Little Pond, Early December

It was a mostly gray day, with low-hanging clouds and rain from time to time. My only chance to snag a few photos was on my morning drive to work. I often work at home on Mondays, but this particular Monday was the final day of my 49th year, and I wanted to save my work-at-home day for Tuesday for two reasons.

One, I thought it would be nice not to have to get up early and get ready for work on my 50th birthday, leaving behind my two favorite fur-faces for the day (my Tabbycat Dexter and my bearded husband). And two, the weather folks were calling for a good possibility of a snow/ice/freezing rain event throughout parts of the day on Tuesday, and so it sounded like it might be a good day to stay in.

So Monday morning found me out and about. And I stopped for just a few minutes by a favorite pond for a few snaps. A pair of cows in the field above the pond eyed me warily. The little pond was frozen for a bit but has thawed again, so it was capturing some lovely reflections of the spare gray trees. There is little color in the landscape now, aside from some muted browns. The beautiful foliage has come and gone, leaving me wistful in autumn's wake, like a girl who's been to the very best ball of all and danced until her feet hurt, and so . . . now what?

Now what comes next is December, always a favorite month because it includes both my birthday AND Christmas. And snowy winter, which can also be lots of fun - when it's not trying to take your life on the highway, of course. Snow is especially fun to photograph, and once again this year, I am hoping to get out and see all of the wintry beauties that are available to be seen. So let us celebrate December's arrival like we would greet an old friend!

The soundtrack has to be a song about water. I do love the seashore but we don't get much of that in landlocked central Pennsylvania. But for a minute, let's just pretend, shall we? The tune: Robert Plant and Tori Amos, Down by the Seaside.