The Weekend in Black and White: Icicles

I always enjoy watching snow melt and form icicles.

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Skywatch Friday: White and Blue

Looking up the day after Christmas was white on white.

The next day there were so many different shades of blue and white to enjoy beginning with the morning light.

The first shots were taken from the windows inside.

Later I ventured out and for part of the day the sky was the bluest of blues.

There is something breathtaking to me about snowy branches against vivid blue skies.

Later there was a mix of blue and white with a softer blue.

I enjoyed the variations throughout the day and took many photographs.

The wind was blowing so hard that at times it looked like it was snowing.

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ABC Wednesday: X marks the spot

X was a hard one for me so I went out on my deck and drew an X to mark the spot.

Then I turned around and noticed that X forms the back of my deck chair.

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That's My World Tuesday: The day after Christmas

I've skipped several weeks of that's my world so I'm going to go ahead and post early this week.

It started snowing Christmas night and it's still going strong.

Since I don't need to go anywhere I'm enjoying my world turned into a winter wonderland.

I used to feed the birds all the time but stopped doing that when my garden became predominantly wild. Even in the winter I have seeds left from plants I let go to seed.

However, when it snows or we have extreme cold, I do try to put seeds out for the wildlife.

Since I knew that we were likely to have snow beginning Christmas night I got some bird seed to help out the wildlife. They definitely seem to appreciate the help I'm giving them during the snowy weather.

Considering all the nuts I had on my oak trees and pecan trees, I would have thought the squirrels would have stashes available but they also get in on the deck wall feeding stations.

I hope everyone had a happy Christmas and will have a great new year ahead.

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Merry Chrismas to you and yours

I hope everyone has a safe, peaceful, and happy Christmas.

ABC Wednesday: W is for white winter

I don't think we'll have a white Christmas but we have had some white winter days this month.

Wishing all of you a happy Christmas and New Year ahead.

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The Weened in Black and White: Ice Storm

Ice storms are very beautiful but treacherous. I was very relieved we didn't lose power when we had an ice storm yesterday. I was able to stay inside and enjoy the beauty with occasional walks out for photography.

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Skywatch Friday: Sunset and sunrise

I took the first shot at sunset on Monday. The little circle of light near the bottom is a streetlight but I think it looks like the moon.

I took the second shot at what would have been sunrise this morning (Thursday) but it's pouring rain which is freezing because it's still cold. We had a little snow which changed to freezing rain. It is a mess. Instead of a pretty ground cover, the snow on the ground is covered with rain which is freezing on impact and the road is ice at the moment. It is supposed to get above freezing later today before the temperatures drop again tonight. I would rather have more snow and skip the ice.

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ABC Wednesday: V is for vine

V is for vine and I bring you a vine which is very prolific, ivy. This ivy is holding a certain volume of snow but I don't know what the volume is. Since this is a shot from last winter even if I wanted to, I wouldn't be able to measure the volume of snow on the ivy. This vine had some snow on it about a week ago but I didn't get a very good shot of it so I'm using this old one.

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The Weekend in Black and White: It's snowing it's snowing

It's actually not snowing but it was snowing last weekend when I took this shot.

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SkyWatch Friday: Sugar Frosting

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ABC Wednesday: U is for under

My city has a system of trails called the Capital Area Greenway, so named because we are the Capital of North Carolina.

You can walk on close to 30 miles of connected trails which take you under roads and through tunnels at times. The greenway system connects parks and woodland trails along creeks and under roads in some cases.

Sometimes the trail is on a bridge going under a bridge.

While walking under the bridge above I photographed a reflection showing the bridge upside down.

I also looked up at the blue sky above the bridge I was getting ready to walk under.

It's possible to get unusual effects when photographing the tunnel underground.

I often stop and take photographs of the underground tunnels at different times of the year.

I have so many tunnel shots it was hard to decide on the ones to use.

For other participants take on the letter U, please visit the home of ABC Wednesday.

That's My World Tuesday: A touch of snow for the season

I was raking leaves on Saturday and it started snowing. I didn't realize we had a chance of snow that day.

I grabbed my camera and an umbrella so my camera wouldn't get wet and started snapping pictures.

I didn't think it would amount to anything so I wanted to get some wintry shots while it lasted.

I checked the weather online and it said there was a chance of rain changing to snow when the temperatures dropped which baffled me since it was pouring down snow while I was reading that.

I kept going out with my umbrella taking pictures thinking maybe they had it backwards and it would switch over to rain.

I had to laugh at myself remembering how my daughter used to tease me when I wanted to check the weather report before going outside so I'd know if I needed a jacket.

My daughter would say, mom why don't we just open the door and step outside to see what the weather is like.

It is silly how I rely so much on either the internet or the TV to tell me what the weather is like and then am surprised when I go outside and it's not like what they were forecasting at all.

When I woke up Sunday I went back outside to take more pictures before it all melted.

It was very pretty Sunday morning with the blue sky and snow.

The snow covered the ground but didn't stick on the roads which is my preference at this point in my life. A few trees still haven't dropped their leaves so it was very colorful.

I almost felt like the weather had been intended to give me photo opportunities without the inconvenience of icy roads.

I definitely took advantage of wintry scenes to photograph.

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