Happy New Year!

I hope you are all having a happy new year's day, and that 2018 is off to a great start for you. It is off to a very cold start where I am! It's 5° now and according to the internet, it feels like -13° out there. I'm not going to go outside to find out how it feels!

In keeping with the cold theme, and also the New Year theme, I'm going to share some photos I've been saving up of the fresh, clean snow. I thought fresh snow on a bright sunny day is a good symbol for a new year. And come to think of it, this bridge is a symbol in itself - a bridge from one year to the next.

So getting off to our fresh start here... I took this first set of photos on a cold day a few weeks back in the downtown village area. I was in a small park, across this bridge.

It was very peaceful, being the only person out there. I think the temperature had a lot to do with that!

Aren't blue shadows on the snow pretty?

This one is of the bridge railing. That snow doesn't even look real. It looks like some kind of fluffy dessert topping.

A creek runs under the bridge.

You can get an idea of its outline better here.

These rocks looked like a series of mushrooms or marshmallows.

A little bit of snow melting on the bridge:

This photo is my computer's wallpaper now. I really like the look of the red berries against that bright, blue sky.

It's fun to see any sign of plant life in winter. You might remember seeing these berries in one of my autumn blog posts.

This next set of photos was taken in a local park. 

This next picture was one I was hoping to get that day. The sun shining through this area of trees reminds me of The Nightmare Before Christmas, when Jack is walking through the forest, looking at different holiday doors on the trees.

What do you think?

A link for those who don't get the videos:

The Nightmare Before Christmas - Forest Scene

There was this cool situation where part of the water had turned to ice and part had not. We must have been at just the right in-between temperature for that to happen.

I thought it was so pretty when the sun came out and there was this warmth in the trees, next to that ice and snow.

I was trying to photograph the deer that was leaning over and didn't even notice the second one who was looking at me! After I took the photo and looked at my camera, I was like "Wait a second! There's another one?"

Here's something I've never seen - a waterfall that is partially frozen and partially moving.

Do you see the water falling on the right side of this picture?

This old house is near the park. As I'm looking at this photo, I'm noticing how there's very little color in it. It's nearly sepia. I feel like this same image could have been seen for the past century.

And in keeping with the snowy theme... I'm almost afraid to decorate with anything that says "Let it snow". I think it's some superstition that if I say this, a bunch of snow is going to fall. 😄 But these gel clings were too cute to pass up. I found them at Target's after Christmas sale. The after Christmas sale was at 50% off when I was there, but it's probably at least 70% off now. I'd be interested to hear about your after Christmas finds!

I'm not sure if you can tell, but I placed the clings on actual snow to take this picture.

I'll leave you guys with a little trivia gift from MeTV. It's a fun way to start 2018.

14 words and slang terms that turn 50 years old in 2018

A foggy walk, ice crystals, and a swamp monster!

Today was a very foggy day. To my surprise, the fog hung around for hours, into the night. As I was taking some photos of what it looked like around here, it struck me that these images looked a little like what was in my last blog post. These scenes are made of transparent layers, some lighter or darker than others. Can't you imagine this image as the inspiration for one of those tunnel books?

I was looking for some fog themed music to add to this post, and was surprised to find some choices. I really like this song. I recommend listening to it while looking through the photos because it's a good fit!

Celtic Mystique: The Foggy Dew

I listened to this while looking at a slideshow of my foggy photos and it added something. I began to feel like I was putting together a St. Patrick's Day blog post with this music, the fogginess, and all the green. Seeing green on the ground instead of white is really weird for January here, by the way. It will be 50° here in a few days!

Check out the little droplets hanging from these branches:

If you look really closely at this drop, you will see the landscape behind it upside down. It might help to enlarge the photo. Pretty cool, hey? It's like there's a little fisheye lens in there.

There was still ice along the curb. Here you'll see some of the leaves left from autumn which are looking surprisingly colorful and  fresh.

This little leaf was nearly transparent.

Here's the swamp monster! If you use your imagination, you'll see a face and two arms emerging from the ice. I even see a bit of a hand. He has kind of an Oscar the Grouch thing going on.

Do you see the tiny tree branches in these droplets?

This ice next to the curb reminds me of an ice queen's crown.

Some of these look like larger versions of crystals or snowflakes that you'd see through a microscope. Maybe you've seen some of that up-close crystal photography.

These looked like insect wings to me.

I like how still this one is. It just looks quiet. You know the painter, Edward Hopper? This reminds me of something he'd paint. It's quiet and kind of isolated looking.

Three soft little trees:

The fog was still hanging around at night, so I went out in the drizzle to take a few more photos.

I love the curving frame of this limb.

It was pretty spooky out there. I could hear all kinds of little noises. Dripping, something scurrying around. So, that cut the photo session a little short. :)

If you were following my blog back in June of 2011, you might have seen some foggy photos I took back then. It's interesting to look back at those, in part because the color is so different. Check out how blue these are:

Out of the fog


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