snow

life’s passages … 51

Memories are priceless…some are like hot chocolate and cozy socks on a chilly night. Others, not so much … prickly needles.

This week as I watched videos of the winter storm in the Sierra Nevada memories of a particular winter in Iowa when the wind chill was reported to be 60 below zero visited for a moment or two. They were then replaced with memories of family photos of the winter in Portola, California when the snow fall was recorded at 9 feet.

Even though January is my birth month, I often experience the winter blues in January as it is usually the longest, coldest, darkest month of the year. Not so this year in Northeastern Colorado. “Snow,” I ask, “where are those new snow-making memories?”

lens-artists … weather

green leaves of spring,

harvest moon in autumn,

cool breezes in summer,

snow in winter …

A mind not clouded by ignorance,

the seasons of home.

Everything changes and nothing lasts forever

images submitted in response to slow shutter speed’s lens-artists challenge: weather. Weather is a specific event—like a rainstorm or hot day—that happens over a few hours, days or weeks. Climate is the average weather conditions in a place over 30 years or more.

life’s passages … 31

First snow! I see it young every winter,
Yet my face grows old
As Winter comes. ~ The Diary of Izumi Shikibu*

*cited: Trans: Annie Shepley Omori & Kochi Doi Diaries of Court Ladies of Old Japan

life’s passages … 22

sunday morning with Susan Fromberg Schaeffer

“… She was staring into the lake, watching the snow as it reached the black water and then vanished. As if the snow never existed. How nature teaches the same thing again and again, she thought. Yet it was so beautiful, the silence, the drift of the snow down from the heavens, the disappearance of each flake as it touched the surface of the lake. Surely they live on, she thought.” ~The Snow Fox, pg. 94

monochrome monday

in earth and sky

no grain of dust

snow on the foothills

~Chirin

monochrome

lens artists: spring

March winds bring April showers and May flowers

In northeastern Colorado, March and April often bring heavy snow storms. While many across the globe may be tired of snow, I delight watching big snowflakes cover the world outside my window waiting with anticipation for the stilled silence that will embrace the neighborhood.

Waking up to a snow covered streets is a sure sign that soon there will be a call; it’s a snow day! A guiltless day away from the office, yes!

And then after a sleep in, there is a walk through the park and being silently greeted by snow people.

Do you remember playing King of the Mountain on the big piles of snow left by snow plows?

The next best part of these storms is the warning that occurs in a day or two … the sounds of melting snow’s rivulets and the touch of spring’s silken breezes.

spring begins–
sparrows at my gate
with healthy faces ~Issa (haikuguy.com)

Sofia Photographias: spring

a walk about with Fujifilm

this aged soul wonders,

as you wander through my dreams,

would I be in yours?

Fujifilm X-T4: f/16 . 1/1000 s . 80 mm . -1.7 ev . 640 ISO

lens-artist: diagonal lines

Patti invited lens-artists to explore diagonal lines in their creative work. The lines within an image guide the eye through the frame, carefully taking the viewer through the photograph. They also help to create depth, a sense of tension, and dynamism.