Sunday, January 15, 2012

COLD AND SUNSHINE


Today was the coldest one yet here along the river. When I got up the temperature was in the single digits, somewhere between 7-9˚F, depending on which weather report you believe. Certainly cold enough to put frost on your pumpkin regardless of who was right. Real winter temperatures…but not bad at all seeing as how there was no wind. Plus, the sun was bright and the sky a crisp, clean blue. Light shimmered in the slushy pools and sparkled through the riffles.

We've been working in the house most of the day—getting some winter wear from the attic which we hadn't bothered with heretofore, since winter had failed to materialize. Also putting some things away from the fall, plus leftover Christmas decorations which turned up after we'd already stored the bulk of our items. I'm readying several boxes of books to go up, as well. Seeing as how we've had a nice hearthfire going all the time, music playing, and the river and feeder birds and a gleaming January sky to glance out at whenever we liked, it wasn't exactly hard labor.

Earlier, when I stepped out with the dog, I made a shot of ice on the big boulder in the riffle in front of the cottage. I like the juxtaposition of sun-warmed stone, snow and ice, and clear water reflecting the blue sky overhead.  
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12 comments:

Rowan said...

Sounds like a nice sort of day - getting things done but in a relaxed fashion. It's the coldest it's been all winter here too but not as cold as where you are!

Grizz………… said...

Rowan…

Our cold is on the way out for at least a few days. It's 27˚F currently, and supposed to get into the low-40s˚F tomorrow and the next day—but with rain. And frankly, that damp cold will feel much worse, in my opinion, than even the single digits today.

Scott said...

14 degrees here on the mid-Atlantic Piedmont this morning when I work up, Grizz. Kali and I went for a 4-mile walk in the chill (27 degrees) after a mid-morning matinee screening of "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy." I didn't dress snugly enough for the breeze.

AfromTO said...

great photo

Grizz………… said...

Scott…

Wind will fool you, even though we think we're experienced enough to know better. If I had a dollar for every time I've underdressed because of wind, I'd be down in the Bahamas catching bonefish right now.

Hope the movie was good.

Grizz………… said...

AfromTo…

Well, I thought you'd like a couple non-bird shots. And it's great color IMHO.

AfromTO said...

well the last 2 photos have incorporated the top elements for a good landscape-rock trees water sunlight-thats all you need for hundreds of winning combos.
You are so very lucky to be able to just look out the window-you don't know how many hundreds of kilometres I have to drive to paint that.god my life would be so easy and warm in your position.

Gail said...

HI GRIZZ - there are so many blessings in your day :-) Doesn't get any better! And I love, love, love, the picture.
Love Gail
peace.....

Grizz………… said...

AfromTO…

Easy, yeah—step outside, set up your stuff, paint. Upstream, down, dawn, dusk, midday, sunny, cloudy, rainy, snowy, ice on the pools, autumn leaves in the riffles, high water, low water, bland light, magical light, spring, summer, fall, winter; scenes with and without critters from birds to fish to turtles sunning on a rock. All you'd have to do was look and choose.

But warm?…yesterday the great room was 50 degrees when I got up. Rather nippy—at least until you get the fire going. And then there's flooding, more probability than possibility, given sufficient time and bad luck as to the timing of a series of storms. It doesn't happen every decade—but it happens.

So there is a cost, slight perhaps, but real and there's also the fact that dragging yourself away to go visit somewhere else which might not be as pretty or quiet or relaxing, is kinda like a lovely sort of trap…not that I mind.

Finally, while we're into envy…let me whine how I envy you your nearness to the Great Lakes and the north country and all that sky and pine-clad wilderness and pristine water—and the lovely fishes therein.

Grizz………… said...

Gail…

Thank you. I know I'm blessed, and I try to appreciate it each and every day.

Today doesn't look like yesterday's pix—it's a world of gray, everything, everywhere as gray as the inside of an old wool sock. Sky, clouds, water, rocks, woods, and most of the feeder birds…gray.

KGMom said...

The ice looks like a frozen jellyfish.
We too have had too mild a winter. Usually, the Susquehanna River freezes over; not this year...at least so far.

Grizz………… said...

KGMom…

Not much winter here yet, though it's not over until spring when the fat robin sings. Yesterday was upper-50s˚F, tomorrow's high 30˚F, so it's up, down, up, down.

I have no idea how this winter will turn out…