PhotonStopper

It was a cold but beautiful day. As I left the house a little after dawn, the temperature was -1.7 degrees (F). The sky was an amazing shade of blue with the horizon showing pink all around. The fresh, fluffy snow sparkled. It was quiet. I packed my commuter items in the car but before leaving, brought out the camera I carry daily: my trusty Fuji FinePix S7000. In the cold, still air I did my best to capture some of the unusual color and dawning beauty of the day. The trees here all had tufts of snowy fluff on their branches.

Dawn with Tree

The slightest movement or breath of wind caused the snow to collapse into a cloud and drift to the ground — I knew the scene would not last for long.

She Who Must Be Obeyed had suggested I shoot a couple more images of the piles of snow and ice that surround our house. One photo includes my car and shows it right next to a plow-piled mountain of snow easily larger than the Honda.

Up in the bare branches of the tree in our front yard may be seen dark dots –one of them red– which are birds assembling for their turn at the feeder. It is usual for us to see sparrows, blue jays, cardinals (the red dot), black-capped chickadees, gold finches, house finches, hairy woodpeckers, downy woodpeckers, red-bellied woodpeckers… they were all represented today.

Snow Piles

The sky stayed mostly clear all day and it was refreshing to see the sun and not worry about how much more snow we would face in our travels.

This evening I stood on the indoor landing between our first and second floors admiring a beautiful sunset through the window. A jet trail illuminated against the dark sky inspired me to grab the camera again. I captured the trail and the sunset sky. Then I turned the camera to the southwest, still through the window. Any time, in recent weeks, when we have been blessed by clear evening skies, the planet Venus has shown like a brilliant diamond high above the horizon. There it was tonight.

Venus: Diamond in the Sky

It's only a few pixels in the digital image but there that diamond is, set against a deep blue velvet sky, floating over a beautiful pink sunset. The day ended as it had begun. It was cold but beautiful.

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