Frozen, Part Deux
Since some of you have asked, I’ve been trying to take pictures of our frozen Tundra up here. Our thermometer read about fifteen BELOW zero this morning, but it’s beautiful and sunny. One might be tempted to call it “crisp,” but that doesn’t quite capture the brightness, shininess, or the creaking, crunchy shock of this cold. Make no mistake, your nose runs and then everything freezes.
Here is my attempt to take a winter shot from the same place as the fall shot of the lake that is the cover of my book. It’s the same tree, which has been trimmed, but I can’t get the angle right, the leaves are, of course, gone, and a boat lift occupies a lot of the scene.
Winter angle:
Jevin Kelderhouse ice fishing, alone:
And the watery, wintry sun: 
Glorious!
Yes some might even call it “bracing!” The best part is we are just about half way through January.
there is something special about a sub zero morning on the lake, quiet, fresh, and the bright sun, priceless. and then at night it has a solace that is mystic.
Wow! I have a longing to see that, though my imagined visitation involves being in a heated hovercraft. Here in the Blue Ridge, we call it cold when 15 above. The grasses in the fields are so delicate on those mornings, each blade encased in tiny crystalline bands of mountain dew (the real kind). It’s so beautiful that I find myself longing for the equipment or ability to capture a close-up in a lens or a line of poetry. (A rhyme about rime?) I settle, instead, for the aural experience–the sounds like glass bubbles shattering, as I tromp through the scene in my farm boots, arms loaded with hay. I feel somehow guilty destroying all those works of minuscule art, but the goats have to eat!
These icy pictures are inspiring poetry! Check out Karen Glosser designs. She’s a local photographer whose “Ice” series will be on display at the Portage Hill Gallery during the month of February. http://www.karenglosser.com.
I just saw this. Thank you so much, Beth! I truly appreciate it! I am in the process of getting everything ready for the show. Very excited about this one. My Iced Series is a project that I’ve been working on over the course of the last 2-3 years. A different view of WNY winters! And while I’m here, I have to tell you how wonderful your book is! Having grown up here in Chautauqua County, every page brings back happy memories. With your amazing talent for storytelling, you have captured life here in a very emotional, real way. As I’ve read along, I have laughed, cried, smiled… and reminisced. A marvelous book!