Saturday night and freezing rain

It's Saturday night and I cancelled my plans based on a winter weather advisory for freezing rain.  Yeah, my AWD Subaru has studded snows, but not everyone else  on the road is as well prepared.  I decided to stay home, snug in my house with the wood stove going.  And, Charley the cat.
The outside world can be a bit dreary this time of year.  The landscape is stark and trees look terribly bare without their leaves.  Reminds me of that Joni Mitchell song, "Urge For Going," made famous by Tom Russell.  Love these lines:



I awoke today and found the frost perched on the town
It hovered in a frozen sky, then it gobbled summer down
When the sun turns traitor cold
And shivering trees are standing in a naked row
I get the urge for going but I never seem to go
    ~Joni Mitchell

This is the time of year when photo opportunities don't pop up as frequently.  But, if you look closely, it's really quite beautiful.  I noticed today that small sections of the river were beginning to freeze and there were icicles on the rocks by the river.  It has been  very cold here.  A bit too early in the season for me.
I spend lots of time looking at the sky these days, which appears to be constantly changing.  In fact, almost rear ended the car in front of me the other day when the sky looked like this:

 

Inspired by Joni Mitchell -  "shivering trees are standing in a naked row" 

   

All has not been totally bleak.  We did have a light dusting of snow last week.  Yay!  Grabbed my camera and got a few shots of the barn/field across the street in the early morning.

 

Sometimes I love capturing the world in black and white rather than color.  Love the shadows in this barn shot.



Fog and Art In Sixes

Yesterday was my first show where I presented my photographs: Art in Sixes, a small works show at the Delaware Valley Arts Alliance in Narrowsburg, NY.  I was pretty excited and a little nervous.  Not sure why I was nervous, but I was.  Turned out to be great fun!  Huge crowd, wine was flowing, lots of interesting people.  At one point it was wall-to-wall people (literally!) and I never did see the entire show.  Will go back one day soon when I'm alone and can take in everything by myself.  Many terrific artists in the show and I was proud to be a small part of it. 

Big surprise of the day for me was that I sold two photographs!  Wow.  I'll post them here, even though I posted one before in a previous blog.  One photo is a foggy morning in Mystic, CT .  Always loved that photo and was thrilled that someone else did.   A friend asked me about some of my fog pictures and how I take them. Obviously, there is a sense of knowing your camera, but it also involves patience.  One must wait for the fog to lift.  It's always best for me to get out early in the morning. Then, I watch carefully until things slowly begin to appear in the dense fog.  I love the waiting part and sensing that 'right' moment to take the photo.   Good thing I'm a morning person.  By the way, a good cup of coffee is also an important piece in getting the fog pics just right.

 

I used to do lots of sailing when I was younger and found fog incredibly scary.  All one had to rely on were lights and horns.  When I'm on land, I love fog.  However, last year crossing over to Block Island on the ferry we were in thick fog and I didn't mind.  That's because the Block Island ferry is a big boat and I was always on small sailboats, feeling rather vulnerable.  That fog horn on the ferry blew almost constantly for the entire trip.  I felt very safe even though I couldn't see a thing - nothing.  Next time in the fog I will take a pictures of the 'nothingness.' 

 

One of the other photos in the show that sold was a house on Block Island.  It's a house that I photograph frequently, a house that always stays in my mind.  I return every year to photograph that house and still don't think I've gotten it quite right.  But, someone bought it.  That felt great! This year I will find out who lives there.  Guess I used to think it was an empty house because of its location, but not so sure anymore.  It appears to sit on the edge of the sea and I never noticed a road.  Will have to do some exploring.  Ok, here are the photos: