Our landscape is white and the skies have been quite gray and overcast – the gun-metal gray of winter. The days are short and the darkness sometimes seems especially long. This morning I got up before dawn and was drinking my coffee and reading the newspaper. I eventually looked up and noticed the brightness of the morning had started to take over the black sky. As I stepped out the front door, the blue of the sky and the white of the clouds caught my eye; it was a beautiful contrast and a welcome splash of color that we had been missing the past week. The trees are leafless structures now, thrusting their branches up and out, and the cotton-like clouds seemed to be catching on the branches of the tree as they were moving by.
Minnesota
A week’s slide into winter
Our landscape that was brown and cold last week has been transformed into winter. Daytime temperatures in the single digits, subzero temps at night, and snow have brought the look and feel of winter. Ponds and lakes that were previously frozen with clear ice are now covered with snow, and are once again being populated with fish houses. The ducks and geese have all headed south in search of open water. And we are learning again how to drive in ice and snow. How quickly this seasonal change has taken place!
Holiday cards and calendars
One of the lessons I’ve learned from the two recent deaths in my family is the importance of a written card. I received many hand-written cards expressing sympathy and caring, sharing wonderful stories of my father and my sister-in-law, and offers of help to me and my family in so many different ways. I have treasured and kept all these cards. Now the calendar page turns to December with its upcoming holidays, and I’d like to remind people of the joy of receiving a special holiday card in the mail. A unique card with a personal message inside will make someone’s day and brighten their holidays knowing you took the time to think of them and write to them. For the previous nine years and again this year, I am offering a line of holiday cards and desk calendars. You will find the links to this year’s offerings on my blog and through my website. Please browse and enjoy, order if you would like, but most importantly please remember how special it is to receive a wonderful card in the mail from a friend who’s taken the time to remember you.
Holiday cards can be found here: https://lindastaatsphoto.wordpress.com/2013-holiday-card-collection/
Desk calendars can be found here: https://lindastaatsphoto.wordpress.com/2014-desk-calendar-collection/
Early winter dawn along the Mississippi River
The cold of winter has swept south from the Canadian prairie into Minnesota. The lakes are icing over, but the rivers take a bit longer because of the current. We were north of the Twin Cities along the banks of the Mississippi River yesterday. The early morning light cast a beautiful glow on the barren trees along the banks, and the water was flowing but it contained numerous chunks of ice headed southward. Eventually the river will freeze in some sections, but the sections that remain open will attract birds and wildlife, and will teem with activity throughout the cold winter months.
Frost and ice in the morning
Our temperatures have been dropping at night causing the sloughs and lakes to begin their ice-over. It isn’t thick by any means, but it is the start of our shift from fall to winter. I’ve always enjoyed the reflections of trees and horizons in water, and the change over to ice gives these same reflections a much different look. The lines are softer and more muted, and until our lakes are snow-covered the reflections can sometimes be almost mirror-like. On this morning two days ago, the sun was burning through the cold temperatures and the heavy frost causing the landscape to glow in the early light.
lindastaatsphoto.com 