Whistling Past the Graveyard: I AM the Storm!

A big winter storm was on its way, and the online weather forecast said it should start snowing by 1 pm. My husband and I decided to try to make one quick run before the bad weather hit, up to Bellefonte to get a nice lunch at Jim's, one of our favorite restaurants.

So we got there just a bit after the restaurant opened, and we had our chef salads, cottage fries, and garlic bread. Which were nommy, of course, and delightful as always. And we ate every bite, for we were starving. There is nothing that makes me hungrier than a good blizzard, even if it hasn't even started yet!

And then we jumped back in the car and headed for home, talking among ourselves about possibly stopping for a quick hike at a little park along the way. When we got to that park, though, we noticed the mountains in the distance had blurred. The snow was already starting in the distance. So we skipped the hike, and drove on.

The snow met us about half-way home. The first couple of flurries hit the windshield a few minutes after noon. So much for the 1 pm prediction. Then it started laying it down thicker. Since I wasn't getting any hike to take pictures, I grabbed my camera and started shooting out the window, as my husband drove. (Talk about Bonnie and Clyde!)

And so I took pictures of the road, and the fields, and the trees, as we drove into the storm. Above is a shot I took just a few miles from home at the little graveyard near the town where we live. You've seen these graves and that tree before, but probably never from this angle.

I like to call this particular shot, Whistling Past the Graveyard. I've always sort of known what that phrase meant: to whistle past a graveyard is to appear falsely brave when perhaps you are scared. I looked it up on the Internet, and it also says "to attempt to stay cheerful in a dire situation." That works too.

It also brings to mind a quote I saw on an Internet meme that I have always loved. For I am a girl who is out and about in almost EVERY storm. So bring it on, I say! Here's the meme:

The devil whispered in my ear,
"You're not strong enough to withstand the storm."
Today I whispered in the devil's ear:
"I AM the storm!"

The soundtrack is Nothing But Thieves, with Graveyard Whistling.