of ice and men

As I embark on this adventure of weathering winter as, I suppose, it is intended to be, I am realizing that so far I have a decidedly conflicted relationship with the snow. I resent the way in which it hinders transportation and spontaneous outdoor excursions . . . yet I find it hauntingly, inspiringly beautiful.
This evening, for instance, I stopped on my way into the library, awed by the apparent ice-sculpture of a snowman that was in the neighboring yard. So when I walked into the library, instead of doing anything library-appropriate, I blurted out a query as to the creators of the stunning snowman outside. The librarian was confused as to the snowman itself, but she did say that she assumed it had been constructed by the children who had, in fact, just been in that same library shortly before I was. I took this apparent familiarity as a bit of a photographic go-ahead, so here he is, in his icy loveliness.

slip n' slide

This evening included a normal sort of Sunday drive--normal, probably, only in my family, as it meant a trip to the dump. But this particular drive also included a stop at an all-too-familiar tree, as of last night. Here is a snapshot of that tree. Sideways, you say? Well, not exactly: for this is the perspective I unfortunately, had, as I tried to decide how exactly I should extract myself from the car without tipping it, the rest of the way, over from its precariously wedged position. Yes, it's high time for those snow-appropriate tires: no more excuses forthcoming from my winterly-wimpy self!

how's the "water"?

I know I said I wasn't tempted by my icy lakefront anymore . . . but I guess that wasn't entirely true. Because today I dove right in--or stood right on, as the case may be. Seeing a father/son ice fisherman team from the shore, I couldn't resist heading out with my camera. They were kind enough to even let me try my hand at the sport, though I didn't manage to make a catch [which is probably just as well, considering licensing issues!]. So, in case you're inclined to come join me for a swim, here's a glimpse for you of how the water is, from where I stood :-)

refreshing?

Funny thing . . . somehow my summer swimming haunt doesn't quite beckon me to dive on in anymore: why might that be? :-)

on frozen pond

I have never before been witness to the freezing process of a lake. So when I ventured out this morning for the first time since returning to the NE, I was floored at how beautiful it was. With the combination of the freezing pockets and the wave-shaped already frozen portions, I just could not get over how lovely the effect was . . . had I not been so frozen myself, I would have been tempted to just sit and watch it freeze :-) Here is one of the photos I took, out of a series of various angles and segments.

a goodbye

The weather seemed in sync with the day as we gathered for the funeral: the steady drizzle as soothing as it was dreary. We wrote our final goodbyes on sticky notes, our somber collage to be lowered into the ground with the coffin. "May you have peace," I wrote. Then we parted, with teary hugs.
And today, one day later, the sun shines warm and bright.

a wintery apology

It's no big secret that I'm not so good at winter. But that doesn't mean that awaking to the first snow did not make me gasp at the beauty of it all . . . and rush to snap some wintery shots. So much so that I was cutting it a bit close for the morning's travels, and ended up messing things up a bit: shouldn't I be too old to have to be rescued by my mother? Thanks, Mom--and sorry :-)