Day 396

Today, we woke to snow. We had large chunky snowflakes for about an hour. School closed. The snow was all melted by 10am. Silliness.

Day 392

Today, the sky was clear, and the snow was melting.

This is the sunlight reflecting off the wet parking lot.

Day 391

Today, we had snow from late morning until late evening.

Day 136

Today, we woke up to a light coating of snow and drizzling rain. The snow quickly dissolved, as the rain continued. Snow isn't uncommon in March, in Richmond, VA (we've had heavy cabin fever inducing snow before), but of course no one recalls that when the snow comes in Spring. Granted having nice days followed by bitter cold isn't fun, but that is what Spring is like here. I'm expecting another 2 months of rain. March, April and May showers bring on the flowers here...so expect a lot of wet flower photos...or in this case wet and frozen.

This is a flower from a Dogwood tree in my front yard. I squeezed this one to see if the water was frozen or not. It wasn't, but that would have been neat. Since the flowers were facing up, they are like little cups when filled with rain.

This Rhododendron had ice melting off of it and rain drops on it.

Some of the Vinca had snow on it. All of it was wet.

The upturned petals of the hyacinth had rain glistening in them. This one is so shiny, you can see me a bit.

Since it was really cold outside, I went back in quickly, to warm up. This squirrel butt greeted me.

Later in the morning, we headed to the city to meet some friends for brunch. After brunch, I took some photos from the passenger side of the tree lined streets. Remember when I said, I wouldn't stick the new fancy camera out of the car window. Well, I lied. Really, I just rested it on the window sill and pointed it up.

As we crossed the main bridge to our house, John said I should take photos of the James River. He purposely drives in the far right lane, so I have a better chance of clear photos. This one has been cropped to exclude the guard rail.

These are the train tracks by our house. They are tricky to photograph, so my husband slowed down when we crossed them.

Day 91

Today, when we woke, there was a light dusting of snow. On the way back from the bus stop, I took photos.

I liked seeing the singular dead leaves with snow on them, against the pavement.

This English Ivy leaf is partially broken. I like the contrast of the white snow against the dark green leaf. Also, the snow dusting shape on the rail is neat, since it follows the shape of the Ivy leaf.

As I was taking photos, I heard crows, so I went off looking for them. They flew off just as I got close. The formation of the trees above where is was, were pretty.

This is a gumball with snow.

On the way back to the house, I notice this mirror globe on the ground, had snow at the top. I thought this would be a nice photo for Amy of Snow Globe 365. Essentially it's snow on a globe, but still fitting. The globe is reflecting the trees and what remains of a garden. You can also see me in it a bit. There is soil on the bottom side of the globe.

I liked being able to see myself in the reflection, in my crouched pose. Whether I am taking photos of the ground or sky, I'm normally crouched. I wear flat shoes. I'm wearing my normal herringbone pattern coat and my grandmother's black faux leather gloves. Photo wise, I like the view of double globes.

This a better photo of the second globe with snow on it. This one also has dirt at the bottom. I suspect this occurs when rain splashed mud up.

When the type of weather changes, different plants are more noticeable than at other times. Today, I noticed the color of these tree leaves. I like the shape and how the snow has laid on them.

I never thought much about Fall leaves until this project. Now, I appreciate the discoloration of leaves and how weather affects the color. 

Day 78

Today started with a bit of disappointment. An Egret or Heron flew past our window, so I went out to take it's photo. It was snowing when I went out, so this was really a mission. I found it hiding behind some brush in the creek. I got closer to try to take a better photo, but it flew off and I couldn't find it again. This disappointment was rectified by a friend telling me that we will go to a part of the river that they are at and I can take photos there on a different day. This makes me very happy. Photos of those bird will of course be in a different post.

What did improve the photographs for today, was that pesky Cardinal. It actually stayed still long enough to photograph a lot! I'm very excited by this, as it's my favorite bird aside from Carrion birds.

This lovely Cardinal stared at me for a bit, but was also looking around at other things.

Same Cardinal

Same Cardinal, flying off.

Song Sparrows are very common here. I finally got a photo of one.

Same Song Sparrow

As I was looking for the Egret/Heron, I saw this large root ball that had moss growing on it.

Snow was falling while I was outside on my Egret/Heron search. Here is a bush with some snow on it.

Day 77

Last night, it snowed. This morning, when I took Alex to the bus stop, I noticed the snow was in a lacy formation. It was in the process of melting. About an hour or two later, it was all gone.

This was on our steps. It's a leaf trapped under the melting snow.

This leaf is of course on top of the snow.

The top of this photo has a heart melted into the snow. I did nothing to form this. Through this project, I'm actually starting to look forward to snow, which is something that I haven't done in years.

This is snow clinging vertically to this plant.

This melting snow on the Camellia bush, looked a bit like a skull. Of course, I liked it.

Day 49

I have been feeling ill today. I woke out of a nap as I remembered I needed to take photos. I ventured out right before dusk. Most of the snow has melted. I like the ice crystal structure of the remaining snow.

Day 48

Today, while we were driving to Jason's Deli for lunch, I noticed the lake near by was partially frozen and had geese around it/in it. After lunch, I went over to take photos while Alex finished up her ice cream with John. I took photos of the ice, but I should have looked closer before taking photos. If you haven't been around geese before, well there is a lot of poo. So much poo, that there was poo on the ice. The below photos don't include those poo filled ruined photos. Though this blog is about photographing nature and poo is natural, it's not pretty and you don't need to see that in a photo. No amount of blurring in photoshop could have removed it and left recognizable ice. Gross. Ok, on to photos not about poo...

This is Fountain Grass an edge of the lake. In the background you can see the ice and water. The unfrozen part is due to the fountain which you can sort of see on the right middle area. Geese are opposite. This water has to be really cold. Apparently geese don't mind.

Here are some of the smarter geese that aren't swimming in the freezing water.

This is a seagull on the ice. Since we don't live near the sea/ocean (it's about 1.5 hrs away driving), we call them trashgulls as they tend to hang out in parking lots and land fills. The footprints in the snow are from the geese...I think. They were smaller than human feet.

Brown plant. I'm not sure what type.

Back at the house, I decided that the rock salt was photo worthy. It's natural, though not naturally occurring here. It's all over the paths and stair due to the last recent snow. It's tinted the path and snow a pink color. I tried to take photos of the tinted snow, but they didn't come out clear. I will try again another day, before the snow all melts.

Day 45

The snow continued through the night and day. When I woke, the trees were coated heavily and there were icicles on some branches.

Snow on Holly Tree

Icicles on our Crape Myrtle

Icicles on our Crape Myrtle

Icicles on our Crape Myrtle

Icicles on our Holly tree

Icicles on our Crape Myrtle