Week 46 - Winter Wonderland

Day 316

Last year I did a series The Memory of Trees for a photographic exhibition. I love trees. And I love fairy tale snow. Our first serious snow of the winter season was magical. But it was so heavy it brought down the power lines and I feared it would break limbs.

With nothing to do at home with no electricity I took the camera and the 4 x 4 pickup out to record the snow, and the trees.

Day 317

Day 318

Day 319

Day 320

The photograph above is one of my favorites from this day in the snow. As is Day 322. They are just trees in the snow. No unfrozen pond or country lane. Okay, Day 322 has a picnic table.

Which is your favorite?

Day 321

Day 322

Week 45 - Cottonwoods on the Rio Grande

Day 309
Where we used to dine at Embudo

When you live in the mountains the seasons come in stages. Fall can go on for weeks by just traveling down the mountain. First come the Aspens where I live and lastly come the cottonwoods on the Rio Grande. There are other stops along the way like Chama and Abiquiu but one cannot always get away to visit them all. For me my day trip down to the Rio Grande was the top of fall.

Day 310
On the banks of the Rio Grande

And these are just seven of the many photos I did take. Maybe not even the best but a good sampling. I made it to the canyon just as the sun was topping the walls and lighting up the cottonwoods. It was a glorious day. And the next day it snowed. So next week's blog will be white.

Day 311
Under the Cottonwoods

Aspens are tall and straight and whit with leaves just at their tops. Cottonwoods are explosions of trunks and branches in dark brown and the gold, and orange leaves are everywhere between you and the sun; turning the very light gold.

Day 312
The bend in the river

The Rio Grande runs through the gorge cut through the Taos Volcanic Plateau and emerges into the light in the Rio Grande Del Norte National Monument close to Pilar. This is one of the first bends as it leaves the protection of the park. Water is low this year. Snow pack, which feeds the river, had just been about 40% this last winter. It did not dull the colors but it shortened the season of colors.

Day 313
Sun topping the canyon wall

Below the gorge and into the Espanola Valley there are still cottonwoods but here hemmed in by the dark volcanic and granite walls the colors seem more striking. Especially in the early morning as the sun tops the canyon walls.

Day 314
Let there be light

 I raced through the canyon to Embudo Station first and then waited for the sun. Once it was up there I worked my way back up into the canyon and met the sun as it topped the walls and streaked through the trees.

Day 315
All alone

When I photographed this last tree the canyon had broadened out and the sun was fully up. Still the dark shadows on the surrounding landscape made it standout, all alone and away from the others on the banks of the river.

Week 44 - 2018 in Photographs

Day 291
Wool Festival Jester

Noticed today I had forgotten Week 43 in my 2018 blogs. Considered going back and doing it before this week but then decided to just charge ahead. This week is better than Week 43. Or maybe that is just because I included two photos of Thicke, the prince of cats.

I usually do not put him in my weekly review of photos. But he is a frequent poser and the note cards I make with his image are best sellers.

When I began these photo a day postings back in 2013 I was religious about posting a photo I took on the day I posted it. Now I post a photo a day but sometimes I took them a week or two before. I do take photos daily but sometimes it is just to record my cat or the art work I am doing in the studio. And currently because of my active pursuit of fall colors I am a couple weeks ahead. And today I renamed a few of my files.

The viewing of my blog posts here on a weekly basis has diminished so I am rethinking them. Are they just for me?

Day 292
Zipper Dawn

Day 293
Shadows in the greenhouse

Day 294
Snow on the birdbath

Day 295
Frost patterns on the deck wind screen

Day 296
Thicke in a sunspot in the studio

Day 297
His favorite chair

Playing Grasshopper

Outside Ute Park

There is the old fable about the ant and the grasshopper. The ant prepared for the approaching winter and the grasshopper fiddled on the glorious fall days. I played grasshopper with my camera as the fall leaves put on a fabulous show luring me away from winter preparations.

Fall colors against the Ute Park burn scar

Last of the Aspen Glory

Just as the aspens were shedding the last of their golden leaves the cottonwoods in the lower altitudes were in all their glory. And having not captured the best of the aspens I did not want to lose out on the cottonwoods. So when I should have been laying in at least a modicum of firewood to stave off the cold before my two cords were delivered I was off south along the Rio Grande with my camera.

On the Rio Grande

 I went down to Embudo Station where I know the trees well. It is part of my fall pilgrimage in search of colors. I had many a great brunch at the old restaurant there. I mourn that it is closed. 

Embudo Station Remnants 

Lazy River on a Glorious Fall Day

Sun streaming through the Cottonwood

Reflections at Countyline landing

Solitary Cottonwood

And then came the ten inches of snow, an eight hour power outage and accepting offers of firewood from friends and neighbors. But I got my pictures. The ant could learn something from the grasshopper.