Christmas Snow

What a great surprise! We actually got some snow over Christmas!

It started snowing Christmas Eve, and turned a bit icy overnight.  

Luckily we were all home safe and sound, and didn't need to be out driving.

Christmas morning Clover and I went for a walk along our usual route.

Here's my favorite view, frosted with an inch of snow.

And Just Like That It's Fall

Sort of unusual for summer to linger into October, but that's the lucky weather we've been having in Southwest Washington this month.  Last week we woke up one day, freezing around the house all morning, before figuring out we needed to turn on the heater!  So sunny and 70s in the day and low 40s at night is how the week has gone.  And yesterday, we even had a little fog!  Exciting only because it's fresh right now.  (I'll be so sick of fog by the end of winter.) Clover and I walked to the little creek on the campus trails to see how it looked in a thin fog.  This involved hat and gloves, although I shed them before the end of the walk.  I liked the light; a thin fog adds just the right amount of diffusion for a photo with some depth.  I'll try this spot again once the Big Leaf Maples really start turning yellow.  (Plus I'm intending to get out with my camera a few times a week, so hopefully more active on the blog this month and next.)

Spared

Winter storm number 6 (or 7?) thankfully didn't materialize as forecast. 

Snow is so pretty, but for now I've had my fill.  

This image taken a few days after our big storm on January 11th.

Winter Light

I stumbled upon Fallen Leaf Lake Park in Camas yesterday. I knew it was near Lacamas, vaguely, but just lucked into spotting the almost hidden entrance as I was heading home from a day in the gorge. I'll explore it more later, but did a quick walk while the sun was still up, and happened upon a really great patch of light. So glad we got sunshine for the first day of winter; I just love the low light angle this time of year.

Whose Woods These Are

I think I know...The campus trails made for an enchanting walk for me and Clover during our second snow of the year yesterday. We had the woods almost completely to ourselves, only meeting a runner and his dog and a couple out enjoying the winter wonderland. As we passed the couple who were on their way home, the man told me there was a Robert Frost poem in the woods. Maybe a professor on campus, I thought. Of course he was right; it's why we were all out, stopping by woods on a snowy evening.

Trillium Woods

A carpet of trillium covers the woods behind the subdivision where I grew up in Northwest Indiana. We spent a lot of time playing in 'The Woods'. Very fun to return here during trillium season. 

Woodland Trail in Winter

Hiking with Clover at the Sandy River Delta last week.  It was a bright overcast day, and the dark tree trunks made me think this might work as a black and white.