Date: February 9, 2010

Official Sunrise: 8:58          Photograph Taken: 8:46

Temperature: 15°          Wind: 10 – 15 m.p.h.

Photographer: Ron Day          Camera Used: Nikon D200

It’s still winter, here. Yesterday was nice but today we have gray skies, a threat of more snow, and a brisk, chilly wind. As usual, when there is no real color in the sky at sunrise, I shot the neighbors house across the draw. As you can see by the distant mountains the clouds are hanging low and looking ominous. The forecast is for more snow, or perhaps partly cloudy skies. I love it when the predictors are so sure of themselves. Oh yes, the high temperature today will be 25° and the low tonight is also expected to be 25°.

Hmmmm.

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He who believes that the past cannot be changed has not yet written his memoirs. 

~Torvald Gahlin

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Sing A Little Sunshine Song

It’s amazing what a little sunshine can do for a persons attitude. It happens each year to me. As the long winter drags on I begin to feel like there is a weight on my shoulders, like everything is going badly and the future is looking bleak. My bones ache and my feet drag.  It’s not enjoyable at all.

And then, usually in February or March, we have a beautiful day with mild temperatures. The sun shines free and bright overhead, the sky’s a bright blue with nary a cloud in it, there’s no wind, and the distant mountains are as pretty as can be.

It’s so darned beautiful! 

Suddenly everything is OK and I begin to believe I’ll make it through another winter.

Hooray!!

I spent most of the morning yesterday working on this blog, as I normally do, then I started up the snow blower and cleared the driveway of five inches of snow we received overnight. Afterwards, after I’d put the snow blower away and brushed the snow from my clothing, I went inside and ran a bath for Schnitzle, our Dachshund dog. Schnitzle pretends not to like his baths, lowering his ears and giving me a sad look whenever I say the word “bath”. But I think he secretly likes them, especially when he’s in the warm water and I start massaging his long body with shampoo. I’ve seen him smiling in the bathtub occasionally, so that tells me something.

Later in the day I decided I’d take a walk. Grabbing my Nikon and a monopod I trekked on down Bayview Drive, singing a little tune made popular by Roger Miller back in the 60′s.  The same tune that helped me come up with titles for todays blog.

Everything was so pretty that I had a hard time getting very far from home. I kept stopping to take pictures, or to just look at Alaska.

I might have walked one and a half miles total, to the end of Bayview Drive then up Glennwood a little ways to the bridge over Cottonwood Creek. I was going to go further but the bike trail hadn’t been cleared of snow yet and I didn’t like the idea of walking on the street itself.

Too much traffic, icy road, a few careless drivers. No Thanks.

It didn’t matter though. I took some beautiful pictures of the mountains and snow laden trees. When I can take pictures like these within one-eighth mile of my home I realize how fortunate I am to live where I do.

It’s good that I have these realizations, I think. 

Beautiful winter scenery as seen from Bayview Drive, the road we live on. It takes me less than 5 minutes to walk to the spot where this picture was taken. Palmer, Alaska lies at the base of the distant snow covered peaks.

Pioneer Peak, as seen from Bayview Drive, looms majestically above a beautiful winter landscape while a curtain of fog hugs it’s lower reaches.

A Piper J3, alone in a clear blue winter sky, flies over beautiful snow covered mountains in the Matanuska Valley of central Alaska. Below it, along the Parks Highway, is Mat-Su Cinema (center) where we go to watch a movie. The large building on the left is home to our Ford dealership, Kendall Ford. Located next to Kendall Ford is our Lowe’s store, barely visible here. I nearly missed this shot as I couldn’t get my telephoto lens to focus on the airplane. It finally did though, and I was happy. This was too good of a picture to miss.

My neighbor uses a snow blower to clear his driveway. As I walked past him he turned the machine off and we had us a nice long visit.

I photographed this character from the porch of my studio. I’ve noticed our Raven population becoming loud and raucous over the past few days, probably because they too can feel Spring in the air. I’m always listening for them as I sit at my computer. If it sounds as if one has landed in the cottonwood trees outside I grab my camera and sneak out the door, looking for a good picture. They’re pretty wary, though, ready to fly away the second they see me. Here he lifts off just as my camera focuses and the shutter snaps. This was the only picture he let me take, but I like it. He looks like he’s dancing a Jig for me. 

 Another Print Sale 

I was notified by e-mail this morning that I’d made another sale through Fine Art America. This one, a framed 15 x2 4 print of “Geese” was purchased by a buyer from Long Beach, California. Thank you very much.