Musings

Trees, snow, some ice

Ridge road snow

When it became clear that the winter weather in northeast Georgia had a wet, white zone where the day’s rising temperature meant there was snow but not icy roads…especially if you picked a gravel road. So, we headed toward a pocket like that. Here’s the highest elevation we got to—or near here. We drove in a cloud!

Iced twigs

We got out and walked in the icy snow-crystals, while the high branches dripped ice-melt on us. I am intrigued by the linear fracture lines in the twig-wrap ice.

Alternate title: Celebration of our 29th anniversary

Leaves and loaves

Longleaf and leaf

Despite it being rainy-rainy all day, I did get my daily thirty minutes in (current strategy). Enjoyed the juxtaposition of the straight, green needles (which are of course a kind of leaf) and the lumpy-shaped, brown leaf, with the emerging candles in the middle. Done.

Knead piece

This afternoon I went to a matinée play (rhymes!). The title: Knead…a personal history well told. The little stories were threaded together around Mom’s bread baking and unrecipe recipe…and the playwright/actress Mary Lynn Owen made bread as the stories unwound. And of course, afterward, we got a taste! Clever!

Buddha and Batman

Mini cement Buddha

Always enjoy this small, grinning Buddha; he really doesn’t mind the cold, it seems. Note that he was dry at photo-time; that’ll change.

Front plate Gotham

I refrained from capturing the steering-wheel cover, sporting repeated Bat-dude logos. Is the plate echoing the Joker’s laugh? So, what’s the message? That we should be worried? The Joker was the evil opposition to the Dude, no?

Winter approaches

Frost care roof

My, it was frosty this morning when I made a predawn milk run. Usually, we’re on top of the milk-for-coffee thing….

Redbud leaf autumn

Tried to get a shot without the branch in front of the fading redbud leaf; turns out, I rather enjoy it there, intruding and out-of-focus.

Sunset over dobbins

On errands much later, way beyond the perimeter, we had plenty of time to watch the sunset from a traffic jam. Love the ’burbs.

Timeliness

Crocus of Dec

Crocus. Blooming. IN DECEMBER (imagine a thundering announcer-voice). Climate change, folks? Huh? Huh?

Holiday at bank

Speaking of timely, in this age when Xmas decorations and advertising may appear weeks before Thanksgiving, I guess these soldiers are on point. Not sure how to interpret soldiers on a bank branch counter.

Odds

To vote

Yup, runoff day. Wished the governor’s race was on the list, but no. Instead, we did have the pleasure of voting again for Secretary of State—the position the governor-winner had when he ran the last election. Hrrumph.

Camellia white

Oh, the early camellias are inspiring!

Hi light

Loved how the sun was so bright, as we approach the shortest day of the year.

It is autumn

Autumn tree leaves

Unseasonally warm today, and I indulged myself with many photo-stops when I was out stepping. Leafy tree with unusually upright branches; there’s a botanical/nursery term for this that I’ve forgotten.

Pampas grass backlit

Backlit grass seed-heads rock. Pampas grass? Another import? I’ll go with merely photogenic.

I tried

Cardinal back turned

I spotted this cardinal (upper left quadrant) preening and looking. I attempted to get him both in focus and in profile or a better pose than this. But this is what I got.

Then, I slowly ducked and snuck off for a camera with a longer lens. Of course, when I returned, he and his glorious plumage were long gone.

Pigeon posting

Pigeon view

This shot is from yesterday because today was gloomy and rainy, and I did not take the trouble to create a rain-art photo. There’s something peaceful about all the pigeons lined up, apparently unaware of the new arrival.

River stories

Cormorants waiting

These cormorants are waiting for whatever cormorants wait for. Food? More than food? These rocks were under many more feet of water for decades in a huge mill pond.

Hooch mills whitewater

Downstream of the cormorants, some of the later mill buildings survive, most repurposed as river-front apartments now that the dams are gone and the water is white, as it was through the early 1800s. This is the Chattahoochee at the Fall Line in Columbus.

Whitewater running

Now, venturesome people in funky short kayaks dare the once-again fast-flowing river to overpower them. [This guy was just fine; this moment looks scary, however.]