Everyone deserves something sparkly – or at least shiny – in time for Valentine’s Day. Wasn’t it nice of Mother Nature to give us her latest gift – a 14 karat white-gold with diamonds storm (known in my household as The Apocalblyzzard That Wasn’t). We only had a couple-four inches of snow here but it was heavy and wet and even after 2 days of sun, it is still clinging to tree trunks and sparkling like jewelry. (I took the pictures first thing on the morning after. Hover over for captions and click on for a closer look.)

And what’s Valentine’s Day (weekend) without a love story? I’m not sure what made me stop and turn my gaze way upwards but after a moment’s reverie I spotted our resident pair of hawks (we think they’re Red-tailed) gazing back down at me. Red-tailed hawks generally mate for life and our female should be laying a clutch of eggs in the next month or two. We have seen them circling around a bit lately screeching and that, according to the wikipedia entry, is foreplay. — On that note, I’ll just wish you all a Happy Valentine’s Day (weekend)!