The fluffy, powdery snow started falling Friday afternoon and continued throughout the night. By the time I got up on Saturday morning, we had about seven inches of fluffy, white snow covering the ground and trees. With no wind, it was beautiful! I headed over to one of the nearby golf courses. What I found was a beautiful study in the textures and lines of winter. The branches of the old oak trees were outlined in white. Their rugged bark was dusted with snow in places, and was a sharp contrast to the smoothness of the snow on the ground. And the side light from the sun was adding its own lines and shadows as it cut over the snow at an angle, sometimes creating a bright sparkle as it caught a crystal of ice just right. What seemed like a simple, nondescript scene became one of interest and beauty, and I found myself marveling at all the little nuances that were there before me.
winter
On the cover
I am excited to share with you the cover of the November/December 2010 issue of Northern Gardener Magazine. This is a publication of the Minnesota State Horticultural Society, and is crammed full of information for those of us living and gardening with the weather extremes in the USDA plant hardy Zones 3, 4, and 5. I am thrilled that they chose one of my photographs for their magazine cover. This image was taken on a morning last February when we awoke to a beautiful coating of hoarfrost covering our trees and plants. The white ice crystals clung to each stem and seedhead, accentuating their beauty and impermanence. For those of you that might be interested in Northern Gardener Magazine and/or the Minnesota State Horticultural Society, please check their website at www.northerngardener.org.
Winter’s arrival
We knew it was coming. We knew it wouldn’t be much longer. We knew it was inevitable. But we were enjoying our moderate temperatures and fall-like weather, when all of a sudden winter arrived. The temperature dropped 30 degrees, the wind blew, and the snow fell. And it fell, and it fell, until we had over six inches of wet, heavy snow. Overnight our neighborhood because populated with snowmen & women.
And with winter’s arrival, I’m reminded that the holidays and the new year are fast approaching. Please be sure to check out my holidays cards and 2011 desk calendars. With original and distinctive images, the cards are a memorable way to send your holiday greetings. And the desk calendars will brighten anyone’s day — a great gift to give, or receive. The information about both the holiday cards and calendars can be found as separate pages on the top of my blog page at www.LindaStaatsPhoto.wordpress.com or you can click on the links from my website at www.LindaStaatsPhoto.com. As quickly as the snowpeople appeared in our neighborhood, the holidays will be here! Don’t be scrambling at the last minute for cards and gifts!
Sounds of transition
As a photographer, I consider myself a visual person. My eyes are constantly moving across whatever scene is in front of me, scanning for details, for patterns, for the beauty of the scene. Yet this week I’ve been attuned to the sounds in the air as we transition from winter to spring. With temperatures above freezing throughout the whole week, we’ve been serenaded with the sweet sound of running water. The gutters and drainspouts are gurgling once again — a sound we haven’t heard since early December. The street curbs are filled with water running from the snowmelt down to the storm drains. Every house and building overhang is dripping as the snow is melted by a warmer and brighter sun. As I was walking in the neighborhood this afternoon my ears caught the sound of a group of young boys playing catch and the distant radio broadcast of a spring training baseball game. I think spring is the one season that’s announced by a cacophony of sounds, all that are welcome with the promise of warmer weather, green grass, blue skies and warm sunshine. Yes, we still have mounds of snow and the sidewalks are becoming small canals as the water melts with nowhere to run, but we have hope in this annual ritual.
Hats of winter
This is now my fourth winter in Minnesota. When I moved here, I owned one hat – a baseball hat used to keep the rain off my face in Washington. I didn’t really like hats. But I quickly learned there is a whole culture of hats
in Minnesota! People love their hats, and there are so many different styles of hats to love. There are lightweight hats for early winter, there are hats that are meant to keep the top of your head warm, there are hats to tie under your chin to keep your cheeks and neck warm, and there are hats or hoods that are connected to your coat. And then as winter progresses and the temps get colder and colder, there are hats that keep every part of your head, ears, and upper body warm — these are the ones with flaps that come down and around, and are your very best friend on a sub-zero day. These are just some of my current hat collection (ok, one of them is borrowed but it’s so cool I just had to model it too!). The other cool thing about Minnesotans is they don’t care if you have hat-hair or not. Hat-hair is what everyone has, it’s a fact of life, and it’s just the way things are when the temps are hovering around zero. Practicality wins out over the fashionistas when survival is at stake. Winter hats are just one of the things I like about Minnesota.
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