72. Walking on Top of the Snow

Yes, I’m back to work.  However, today was my late shift, 12:30 to 9:00.  On those days, I like to go for a walk before work.  And today there was still snow!

I wondered if I should really go for a walk, since I wouldn’t be able to take a nap to recover.  Wading through deep, deep snow is exhausting!

But when it came down to it, the sun was shining brightly, and I couldn’t resist.  The snow won’t last forever.  Yesterday, a lot of melting happened, and now the snow has rounded bumps all over.  Last night, there was a hard freeze, though, so I was a little worried about ice on the sidewalks.

Well, I was able to keep from slipping on the sidewalks.  But when I got to the snow, I found a wonderful side effect of the freeze last night — Now I could walk on top of the snow!

Tracks

This picture shows the difference in the amount my feet sank into the snow on Tuesday on the left and today (Thursday) on the right.

Amazing how much less work it was to walk on the snow today!  And it’s still tremendously beautiful.

FrozenLake

68. Snow!

I’m thankful for this one every year.  But this is the latest our first snow has come since I moved away from California!

It’s almost sure not to stick, and is just coming down lightly — so I’m very thankful it is falling on Sunday afternoon, when I can take the time to walk through it while it’s falling.  It would have been sad to just stare at it out the window from my workplace!

63. Swans A-Swimming

Yesterday, the sun was finally out after a couple weeks of clouds!  I was so excited, I decided to bring my camera on my walk, even though the foliage is pretty brown about now and I didn’t expect to take many pictures.

Then, for the first time ever on my lake, I saw two swans!

Swans

As I was posting the pictures later, I was tickled to realize that it was actually the seventh day of Christmas!

Swans2

The only question — why only two, not seven?

Swans3

Though, you know, when I first moved here and started posting pictures of the great blue heron, my friend told me that a heron is symbolic of Self-Reliance and Self-Determination and navigating the obstacles of life.  It seemed good for owning my own home after divorce.

Swans4

What do I know about swans?  They’re beautiful and they mate for life.  This was also a pair, in it together.

I like the thought of taking them as a symbol for my new year.

Swans5

And they flew away — I wonder if I’ll ever see them again.

But how blessed I was to come for a walk with my camera right at the time they happened by!

48. Glowing Leaves

GlowingLeaves2 The day after I mentioned being thankful for Autumn was my day off.  It dawned on me that I hadn’t been home at sundown in weeks (because the sun goes down while I’m driving home from work, and I’d had weekend activities lately).  When I looked out my window in the late afternoon, I was stunned to see the sun spotlighting the line of red maple trees on the hill on the other side of my lake.  They were at their peak of colorfulness and looked stunning. I had to go out!

GlowingLeaves3

Instead of my usual walk on the path around the lake, I walked through the corridor of bright and shining leaves.

These pictures only begin to give the idea of the amazing display.  All of the pictures I took here had me exclaiming aloud when I first saw how beautiful it was.  It sounds silly to say I gasped at the beauty, but that’s the truth.  What a tremendous blessing that evening was.  It felt like my own private astonishing display.

GlowingLeaves1

46. Autumn

Autumn

I lived in southern California from the year I turned 6 to the year I turned 26 — and to me, Autumn still seems like a miracle.

I don’t get tired of taking pictures of colored leaves (as my Facebook friends are well aware).  And I don’t get tired of looking at them.

So beautiful.  Such a blessing to get to live where the trees turn into glorious works of art!

Autumn2

43. My Friendly Neighborhood Great Blue Heron

Heron

 

This morning I was having my quiet time and wondering a little bit if I’m in the right place.  I’d been looking at photos from my time in Germany last night, and remembering what a boost I’d get from visiting castles.  Maybe I should try to go back?  But when I was there before, I had a husband and two sons to do the castling with.  People really make all the difference.

And here I have a super meaningful job and wonderful connections with people at church.  And I was thinking about lots of good things in my life right now, while staring out the window down at my lake — when the great blue heron walked right through my view.

He quickly went behind grasses, so I couldn’t get a picture of him from my house, but you can be sure I brought my camera when I went for my walk later.  And yes, I got my heron fix!

I laugh about the idea of a heron fix, but I have to admit that regularly seeing my friendly neighborhood great blue heron never fails to remind me that I have a beautiful life, here and now.

34. A Glorious Day by my Lake

HeronTakeOff

If I count it a blessing every time the weather is wondrous, that’s going to take up a lot of posts.  But since I started the blog afresh recently, I figure it’s okay to indulge in a few raptures on an especially beautiful day when I get to take a walk out in it.

And the great blue heron was there!  And I hounded him until he took off and left — and he did that right when I was snapping a picture.  This picture feels joyous and beautiful to me, and I was so happy to get it!

And I was already happy.  The weather had cooled off.  The sky was glorious!

Clouds

A lovely cool breeze was blowing.  I mentioned the heron showed up?  And wildflowers of many different kinds were blooming beside the path.

Flowers

Just an utterly lovely day.

Clouds1

I’ve always figured if you don’t like the weather, try to ignore it.  (Go inside and turn on the air conditioner!)  If you do like it, might as well let it affect your mood!  And today it was exhilarating to go for a walk on such a glorious day.

Thistles   Lake1