The Big Freeze

In December, 2009, right before Christmas the temperature in Kerry dropped below freezing and did not top that number until January 12, 2010. During that time we had snow and sleet and then more snow. (I know this doesn't sound like much to our hardy US friends, but in Kerry this is very very unusual.) These pictures do not do it justice, but at least give an idea - all pictures are by MFE. Above, the mountains from our street. Above left, the hotel across the street from us - I thought palm trees with ice and snow were a nice touch! Above right our back garden (yard). Below some of the art work in our area - note the anatomical touches on the couple!!

During this freeze we kept tabs on the "Jude Rose". On December 1, 2009 our beautiful 16 1/2 year old English Setter, Jude, died. This rose bloomed on that day and stayed beautiful through heavy rain, gale force winds, and the above mentioned sleet and snow. It was absolutely frozen solid for much of the time.  The main picture, above, is by Dana on Christmas Day (it was already more than 3 weeks in bloom!). The other 2 are by MFE on the left in early January and on the right on January 11, when the rose was almost gone, but it stood up to one more dollop of snow.