December is upon us and with it, the anniversary of the unforgettable ice storm of 2008.

        Everyone has their stories – 11, 12, 13 days without power; weeks spent in hotels, the rush to find gas generators, cleaning up homes and yards marred by debris, making the best of an early school vacation, and so on.

    Though no one will argue whether or not the ice storm caused many hardships for the town and its residents, there are also very few individuals who will argue that this event was one of those once-in-a-lifetime phenomenons.

    Some people were inspired by the icy landscape, inspired to capture the feeling and majesty around them by writing poems and stories, by painting and especially in photographs.

    For our new photo contest, we have asked our readers to send in their very best Ice Storm 2008 photographs.       

    This week we had three amazing entries (one even came with an inspired poem) and they are listed below.  Check them out and leave us a comment telling us which ones are your favorite. Note: Anyone and everyone can vote and you can vote as many times as you'd like so help make this contest another success by casting your votes now.

The top three winners of this contest (the photos with the most Online votes) will go home with a special prize donated by a few of our very best local businesses.

WINTER BEAUTY

Such Winter Beauty with Devastation all Around - Dianne Wilkins, Lunenburg

AWED

This picture was taken at the corner of West Street and Sunny Hill Rd. looking up West St. in the direction of Hollis Road.  This scene awed me and really brought home the extent of the damage. - George Emond, Lunenburg

INSPIRED

A photo contributed in honor of the Anniversary of the Ice Storm of 2008. This ice storm inspired a poem (below) - Pete Lincoln, Lunenburg

Ice Storm 12/11

Trees’ agonies were audible that night.
Domestic and wild, they groaned alike.
Wheezing as badly drawn violins,
Layered by soft, relentless tempest.

Nature’s massive, passive, pruning
Staggered them under unbearable weight.
The bass thuds of splintered amputations
Marked epic arboreal slaughter.

If all the trees in the forest fall,
We do hear them.
We; wee and powerless, huddled
Till gradual, inevitable, dawn.

In the bright, there lay many
Ice-coated birches in prostrate submission,
Reflecting blinding sunlight
Like a billion, trillion diamonds.
                
            - Pete Lincoln

To enter this contest just e-mail your favorite ice storm photo to dgink@verizon.net or mail them to us at The Lunenburg Ledger – Ice Storm Contest, 603 Mass. Ave, Suite 3, Lunenburg MA 01462.

    Include with your photo your name, your phone number, where you live and a caption to go along with the photo (we want to know what you were thinking when you snapped that picture!)

    We will be running this contest throughout the month of December (December 1 through December 18, the date of our last issue of the year) so start sending us your photos today.