Winter Blues
Today was not the best day to be out birding and I found myself taking some winter pictures along Red House Creek. Since temperatures have been reaching near 0°F this past week (and will continue to be for the next week) . . . . I have found myself with some “winter blues” and desiring the return to the spring/summer temperatures. I thought this would be a perfect opportunity to reflect how one particular spot can look almost 6 months later when temperatures were near 90°F.
The winter picture above is the same location as the summer photo below! Notice those rocks around the running water?? I didn’t plan on making that happen but it just proves how beautiful one location can be no matter what season it is!!
I guess the cure to the winter blues is color. Since I have taken the day off tomorrow . . . I plan on wearing brightly colored summer clothing and crank my furnace!! I also plan on sleeping in so that the sun will be up once I crawl out of bed! I would also love to crank my music up and keep my cats from sleeping all day?? That should truly recharge me for the next 3 months!!!
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Some of that bright green really cheers up the soul, but I still love that sparkling white and blue of winter as well.
21 January 2008 at 6:57 pm
What an interesting comparison! Very cool.
Good luck with the cats…and with sleeping in. Mine don’t let me sleep in. They give me head butts and nip at my feet if I even make a stir around the time they are used to getting up. Sigh…
21 January 2008 at 6:58 pm
Tom, very nice comparisons. It is amazing how different our seasons are. Your pictures of summer must be real, but it is so hard to fathom summer in the coldest days of winter!
21 January 2008 at 7:03 pm
I just heard on the news that today is the most depressing day of the year. This is according to a British study of such things. Then I come to your blog and find that you are “blue”. I am so sorry to hear this. I too feel starved for color. This is one reason why I wear red a lot during winter. One must have color. I do like the blue hues in your snow pictures. I would love to try to paint one of them. These pictures could be used for note cards or post cards. They are just lovely.
Cheers…
21 January 2008 at 7:16 pm
I love your winter photos as well as your summer photos Tom! They’re all very beautiful! I’ve been thinking about warmer temperatures today too!! A trip to a warmer climate would work wonders! 😉
21 January 2008 at 7:19 pm
Whenever I am just tired of snow I look at a photo of Machu Picchu overshaddowing the lush rainforest. Then I look at a picture of Pagagonia to remind myself that cold can be beautiful too. Maybe not so ironically, these are the two places I most want to travel to in my life.
21 January 2008 at 7:53 pm
Good luck sleeping in, I never seem to manage it.
It is this time of year that I try to remember the biting flies, mosquitos and poison ivy of the summer.
But, most times, it doesn’t help…
Why did I ever move to Bradford? I think I will join you in your blues!
21 January 2008 at 8:57 pm
It’s nice to look forward to summer, when we can complain about it being too hot!
As for the cats, you might want to rethink that plan. Felines are experts at “don’t get mad, get even.”
21 January 2008 at 9:21 pm
Let’s hear it for bright clothing–but your winter pics are anything but blues inducing for me.
I love winter–and I love your pics.
21 January 2008 at 9:32 pm
Tom, I understand. I’m tired of no color and wearing a coat. Your photos are absolutely beautiful in all seasons! I wish you a bright day off tomorrow. We all need it. I’m ready for the hummingbirds to return.
21 January 2008 at 9:37 pm
If winter always sparkled like your pictures, I may not tire of it after a couple of months. So much of the time it is grey and dull and uninspiring. But our seasonal changes are invigourating for sure!
21 January 2008 at 9:42 pm
I know the feeling. Even though our winters here are rather mild, it’s still dull wandering around and trying to find some bugs that are braving the winter.
Your post reminds me of the first two days of a trip into the Peruvian Amazon. To our amazement, it was bitterly cold and we were very depressed that we didn’t see much wildlife. Then the guide remarked that when it’s cold the caiman come out and that is the best time to see them. We saw over a hundred caiman that day, including the rare and endangered black caiman. When it warmed up, more birds, turtles, and mammals came out but the caiman disappeared. Sometimes you just have to look at what is out there… rather than what isn’t…
21 January 2008 at 10:19 pm
@ Scienceguy – sure is great seeing the green! I wouldn’t mind the snow if it wasn’t so cold!
@ Rondi – my trick is not allowing them into my bedroom! LOL
@ Tom – thanks and this is the best time to remember the summer!
@ Lisa – Funny, I had heard on the NBC Evening News the same thing as I was typing up this post. Thanks and would love to see what you do with them.
@ Pam – thanks and hard not to think about the warmer temps! I so agree and if Nick would post some of his Costa Rica pictures . . . we could almost be in the tropics.
@ Scienceguy – still here? They sound like wonderful places to visit!
@ pwrbrdr – will try!! I would be happy to take the black flies over the freeze! And you moved to Bradford because it beats hurricanes, volcanoes and earthquakes.
@ Wren – I can’t wait for summer! Mine for sure will probably get even!
@ KGMom – LOL! Winter is great but does it need to be soo cold? Thanks
@ Mary – color would be nice and thanks for your kind words! Life will be good when the hummingbirds return!
@ Ruth – thanks and only wish it wasn’t as cold as it currently is (and will be for the next week)! We wish for warm when its cold but when warm we wish for the cold!
@ Calevphoto – thanks and I think I saw Seattle made the news for being cold also! Allegany is for sure one of the most beautiful places in the world! Great it can be compared to such a stunning place like Peru.
21 January 2008 at 10:28 pm
WHITE is beautiful too!! Just see if Lazy doesn’t agree.
22 January 2008 at 12:00 am
That sounds like a great plan to get rid of the blues. I turned the heat up this morning just for a few hours to try and remember how it feels to be warm. But I’m back now with a jacket on in the house.
If it wasn’t for the fact that the northeast is just so pretty and green in the summer, I wouldn’t live here another year. But, alas, when I’ve taken all the cold weather I can take and want to move out west, summer arrives and I look back wondering how I could think of such a thing as moving.
22 January 2008 at 12:29 am
Amazing shots!! – obviously you’ve mastered your shutter. Great job. I keep wanting to do this down by the creek however, I’ve never thought of a good enough reason to wander down in five feet of snow. I’m also not totally convinced I can do this just yet. I think in all fairness I hike more in the winter than I do in the summer but I admit willingly I’m kind of kooky that way. p.s. preference? all amazing shots however, I’m really digging shot one getting the sun perfectly aligned really made for an amazing shot and shot five – the way you capture the movement of water is beautiful. (you kind of expect a fairy to shoot out behind a tree…. not in your winter shots tho rumor has tinkerbell does not wear enough clothes for 0 degrees.) Amazing work Tom. Amazing!
22 January 2008 at 4:39 am
Warmth and color is the essence of life, isn’t it? I think the thing I like best about the winter is the anticipation of knowing it ends and the warmth and green will soon return. Beautiful contrasting images Tom.
22 January 2008 at 7:00 am
Oooh, green….so lovely, I miss it too!
22 January 2008 at 8:10 am
Hi Tom,
I’m sorry to hear you’ve got the blues (I heard the same report Lisa did about yesterday’s date & the high suicide rate). Here’s the cure for you: Learn to knit! Just in January alone, I have already finished 7 projects! Your mid-winter life will have a new purpose as you knit beautiful and colorful gifts for your friends and family (plus, cats LOVE yarn!) Then in April when it’s nice outside again, you can throw all your stuff in the closet till November.
OK, I can tell you’re not convinced, but it was worth a try…… 🙂
P.S. your contrasting pictures are beautiful!
22 January 2008 at 8:19 am
May not have been great for birding, but it still looks like a great spot. Of course, I prefer the non-winter shots, myself – ’cause I hate the cold!
22 January 2008 at 10:41 am
I have to admit that the snow scenes are really quite beautiful. I always love the way snow covers rocks and makes them look soft and round. I understand the mid-winter blues, it’s why Roger and I fled south for the winter. I do miss a bit of the intensity that a northern winter brings, but we’re settling for a temperate climate these days.
22 January 2008 at 11:30 am
Great idea on your day off!
Your winter pictures are beautiful but it was really nice to see all that green.
22 January 2008 at 2:21 pm
This time of year is one of the main reasons we have our living room decorated in cheerful colors. I’ve also gotten out all the brightly colored towels this week.
On the gardening front, all of the hyacinths that I’m forcing inside have leaves sprouting – whatever helps, winter-wise.
I hope your day off recharges you!
22 January 2008 at 3:36 pm
Funny–I was feeling blue yesterday too because of the cold so I posted something similar but not nearly as nice photos. I just keep thinking about how close it is to spring–only two month really. Hang in there.
22 January 2008 at 4:43 pm
Just think everyday it is getting lighter longer. Hang in there it is almost Spring. Then it will be Summer. Check out my other site I have a little piece written about you today.
~Nita~
22 January 2008 at 5:09 pm
Lovely creek shots Mon@rch! I like them both– the crisp white winter and the soft flow of the water over the rocks in the summer. Great work, whatever the season.
22 January 2008 at 5:25 pm
We don’t get much snow here in central Virginia so I appreciated seeing the snow photos. 🙂 It’s cool here but no where near the zero mark. I think we got into the high thirties today. My Yankee blood has thinned since we moved here from Connecticut 8 years ago so temps in the 30s is as cold as I want to go.
The cold weather does bring a lot of birds to the feeders so there are some advantages. We had a big flock of Pine Siskins today (never had them last year) and the other day I had a lifer – a plumped up Fox Sparrow showed up for several hours.
Enjoy your day off tomorrow Monarch!
22 January 2008 at 5:34 pm
@ Grace – She is beautiful but you know Phoebe is my fave!
@ Erie – we need to do that from time to time! I do enjoy the winter and probably should have gone XC skiing! But, just so cold! Brr
@ aullori – You would think! I kept on having problems with all these snow shots that I was taking! It wasn’t till I got home that I realized I lost my control because I had the auto ISO on! So when I slowed down the shutter the iso would go up! O well, I know better for next time! I so agree that the sun shot is my fave also! Thanks!
@ jayne – I make it through the winter knowing the warblers will return in the spring!
@ threecollie – how I agree . . . green is good!
@ RuthieJ – I know my cats would love the yarn but I really think this isn’t anything I would be interested in doing! Glad you tried!
@ Marty – it is a great spot for sure! Cold isn’t good and just cost money!
@ Robin – I would love to head south for the winter! Ooo how much fun that would be! Maybe someday I can make that happen!
@ Chicago – thanks and was nice to not really do much! Which is exactly what I did! Well did get laundry and dishes done, that’s a +! Still need to vacuum though.
@ M Light – I really should paint my white walls with some colors! I can’t have plants in the house because of the cats . . . ! I do miss my plants!
@ Joan – the blues really were not that bad and just probably more being lazy! Or the wanting to be lazy! We need that from time to time!
@ Nita – thanks and did see already! Thanks you are too kind!
@ Jim – thanks and loved those summer shots! I probably should try taking more of them!
@ colleen – you can have my snow! LOL only kidding! Very cool with your siskins and fox sparrow is a great bird! Congrats! Thanks for visiting and I checked out your site! Very neat cards you have!
22 January 2008 at 8:00 pm
Winter can be beautiful visually but I will be looking forward to spring soon.
22 January 2008 at 11:32 pm
Your winter photos look very inviting to me, Tom. Wish I were there — for two or three days. Then, I’d hightail it back down south, although it’s drab here, too, but a bit warmer drabness.
23 January 2008 at 12:59 am
One of the great things about living in a place with 4 distinct seasons is being able to look forward to the change of weather which comes with each one. Though I love looking at and walking in snowy landscapes, I must also admit that the older I get the less I like the cold. Thanks for sharing.
23 January 2008 at 3:38 am
Sorry I missed this post earlier, Tom. I’ve been fighting the winter blues, myself. I just keep telling myself, “spring is coming… spring is coming!”. 🙂
Gorgeous shots, by the way. Love them!
23 January 2008 at 10:30 am
Lovely photos, regardless of season! I once wanted to take subsequent photos out in the woods every month, same subject & angle. Thought it would be interesting to see all the changes throughout the year. Hang in there! *sympie hug for the cold.*
23 January 2008 at 3:55 pm
Just now I got home from work and saw a purple finch sleeping beneath my bird feeder. It’s very cold. The adolescent baby had his head tucked beneath his wing trying to stay warm. I wrapped both palms around him and lifted him up to my mouth. As he started to struggle, I let out a long slow warming breath. He liked it. I could feel his icy little toes. He snuggled up. I stood there for awhile surrounding him with care and then I went up to window where my husband was. I had his attention. He wondered what I was holding. I opened my hands. The finch flew to the next feeder and began eating again. It’s going to be zero out there tonight. Say a prayer for all the winter babies.
23 January 2008 at 6:39 pm
You do live in a beautiful area, any season. The stream is “breath taking” beautiful.
I too am wanting a break from the ice and snow.
Enjoy your day off.
Do stay warm. I tire of the cold long before I tire of the heat.
Sherry
23 January 2008 at 7:08 pm
I think everybody wants Spring but really it’s only January what do you expect? What a lovely place Allegany is! Did you have fun on your enjoy summer day?
23 January 2008 at 9:57 pm
@ Lvn – I can’t wait for spring!
@ Marvin – thanks and Allegany sure has some great background!
@ Vern – I sometimes wonder if the other seasons blend into just Summer and Winter!
@ Lisa – I make it through the spring knowing the warblers will be back in the spring!
@ Lana – that would be a very fun thing to do! Just place a rock in your spot! Do do!
@ Beth – Wow, probably a little stunned! I have had birds do that also! Glad it was last seen doing good!
@ Sherry – Western New York is a very beautiful area, thanks! For sure the bugs are gone but not worrying about frostbite is always good!
@ Marg – I tried and amazing how quickly a day can go by! Thanks
24 January 2008 at 12:15 pm