is part of the Lews Castle grounds in which is situated The Woodlands Café which I frequent.

Earlier this week it was looking particularly attractive in its winter attire:

A Sunny December Day

It's been a terrible summer and autumn and I don't think here on Lewis we have had a period of 24 hours without rain since April. I may be wrong but not very! Today was different. The sun shone out of a clear blue sky and despite that it was a relatively balmy 6℃. When you get days like this on Lewis the light is truly fantastic and changes by the hour. So the mountains of Canisp (left) and Suilven on the Scottish mainland looked entirely different in the morning:  

and the afternoon:

and there's snow on them there hills:

The hills of Harris from the road over the moor from my house to the main road:

Even the wind-farm over the Stornoway outlying townships look spectacular:

The Harris Hills

On my way into town (Stornoway) I have to cross the peninsula on which I live. 

At the highest point of the road across the moor one has a clear view of the hills of the Isle of Harris. I should, of course, have said that one sometimes has a clear view of the hills of the Isle of Harris. It has been know to rain on occasion obscuring them or at least interfering with the 33km or thereby between me and the hills you can see in the photo (somewhere round the end of the yellow line).

One day I shall do a post on peat cutting. In the foreground is one of the very few, perhaps the only, peat bank being cut on the Lower Bayble Common Grazings this year. When I arrived here four decades ago there would have been many dozens: most active crofts in the townships would have had a bank. 

This was the view a week or so ago:

Snow

What a contrast this morning to the sun we've had recently. I know this will be short-lived but, even so, it came as a bit of a surprise.

The Grape Hyacinths might survive

These may not

It won't worry the goldfish or tadpoles

Some of the new plants might not like it though

The many 'wild' daffodils in the croft have met their end

Snow in France

For once the Outer Hebrides seems to be getting marginally better weather - or perhaps I should say marginally warmer weather - that the rest of the UK and certainly than a great deal of Northern Europe.  So when I received these photos from a friend, Viv, who live in the Lot-et-Garonne I tried to match them with photos from similar spots taken during the early autumn this year.  I didn't have any direct comparisons but these provide some idea of the change a few months can make.  Thanks Viv.

I have no comparison for the road to the house but it's such a beautiful photo I couldn't leave it out!

Look What I'm Missing

An email was waiting for me this morning from Spesh1 aka Pat telling me about the snow and forwarding some photos that Dave had taken on his mobile phone:

From the back of Pat and Dave's house

Briagha in The Lews Castle Grounds

A footpath in the Castle Grounds - so why the tyre tracks?

More Pictures of Winter on Lewis

These pictures taken by Pat tell me just a little of what I've been missing:

 Lews Castle

 Stornoway  from Lews Castle Grounds

 Lews Castle Grounds on harbour front

 Kate and Briagha in Lews Castle Grounds

 Kate beautiful as ever

 Creed River

Creed River

Winter on Lewis

I know that it's a few years - 2005 to be exact - since I spent any of the winter months on Lewis however this year I'm really missing something - snow.  Pat's been keeping me supplied with photographic reminders and I've realised that I do sort of feel that I'm missing out on something.  Snow is unusual on Lewis.  Even more unusual is the bitter sub zero temperatures the Island has been experiencing.  Here's some idea of what it's like.  The first photo of the back of my house from Carol's at the other end of the township and the rest by Pat alias Spesh.