Cold Feathers From a Big Bird, and a little walk to the lagoon!
Dear All,
It has been such a long time since I last posted that there is really too much to say! The temptation is to sit at the keyboard, give a hopeless groan or two, throw up the hands in an attitude of surrender, then rush off towards the kitchen in search of coffee! What I will do this time is "fast forward" to what has happened today, and I will try to cover some of the last week or two in the next post.
Nigella the cat is puzzled. She likes birds. If she could, she would like to catch birds. Big birds, the larger the better! Nigella is puzzled because she thinks that a very, very big bird has been caught somewhere by The Very Big Cat up in the sky, and now the big bird's feathers are floating down. Nigella sits on the window sill, watching the feathers spinning, whirling, and darting in the breeze. Nigella did catch a very small bird just the other day and scattered its feathers all around the kitchen, but she is amazed by the bird that the Very Big Cat must have caught, because its feathers are now turning everything outside white. The grass is white, the street is white, even the tops of the bushes are white. And it is so cold out there, so very, very cold!
Nigella has not seen snow before so she does not understand what snowflakes are. When she walks outside she decides that she did not like snowflakes much at all, as in stead of being warm and soft like feathers, they are cold and wet like rain.
We took a little walk with the camera first thing this morning, and Nigella made excuses and spent most of the day indoors!
Outside it was lovely and quiet with few vehicles on the road, and the snow was powdery and compressed beneath our feet with a satisfying squeaky crunches as we walked.
Little lumps and bumps disappear under snow. The texture of what is familiar changes. Clad with a coat of white light and blue shadow, what is common place becomes art!
It was beautiful and very cold at the lagoon. Some of the water was frozen with a slushy layer of ice that ducks, swans and geese had forced passages through like icebreakers.
I must end this now as is time to get some sleep, but, if they are reading this, I would like to say a big hello to two travellers, Yuka and Jean-Francois, who visited us a week ago. A "ten minute" visit turned into a two night stay, and our home was made cheerful with their delightful company.
It has been such a long time since I last posted that there is really too much to say! The temptation is to sit at the keyboard, give a hopeless groan or two, throw up the hands in an attitude of surrender, then rush off towards the kitchen in search of coffee! What I will do this time is "fast forward" to what has happened today, and I will try to cover some of the last week or two in the next post.
Nigella the cat is puzzled. She likes birds. If she could, she would like to catch birds. Big birds, the larger the better! Nigella is puzzled because she thinks that a very, very big bird has been caught somewhere by The Very Big Cat up in the sky, and now the big bird's feathers are floating down. Nigella sits on the window sill, watching the feathers spinning, whirling, and darting in the breeze. Nigella did catch a very small bird just the other day and scattered its feathers all around the kitchen, but she is amazed by the bird that the Very Big Cat must have caught, because its feathers are now turning everything outside white. The grass is white, the street is white, even the tops of the bushes are white. And it is so cold out there, so very, very cold!
Nigella has not seen snow before so she does not understand what snowflakes are. When she walks outside she decides that she did not like snowflakes much at all, as in stead of being warm and soft like feathers, they are cold and wet like rain.
We took a little walk with the camera first thing this morning, and Nigella made excuses and spent most of the day indoors!
Outside it was lovely and quiet with few vehicles on the road, and the snow was powdery and compressed beneath our feet with a satisfying squeaky crunches as we walked.
Little lumps and bumps disappear under snow. The texture of what is familiar changes. Clad with a coat of white light and blue shadow, what is common place becomes art!
It was beautiful and very cold at the lagoon. Some of the water was frozen with a slushy layer of ice that ducks, swans and geese had forced passages through like icebreakers.
I must end this now as is time to get some sleep, but, if they are reading this, I would like to say a big hello to two travellers, Yuka and Jean-Francois, who visited us a week ago. A "ten minute" visit turned into a two night stay, and our home was made cheerful with their delightful company.
Comments
Oh my, that cold looks wonderful and I love your camera eye. You really got some marvelous pictures. Thought the car tracks special.
Enjoy Peter and know everyone here in the states thinks you are so lucky.
It must have been so nice making these new friends.
The other day I keeping thinking we are in a form of hibernation because of the heat and then it breaks. Lovely rain out there now.
No big birds just fat rain....
Lovely to hear from you and thank you for staying in touch. I have been feeling a bit bad for my infrequent posts and lack of comments, so an extra big thank you for keeping on reading and commenting.
The snow was beautiful, and some of it hung around today too. I think that the cats would like little warm boots to wear when out and about, especially Nigella who does feel the cold! I was thinking of those of you who are in America when I took the photos, and I'm glad to have shared some of the chill with you..., even in a virtual sense!
It must be really exhausting and wearying coping with all that heat and humidity too, but rain after heat can be a real joy too!
I've just been doing a reduction firing of some crystalline glazed pots, and have come in smelling of hot oil and smoke, so I'd better get cleaned up! I was trying a different method of achieving reduction effects, and will post about it later... especially if it works!
Must away now to some soap and water! P :)
Lovely photos, Peter.
You would have loved the view that we had of Mt Cargill yesterday morning as we travelled to Dunedin. It was just so beautiful with the snow all lit up by the early morning light. The snow has mostly gone now, but there is still some around in places where the sun doesn't get to.
Hope you have more moderate temperatures in your part of the world soon! P:)