Friday fun

Playing with filters on a rainy day.

Sometimes you just have to jump in a mud puddle because it’s there. Never get so old that you forget about having fun.

~ Tom Giaquinto, Be A Good Human 

Same photo, different filter.

What a strange and fun day it’s been.  Warm (in the 60’s) and humid and windy, sometimes dark and gray and rainy, sometimes sunny and light, it has not been a typical January day at all.

The clash of ice and warm air.

I was in the kitchen around lunchtime, putting away the clean dishes, when I glanced out the window and saw what looked like smoke being blown across the pond and into the meadows.  It differed from smoke in the way that it dissipated almost immediately.  Smoke usually keeps going until it has been blown elsewhere.  Fog, on the other hand, will sometimes just disappear into thin air.  Or, in this case, thick and humid air.

At the back of the pond.

I went to the back of the house to see where this mysterious fog or smoke might be coming from, and saw it blowing through the marsh.  That’s when I realized it was a clash between the warm air that is blowing through and the ice and snow on the surface of the pond and creek.  Of course I had to put on my rain gear and go out to see it close up.

On the move.

As it turned out, I didn’t need the rain coat.  The wellies, of course, are a must today because of the snow melt and the heavy rain.  It is practically one giant puddle out there.  They are saying we may get as much as 1.5 inches, maybe 2 inches, of rain before this system is finished with us.  Then the cold weather will move in.  We’ll need ice skates instead of wellies when that happens.

Backyard puddle.

I had the best time out there in the wind and warm, humid air.  I splashed in the puddles, watched the fog form, lift, and get carried away by the wind.  I listened to the geese honking, and watched as they flew overhead.  I took deep, deep breaths of the moist air which felt so good after all the cold, dry air (or warm, dry air in the house with the wood stove going full force during the worst of the cold days).  My hair got blown around and formed into some strange curls, a wind-created work of art.

The woodland trail.

I walked through the woods, sometimes stopping to watch the loblolly pines swaying and dancing in the wind.

Today’s view from the dock.

I sat on the bench on the dock, fascinated by the fog forming over the ice on the creek and swirling around in the marsh and over the dock.

Fog moving into the marsh grasses.

The clouds have moved from west to east, leaving us with an almost clear section of sky between one big band of rain that has moved out to sea and the next that is approaching us from across the bay.  The sun is lighting up the fog that continues to form and drift over the pond and creek.

Trees standing at the edge of the pond.

Thank you for joining me for a short walk on this strange and beautiful January day.  I don’t think we’ll see much of a sunset (the next band of rain is predicted to arrive around 4:15 PM and might last a while), but if it looks like we might, meet me on the dock.  Sunset is scheduled for 5:05 PM.

Be good, be kind, be loving.  Just Be.  🙂

When the fog clears for a minute or two.

A few of the 10,000 reasons to be happy:  531)  Watching fog form and disappear.  532)  Dancing with the wind and trees in the woods.  533)  Jumping and splashing in puddles.  534)  Woodpeckers hammering on trees.  535)  Playing with photo filters just for the fun of it.

Melting reflections.