Today was a beautiful day. It was fairly warm, around 32 degrees F, and the weatherman said that we wouldn't get any snow. So, I decided to go to North Ponds Park and do some walking. It's flat there, so I figured it would be a good place to see if I could get my walking legs back. I did some playing with a lot of these pictures, because they all came out very blue, from the snow, I think. I've got to go through the camera manual and see if there is a setting that will compensate for that. Let me know what you think about my fooling around.
I'm glad I went. It was a wonderful day for walking, even if the weatherman proved to be dead wrong. Here's what it looked like when I got there.
Right away, I found these beautiful weeds.
And that was the last picture free of snowflakes that I got. It started snowing like crazy, big, fluffy flakes that drifted down without any wind to toss them around.
I found a tree that really puzzled me. The bark looked like evergreen bark, and it sure looked like pinecones on the branches, but, where are the needles? I'll have to remember to keep an eye on this tree, to see what happens with it in the spring.
Edited to add that I did a little Googling and found out that this is some kind of larch. I'll have to wait until the leaves come out in the spring to see if I can narrow down the variety.
And, I saw this old robin's nest. Hopefully, all of the babies grew safely and are now enjoying life in the Southern states, before they head back up here in the spring, to start families of their own.
But, mainly, I just walked and enjoyed the snow and the deep quiet. No words, just pictures here. I hope you enjoy them.
I'm very glad that the weatherman was wrong, and I got to walk in this lovely snowstorm. And, I'm very glad that I seem to be able to walk outdoors again. I didn't realize how much I missed the walks, until today.
18 comments:
lovely landscape
i will let you puzzle out the needless, cone + tree. We have them here but not that species
I just got caught up on some of your wintry blog, but missed what is wrong with your leg. But it seems like you are better now, so that's good. Well, I decided to enjoy my spring weather here and not be upset that I have no snow/winter weather and then I look at this and get envious again. I'm glad you liked the film, I hear it is really good.--Inger
A little cold for me, but I'm glad you went for it! I don't know about the blue, I set my camera on the snowman and they still aren't the right color.
Beautiful snowy pictures! It's great with big flakes and no wind. :) That tree is definitely interesting. I hope it is not sick or dying!
Beautiful! That snow was like a blessing. We have American Larches in swampy areas around where I live in Saratoga County. It's our only conifer that drops its needles in the fall. Nothing wrong with it, that's just what it does. It will grow new ones in the spring, out of those little pegs that polka-dot the branches. The tree is also called a Tamarack.
It was milder here today too, a nice day. We have quite a few Larch (tamarack) around here. They look lovely in the fall, when they turn bright gold before dropping their needles.
Lovely pictures -- especially the one with the evergreen branches at the top left -- my favorite.
thank you for the photos. i love walking in the quiet of snow, enjoying the silhouettes of the grasses and tress soon to come to life.
Holy Moley you went from a gorgeous day to a blizzard in a matter of seconds!!
But what gorgeous pictures. Thank you for braving the cold to share them with us.
Madi and Mom
Such lovely photos all! That larch's cones remind me of a flower.
Being out in nature is so good for the soul.
We've been sick for over 3 weeks now and are itching to get outside, too. The day is warm, dry and sunny and we're getting ready to drive up to Santa Fe for the day to dosome letterboxing.
~Lisa
Don't you just love taking pictures in the winter, even on a not so bright day the colours are so crisp and nice, I love your pictures. WOW, really nice.Also love your new background picture.
Yes the larch is a lovely tree with tiny needles that are such a beautiful shade of currylime green. I have 3 or 4 varieties growing on my property from native to unusual shapes. They are on of my favourites. In the fall they turn a lovely shade of yellow feathery like. You`ll have to go back in the spring, summer and fall to see the growth habit. Your winter photos are tops and the blueness could be the kind of light that was being allowed to get through.
Louise, my goodness those photos are really great! I like what you did to them. The same can happen to me in the snow. Can you control your flash? If you can, it may help if you shut it off. Does it automatically go off? If you can control the shutter speed it may help too.....set it at a faster speed because of the bright snow light.
Either way, I like your shots .....you have an excellent eye. I too love trees and those were fabulous specimens.
I also agree that your photos are great. I love the one of the grasses - before snow came! But, the snow shots are my favorite. I love falling snow and I always have a hard time getting it to look like anything. I'm glad you got out, too.
Lovely.... but I am SOOOO glad the snow missed us this time!
I can hear the soft quiet of a snowstorm by looking at your photos. I'm glad that you were able to get out.
I love your photos... with the dark outlines in the white world.
You left a comment about horse access. That's one thing that doesn't seem to suffer out here in the west. It seems to be sacred, so no worries for our horseback riders. But dogs are a whole different story...
I hope that your back keeps healing.
I would have loved that type of walk too ... especially when it started to snow. The pictures make me feel exactly what it was like. Glad your leg is better.
I don't know about the 'white balance', as it's called... I adjust mine when I bring them up on the computer, using a free program for picture handling from Google, called Picasa.
When I was using the little camera, and shot in Auto-mode, they often turned out too turqoise in the snow.
http://picasa.google.com
How beautiful! I can just feel the peace and stillness. I love accompanying you on your walks. Glad you are feeling better.
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