Juxtaposition (jŭkˌstə-pə-zĭshˈən)

I hope I can repeat after Paul (from Philippians 4:11) "...for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances." 

Our daughter's place - where we'll be in 4 weeks:

Where we currently are:

Speaking of brass monkeys ...

I can state with certainty that I am not now, nor am I likely to become, a member of a polar bear club. You know, those people who think it's a lark to go out on New Year's Day and plunge into a hole hewed out of the ice in nothing more than a bathing suit. Having said that, I did find myself outside very early this morning in weather that would have prompted owners of brass monkeys to have brought them indoors. It was -26C and for those who keep score in Fahrenheit, that's 15 below zero. Even Sasha decided that only fools would be out in those temperatures.

I seem to have standing orders to be awakened if there's the promise of a sunrise worthy of being captured on camera. There was enough time to acclimatize the camera and I spent about 40 minutes traipsing around the yard alternating between preventing frostbite in my fingers and capturing the amazing colours.

Sometimes you do what you gotta do ...

Osmosis

I was awakened prematurely this morning by my wife who told me that I had to get up and see a beautiful sunrise (thank goodness we're in the middle of the winter when the sun rises at what I consider to be a more 'normal' hour). As I jumped into my clothes she reminded me that I had requested her to wake me the next time there was a gorgeous sunrise. She had even brought the camera up with her.

I made some shots out of an upstairs window and then went down and stepped out onto the front porch, sans winter coat, into the -21C / -6F early morning. Within a few minutes I realized further shots would suffer from severe camera shake brought on by hypothermia. So inside I dashed for a coat and toque. I stayed out to get more shots until my fingers were so numb I couldn't operate the camera any longer.

I've never impressed on my wife any of the unwritten rules of photography e.g. carpe diem (see #2 here) but I think the 'learning by osmosis' concept has been at work in our home. She had already made a number of shots of the sunrise in its early stages whilst I was still lost somewhere in dreamland.

Here's a bit of the sequence we were privileged to witness and capture this morning. I hope your new year is off to a similarly auspicious start.

(if patience is truly a virtue then I'm in line to be a saint - this 'only' took 4 hours to post. Starting next week, I hope to be blogging at the speed of light, relatively speaking)

click on photos for a better view

(Day 353) Ah, back to reality

We made it home. safely. For which we are thankful. We caught a glimpse of our reality late on Saturday evening in North Carolina. We first thought that the glare of the headlights on Interstate 95 was reflecting off sand at the side of the road - wrong ! That was S N O W !

More confirmation came in Virginia, and today I managed a few shots through the front windshield (at 120 kph/75 mph - oops, sorry) in New York state. The photo tells the story. (I'm starting to feel more in the Christmas spirit already).

Thank you all for your thoughtful comments and well wishes for our journey - they were very much appreciated. I will respond, and get back to my visits tomorrow. First, blissful sleep.

(10-22mm  f10  1/250 sec  ISO200)

Oh, and I didn't forget about Sunset Sunday - I have this from our last evening in Florida:

(10-22mm  f14  1/60 sec  ISO200)

 

Brutal weather - beautiful landscapes

The weather turned very nasty again over the past 24 hours - the wind started howling out of the north-north-west, gusting to 60km (35 mph) and the temperature dropped from around 0C (32F) to -20C (-4F) in a matter of a few hours. It was tempting to restrict photography today to the indoors, but a foray into the outdoors that was intended to be of short duration turned into a 1-1/2 hour photo shoot, just walking around our property.. Since it was too difficult selecting only 1 photo, I've opted for a few. Hopefully you'll enjoy them, like I do ...

Going with the flow

It's still bitterly cold here. Thankfully there isn't much wind or it would feel even colder. But in spite of the well-below-freezing temperatures, the little creek near our place continues to flow (see photo below). While the ice is starting to creep across the creek, the waters haven't succumbed to the cold entirely. Perhaps there will be some open water for the duration of winter.

It wasn't the type of day to linger at the side of the road admiring the scene too long. But there was a beauty to the sun bouncing off the snow and water, creating lovely reflections. A place to reflect on the beauty that surrounds us (George Harrison - "Isn't It a Pity").