Rush hour
There’s nothing I enjoy more
Than rush hour on the lake
When water, birds and light
Become beautiful abstract art.
For more artistic shots, please visit: Camera Critters.
Metamorphosis
Nature often holds up a mirror
To show us change as one season glides into another,
(This is winter going into spring.)
It shows us renewal and transformation through stormy phases
And, finally, softens into peace and beauty.
(All shots are of my local lake over the past couple of weeks.)
For more changes, please visit: Our World.
Putting winter on ice
The lake is now water
And the cold spring is just waiting to burst into flower and warmth (sometime soon, I hope).
But before that, I wanted to post one of my favourite photos from this winter.
The purple sunset over the iced over lake
And Oscar looking majestic.
For more cool pets, please visit: Camera Critters.
Those big April skies
April seems stuck in the beauty of winter.
A couple of weeks ago, we enjoyed
A pink panorama of big skies and fluffy clouds.
And only a couple of days ago,
The snow cover on the lake was gone
And the cold mist seemed to make
The clouds as silver and soft as silk.
Gently, almost secretly, spring is approaching!
For more panoramas, please visit: Skywatch.
The many shades of cold
Since we’ve had fresh snow and sinking temperatures –
Down to minus 19 C this week –
I am inspired to show you the colours of cold.
Sometimes the cold is a golden fog,
Sometimes an intense orange framed by trees.
When the dawn is really cold,
The fingers of the sun paint the treetops
With frosted red.
My favourite winter colour
Has to be the diamond carpet of snow
Topped off by dazzling blue skies and sun –
It’s moments like these that lift my spirits.
For more winter/summer shots, please visit: Skywatch.
Spring Schpring!
People want to know if I’m tired of winter and longing for the spring.
The answer is no.
Late winter is a fabulous time of dazzling sun;
Of lacy art made out of ice and rainbows:
Of exhilarating days of trees made out of curtains of lace.
It’s still minus 14C when we wake up
Making it pleasant to walk on the iced over lake
To enjoy the sight of sunken boats and endless blue skies.
The secret to happiness is not to long for something you don’t have
But to enjoy fully what you do have.
For more bedazzled posts, please visit: Our World.
There’s snow business like snow business
Life doesn’t get much better than this:
Freezing mornings with glitter and diamonds;
A good long walk in the thick snow
And plenty of play and smiles.
No one snows this better than Oscar.
(OK – I know I’m on thin ice here, so snow more puns!)
For more happy animals, please visit: Camera Critters.
Frosted delight
Come and let’s take a walk through my enchanted world.
In the early morning, the freezing temperatures
Create art out of silver beeches
And the hoar-frosted trees frame
The pyramid of the swings at the end of our street.
Once out on the lake, I walk past
An enchanted red boat house
Hiding among frosted branches.
Zooming out with my lens, I see the boat house
Belongs to this summer cottage
Patiently waiting for warmer days.
As for me, I’m enjoying the last cold days
Of magical hoar frost and ice.
For more delights, please visit: Our World.
Under home skies
I might not live anywhere special –
My little house is in a row
Behind the houses you see on the left.
But we do have a great location
Right by the lake.
And when the sun shines through
Magical frosted trees,
The skies — and all underneath them — suddenly seem so very lovely.
I’m so used to living here
That it was only when I walked out onto the iced over lake
And looked back
That I realized how very lucky I really am.
Like most things in life, a new perspective
Can promote appreciation and joy.
For other perspectives, please visit: Skywatch.
Romancing the snow
The romance of winter -
And the deep snow -
Never fail to surprise and please
When wrapped up in
A sky of pink tissue
And a bow of dreamy fog.
For more dreamy shots, please visit: Skywatch.
The snowy desert
Silence falls as the snow does –
Turning the world into a peaceful place
And the lake into a snowy desert.
My dog, Oscar, is like a camel of this desert:
At one with the environment
And never too tired to enjoy the weather.
And just in case you forgot what the jetty really looks like when the snow melts,
here’s a picture from September
When we went balloon hunting!
For more amazing animals, please visit: Camera Critters.
Golden lace
About a month ago, the ice was finally thick enough
For the snowplough to come and make an ice skating track around the lake.
This was happy news as I was finally able to walk over the lake
To enjoy the beauty of the setting sun
As it cast its net of light
And turned branches into golden lace.
I met a woman out with her camera too –
And for a few minutes, we shared a bond
As we enjoyed the simple gift of the sinking sun.
For more golden skies, please visit: Skywatch.
Shades of grey
You’re not tired of snowy pictures yet, are you?
Good. Because neither am I!
The skies are often grey over here
As they are weighed down by snow clouds.
But that suits my world so full of grey and silver highlights.
Roofs are utterly delicious
As they remain hidden under white frosting
And cats smile under snowy hats.
My favourite view is this lovely grey wooden house
With a wonderful curl of roof icing.
For more lovely greys, please visit: Our World.
Here is my most popular post ever – about the beauty of grey.
Enjoying winter
Please do not disturb…
I’m busy enjoying winter.
Let us love winter,
for it is the spring of genius.
Pietro Aretino
For more snowy pets, please visit: Camera Critters.
Floating in the pink
Winter’s freezing dawn
Creates an abstract work of art;
Trees rise ghostly
In deliciously cold lilac dresses;
And the ancient church
Floats in clouds of pink.
Cold and startling and beautiful –
Another gift from nature.
For more gifts, please visit: Skywatch.
Mist, rising
The pink glow of the early setting winter sun
Enticed us outside to explore
The wonders just beyond the horizon.
It was a miracle of trees that
Seemed to float in the rising mist –
A wonder of purple and gold
Painting the fog with magic.
For more miracles, please visit: Skywatch.
Poem to heaven
The first time I saw this white wooden church
I gasped in amazement at its beauty.
It started out as a simple chapel built in the 1700s –
And then in the mid-1800s, it was expanded
And the old clock tower replaced with a new one.
The white wooden planking,
The delicate leaded windows –
Such simple and exquisite beauty
Iced with snow and love.
The lovely and talented RED has interviewed me. So, if you want to know more about me or my photography tips, then please do visit her and say hi. You can find her at Amazing Australian Adventures.
For more wonders, please visit: Our World.
Musical snow
The past week has been all about music.
(AB1 goes to a music school in Stockholm these days.)
One of the high points is the Lucia concerts that take place in the silence of dawn.
The children enter the church with light and candles and song.
As they sing, their voices soar up to heaven –
And I imagined that each snowflake was a musical note
Spreading a message of hope, warmth and light.
As the concert ends, the sun has risen;
The winter darkness receded
And for a few moments, there is so much beauty
In that music
That the tears well up and fall.
For more lovely moments, please visit: Our World.
Playtime!
Guess what happened this week?
It finally snowed and snowed
And snowed!
Even in the horizontal, whip-the-snow-in-your-face storm
Oscar just didn’t want to come into the house.
Look at those eyes pleading
For just five more minutes of snowtime!
For more playful animals, please visit: Camera Critters.
From heron to eternity
They dance and swirl right over my head
When I don’t have my camera with me.
But as soon as I go out with it,
They hide in the reeds
Or fly away
So that no matter how much I stalk them
I can’t get any good close-up shots.
I know these aren’t the best shots you’ve feather seen,
But maybe the herons are just trying to tell me
That every now and then, I have to enjoy nature
Through my own two eyes (and not through a camera lens).
From heron after, owl try to avoid any more bad bird puns… although I have no egrets!
For more fowl play, please visit: Camera Critters.
That honeyed light
I love the magical light of early autumn.
It’s honeyed and wispy;
And golden and sparkling.
And sometimes it twinkles like glitter
Before exploding into thick treacle.
For more light, please visit: Our World.
Anticipation
Oscar has taught me this:
Live life in the anticipation that
Something wonderful
Is just around the corner.
(Even if it’s just a dip in the local lake…)
For more wise animals, please visit: Camera Critters.
Be dazzled
You’re never too old
Or too young
To enjoy the rich, vibrant honey
Of a dazzling sunset
With your best buddy –
(Makes it even sweeter if you’re brother and sister).
Thank you everyone for entering my give-away. The lucky winner is the amazing Inner Chick - do visit and say hi to her!
Prepare to be bedazzled at Skywatch!
A bench in the sun
As the sun sets in a blaze of glory,
There is no better place to watch the play
Of cloud and light
Than on a bench in the setting sun.
For more blazing skies, please visit: Skywatch.
Who says what?