Waiting for Winter

Where the heck did our winter go?  We had some wintry weather a couple of weeks ago, but now we've got rain and fog instead of ice and snow.  Ah well, I'm trying to make the best of it.  It was rather beautiful along the foggy Hudson River today.

Because of a fine mist in the air, every twig of the riverside trees held shining droplets that resembled  twinkling Christmas lights.

The lush emerald hue of this Green Velvet Moss (Dicranum montanum) seemed to glow in the dim light of this damp misty afternoon.

Beavers are causing some serious deforestation along the river banks near the Sherman Island Boat Launch.

It will be interesting to see what vegetation takes over, now that the banks are exposed to direct sunlight.

Walking along Spier Falls Road, I was surprised to see how this oak leaf had left its profile on the painted strip at the edge of the pavement.

That leaf reminded me of one I had come across just one year ago, embedded within a frosty escutcheon on the frozen surface of Moreau Lake.  This was what winter looked like about this same time last year.  When I searched for this photo in my blog archives, I discovered that winter came late last January, too.  But it did come,  eventually.  This post from January 14, 2019, reassures me that winter may yet arrive this year, too.