My online journal sharing interests in photography, nature, coffee life, journaling, fountain pens, bicycling, spirituality and asking deep questions.
Like a tree during the seasons of fall and winter, we need to be pruned of a lot of dead branches before we will be ready to bare good fruit. The winter season has its own way of pruning itself, leaves and fruits dry up and fall to the ground. With the sun and rains of the spring and summer seasons comes the flow of new life to the seemingly dead branches and we begin to see new buds, blossoms, leaves and fruits. So it is in our lives, pruning is a necessity of our lives.
What a wonderful day we had yesterday. It didn’t start that way as I slept in late and missed and amazing sunrise. My body must have needed the rest because when I awoke just after 7:00 I could see the colors in the eastern sky. After a shower and some quite time I headed outside and discovered we had a nice frost and a light ground fog . After the fog burned off the clear skies allowed the sun to warm things up as our temperatures rose to 50 degrees. It was so nice I ventured out to Blendon Woods in the afternoon with camera and tripod. I found these leaves against the brown and white background and chose it for my image today. It will not be long and the snow will give way to the green of spring. Bring it on!
The reason Canadian geese, and many other birds, will balance on one leg is not because of boredom. It seems the birds’ legs have an adaptation called “rete mirabile” that minimizes heat loss. The arteries that transport warm blood into the legs lie in contact with the veins that return colder blood to the bird’s heart. The arteries warm the veins. By standing on one leg, a bird reduces by half the amount of heat lost through unfeathered limbs. So when temperatures drop birds will stand on one leg to stay in balance with the natural world around them.
It can be rewarding to get outside the day of or the day after a snowfall, you never know what you might find. The day before this image was taken we had a nice snowfall and as sometimes happens today has turned out to be bright, sunny and warm, a great time to be outside. I drove to a park located near my condo and started to walk around. Near the kids playground, which was empty, there is a maze for the children, made of treated posts. The snow on the flat top is melting and creating a wonderful pattern just waiting for some guy with a camera to take a shot. That was me. It’s good to get out after a snowfall.
We had one of those afternoon snowfalls where we received about 2-3 inches of snow. One of those snow falls without wind and large flakes. I like those kind of snowfalls. They slowly flutter downward and can lull you to sleep. However, it is cold, 16 degrees. Definitely winter! I’ve noticed this driveway before and while driving by this specific afternoon I turned around and took a few images.
As our winter days become colder and snow blankets everything around us, those places we spend outside in summer take on a solitary look. Instead of sitting on this gazebo, we find fireplaces to sit around or busy ourselves in our kitchens.
Want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas!