Not Today

We had a few inches of snow last night.  Then it rained. Nothing but slush underfoot.  I'm not going outdoors today. To cheer myself, I looked through old blog posts of mine to find evidence that such weather never used to dissuade me from outdoor adventures. That could have been because I weighed quite a bit less, didn't have trauma-induced arthritis in one knee, or lungs growing stiff yet from COPD. Or maybe I'm just feeling low-energy because of stress surrounding the covid pandemic and the horrors of the current political situation.  Whatever.  Nevertheless, I did find some photos to remind me that beauty can be found outdoors, even on winter days as dismally dark and damp as this one.

This photo of fog rising from the surface of an ice-covered Saratoga Lake was taken a few years ago on just such a mid-winter rainy day as today.  I was reminded of Japanese ink drawings and found the view breathtaking.

The twigs of Red Osier Dogwood seem even more brilliantly red in the dim light of a dark rainy winter day, their beauty enhanced when decorated with crystal-clear raindrops.

This monochrome scene of snow-covered fields and leafless trees was rendered magical by drifts of mist rising from rain-soaked snow.

This January day was dark and cold, but the raindrops were dancing quite merrily on the surface of an open creek.

I'm not sure how this oak leaf became so impressively arrayed on its frosted escutcheon, but I believe rain had washed the surrounding snow from the surface of the ice-covered lake.

Is this photo really one of the most beautiful I've ever taken? Or do I just love it so much because it represents so much of what I love about where I live:  where forested mountains fall straight to the unspoiled banks of an island-studded river? Above the constantly flowing current, the water was smooth as glass on this unseasonably warm January day, and the rising mist rendered the scene even more magical than it always appears to me.