Monochrome: Blowing Snow / Beads On Ice

First, thank you for the lovely and supportive comments on my most recent blip. You are all very kind.

It had snowed a few new powdery inches of white stuff overnight, and so in the morning, I walked up Tow Hill to take a gander. My timing was good. I got there while the snow was still on the trees, and just as the wind picked up and began to blow it. That white stuff you see above the mailbox is wind-whipped snow.

There is really nothing that compares to the sight of blowing snow. It gives one a wild, fresh feeling. Also, for the camera holder, there is that worry-slash-excitement of: oh my gosh, I forgot to bring my umbrella! Am I going to have to put my camera away quickly and run away from the snow to protect it? But the wind behaved itself, well enough, and what I got for my trouble were some decent shots of blustery and blowing snow.

In separate news, my husband brought in not one but TWO containers of fresh ice from the yard. He puts out water for bird baths and of course, it eventually freezes. He brings it in, it thaws a bit, I play with it, and he refills the bowls and takes them back outside. This was my first ever photo shoot with DOUBLE ice.

A colorful strand of my mother's beads was part of yesterday morning's memorial photo shoot, and I was so delighted with how well they photographed that I got them out again. I stacked my ice: square ice on the bottom, bowl-shaped ice on top, beads in between the layers, my headlamp beneath the square ice. I took most of my photos with the overhead lights OFF.

In the extras you may see one of my results. It shows both the beads on the bottom and how wonderfully they reflected their colors through the ice. It reminded me of those Venetian glass beads that have such lovely designs on them. It seemed very fancy and pretty. So please enjoy the abstract of the beads on ice.

I have two photos, so here are two songs. For my blowing snow above, I've got Peter, Paul, and Mary, with Blowin' in the Wind. (And farewell and thank you for the music to Peter Yarrow, who passed this week.) For my colorful beads on ice in the extras, I've got Sea Stars, with Colors of the Sun.

Bonus: three Instagram links.
Winter day's walk, 1.
Winter day's walk, 2.
Beads under ice.