This morning I was glancing through some blogs on my dashboard list, and I happened to stop by a post at The Last Visible Dog, where Katherine says: “I admit I have been guilty in the past of promoting New Zealand. I've taken lovely photos in lovely places, and left undone subjects that might have given a more realistic view of my country.” Something she then tries to make up for by showing more lovely photos of lovely places; there must be some irony there that gets past me…!
Anyway, I guess I still held that line of thought somewhere at the back of my head as I made my way to the supermarket later; stepping carefully between the puddles and patches of ice…
I’ve been able to show you quite a few beautiful snowy scenes this winter. For one thing it is of course in that kind of winter weather that I myself feel most tempted to take out the camera. But then we also really did have that kind of winter, all through December. (Breaking cold records as far back as records of temperatures have been kept in most towns.)
After New Year, however, the weather has been playing yoyo tricks on us, and it’s hard to keep up! Rain and thaw one day, more snow the next. Before I get one set of photos uploaded to the computer and organized, the weather has usually changed again. On the worst days – of either snowstorm, or rain upon snow and ice – it has felt safest to just stay in. (And had I gone out, I would have had to keep my eyes on my own feet all the time anyway.)
Now where am I going… Oh yes: To give you some uncensored pictures of what snow looks like when it’s no longer young and fresh and light, but getting old, tired, heavy and dirty!
And yet, and yet, and yet… There’s still magic in the camera…!
With the camera I see things I might not have noticed otherwise, like reflections in the water, and shapes formed by the ice:
Can you see the sphinx?
Perhaps the first sphinx, Queen Hetepheres II from the fourth dynasty (Cairo Museum)
“The sphinx, in Greek tradition, has the haunches of a lion, the wings of a great bird, and the face and breast of a woman. She is treacherous and merciless: those who cannot answer her riddle suffer a fate typical in such mythological stories: they are gobbled up whole and raw, eaten by this ravenous monster.” [Wikipedia]
Here are some questions from the Ice Sphinx…
Q: What did the big furry hat say to the warm woolly scarf?
A: "You hang around while I go on ahead."
Q: What's the difference between an iceberg and a clothes brush?
A: One crushes boats and the other brushes coats!
Q: What's another name for ice?
A: Skid stuff!
Q: What's an ig?
A: A snow house without a loo!
Q: If it's zero degrees outside today and it's going to be twice as cold tomorrow, how cold is it going to be?
A: ?????
5 comments:
Well, I see you are an expert on snapping the ugly as well as the beautiful!! Gosh, look at that big lump of black snow on the bench, I would be tempted to just knock it off! These are really ugly, at least the first ones!! The river one I like and think it is pretty. And YES, I saw the Sphinx before I ever read your thoughts about it!! You were really sharp there, I would NEVER have seen that!!! It is an ice sculpture made by God! Love the icy jokes!
laughing out loud, love the ig without the loo. these photos are beautiful, i do see the spinx and the camera makes the dirty snow look good, in te photo anyway. i like the one that has the car buried. this is a great post. i did pop over and look at the new zealand, and her bad parts were beautiful.
I remember scenes like this when I lived in snow country. Now I just visit the snow.
That is a conundrum about only showing the beautiful, that's why I have too blogs. “Martha's Musings” tells a story in pictures and words and the pictures don't have to be pretty. “Around California” tells no story, just pretty pictures and a map to the location; two missions, two blogs.
Nice post. Sometimes I feel bad posting about the lovely weather of So Cal. Your blog has made me more appreciative of it. I like the jokes at the end: pun-ny stuff!
Twice as cold as zero (Celcius I assume). Hmm. That's an interesting one. You've got me on a think now.
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