Saturday, January 4, 2014

Revisiting the Winter River


On Friday, I waited and waited until the weak winter sun could coax the temperature to 4 above zero before suiting up to return to the snowy riverbank I first photographed for this blog five years ago.  And  look!  Except for maybe the trees being a little taller, nothing at all has changed!  How lucky I am to live in a region where landscapes as lovely as this are protected forever.  Or at least, for as long as I'm likely to live.  And how lucky I am, too, that I still have the health and strength and forbearance for cold that allow me to tromp about in the winter woods and enjoy its beauties.





The animals who live in this forest were still huddled snug in their dens, so I did not see a single track in the snow to indicate they'd been out and about.  The river,  though, had left plenty of evidence of its rising and falling, freezing and thawing,  by the sinuous lines that were etched on the ice near the shore.










Always, always, there's always something of beauty just waiting to be discovered along these shores.  The Highbush Blueberry buds were glowing a Christmassy red beneath a mantle of snow.
 




But the Winterberries sure took the prize for the richest red.


6 comments:

Uta said...

I so enjoyed these pictures,just beautiful. My Winterberry bushes are picked clean from the bird even the once I used for decoration outside.

The Furry Gnome said...

What. A great comparison! And those lines in the ice are really amazing.

suep said...

very cool lines in the river ice ! almost makes up for us not seeing the bubble-ice this year -

Unknown said...

The first picture, sun through the snowy woods is very similiar to one I took yesterday at the Quogue Wildlife refuge.. We have been blessed these past two years with snow on Long Island! Love the winterberrie pics!

catharus said...

Just lovely!!! 'Love the abstract lines of the river ice!

Ellen Rathbone said...

Beautiful ice patterns!