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

The rocks have teeth!

On first glance these icicles look like sharp teeth, and on second glance this looks like a large alligator's head.

If you click on the photo and make it larger, you'll even see his little eye peering over at you.

Today was a cold day as you can guess from the icicles in that photo, and being by the lake made it feel even colder. All that chilly air was blowing off Lake Michigan. At least it was a pretty day.

Cool clouds, hey? I didn't doctor the color of that sky; it really was that intense blue. You can still see a tiny bit of snow on the sand. Not surprisingly, this was not a busy day at the beach. Funny, how no one wants to lounge around on the beach in 20° weather. This is pretty much the only creature who didn't mind the cold (as far as I could tell).

I don't think I've seen a light brown, speckled seagull before.

I had to think about the "Polar Bear Plunge" that happens in Lake Michigan every New Year's Day. That's when brave souls run into this very area of the lake. I wasn't even comfortable in a winter coat today!

Brrr.... That just looks cold.

Walking along this beach today, I couldn't help thinking of The Fog. Those of you who've seen the movie might remember the part where the little boy is walking along the beach and finds a piece of wood. The wood is from an old ship wreak.

I ended up having to take some photos of my computer screen as the movie played to get these two pics. Funny enough, no one bothered to put stills of this part of the movie online.

Well, what should I happen to see while walking along the beach today?

Ooh spooky... You know what else is spooky? That dark piece of rotten wood next to it that looks like some old leg bone. No, I didn't take the piece of wood home so I could get haunted like that kid in the movie. Well, actually it's his mom who gets haunted.

As I said above, I was playing the movie online. I actually found The Fog in its entirety on YouTube. The catch is it's in Italian. You won't need to know Italian to understand what's going on in these parts, though. If you skip to the 23:54 mark, you'll see where the kid discovers the old piece of wood on the beach. And if you skip to the 43:05 mark, you'll see what happens when his mom brings it to work.

Now you see why The Fog crossed my mind as I looked at that piece of wood on the beach!