Oh, say can you see...

Seemed a fitting post title in a week that held Veterans Day, my birthday, and bombardment by weather. Unfortunately, my view by the dawn's early light was not as buoying to the spirits as was Francis Scott Key's.

The very first Japanese maple I bought after moving to Oregon and falling in love with them was laid low by its burden of ice.

The lovely, leafy arch over the sidewalk to our front door is no more. My heart is leaden.

Nightcicles by barn light

When we got home last night from errands and Brian's fencing class, there was more ice coating surfaces than there had been when we left. Part of the flowering plum tree in our island bed blocked one side of our circle driveway. I worried about what daylight would reveal.

The flowering plum could stand a good pruning, but please, not that maple, too

Rick made eight of these decorative plaques for my birthday surprise;

he used glow-in-the-dark paint and affixed them to posts along our driveway.

Since taking the photos above, the sun has come out. It didn't take long to start loosening icy fingers.

Icicles on the sunny side of the bird feeder disappeared first

I think I'll bolster my courage by riding my horse before trying to assess the full extent of the damage.

Not feeling very brave, at . . .