Solarized

On one of our much needed 'escape from winter Indian Summer Days', we took a walk on a new hiking trail....five miles long....to soak up some sun while getting a bit of much needed exercise. Although spring is supposedly here, winter stills attempts to hang on...or atleast to remind us with its lack of much 'color' in landscape unless browns and 'muds' strike your fancy.



What with winter having hit when fall wasn't even quite complete last year, there is still many signs of fall laying about under the melted snowy pathways.



I'm still learning the settings on my Nikon (or any other camera for that matter) and what with the bright sun...well it wasn't the best day of trial shots. It didn't help that my viewing screen was hard to see with the reflection of that bright ball in the sky. What with summer coming around...or atleast some sunnier days...I probably should invest in the piece of equipment that will allow that viewing screen to be a bit more helpful in reviews.



So I played with this one on my software that came with my HP Photosmart Printer and made it a bit more 'artistic' by 'solarizing' it. Well.... I thought it was cool.

Saved....by the Snow

It still totally amazes me that after a continuous four month blanket of snow inches to feet deep...with no meltdown in between...these wonderfully fragrant herbal plantings are still green...still alive....looking exactly as they did after the first frosts of fall. A bit weary...but not giving up on life quite so easily.

A Sense of Humor....for Sure

Of course, we know...it is only the second week of March...in the midwest where we know it is possible and it has happened, that snow could be dropped even into May....and so....we must laugh at Mother Nature's humor when she teases us with 60s and follows up with...........

dainty little icycles hidden in the pine trees...a result of 2 days of meltdown warmth covered again with rain to ice ladden branches reinforced with 4 inches of snow...

Meltdown

Spring....struggles to take over. Temperatures one degree less than a record of some day ions ago reach 60 and 61 for highs...in the early days of March. The snow melts. The grass....ever so slightly..peaks it's pale green blades up....gasping for air...hoping for sunshine. Snow piles diminish. Leaves left behind from the fall remind us of how long the winter really has been while puddles grow as the ground saturates with the liquids of the meltdown giving us another ray of hope that spring...spring will be here soon. Silently, secretly....we all await.............