Monochrome Weekend: Three large black birds flying to the tree

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SkyWatch Friday: Morning Light through my Window Made me Look out and up

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Wordless Wednesday: My What Big Teeth You Have

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That's My World Tuesday: Cardinals brighten up my winter trees

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Monochrome Weekend: Tangled up in itself

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Skywatch Friday: A little piece of the moon

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Wordless Wednesday: Hard at Work

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My World Tuesday: Tobacconist Figures

When I went to the Folk Art Museum in Colonial Williamsburg, I was interested in the Tabacconist Figures. After reading the first comment on my blog, I thought I'd give everyone a link to more information about this style of advertising. The following link is from another folk art museum but contains a lot of relevant history. Shop and Cigar Figures in America

This three dimensional advertising technique was popular in the late 19th century.

As someone who was hooked on cigarettes and finally quit with some difficulty almost 10 years ago, I am not thrilled with tobacco advertising. However, since they came from another era, I found these interesting.

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Monochrome Weekend: pas de deux

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SkyWatch Friday: Contrast

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Wordless Wednesday: Hawk Eye

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That's My World Tuesday: More Winter Walks

My "That's My World" posts are getting a tad repetetive since I seem to keep featuring walks. However, with changing weather even the same walks have some different material.

Last week Shelley Lake and parts of the creek that feed into it froze which gave me some different shots. After the lake froze all the way across, even when day time temperatures were staying around or below freezing, the sun started to thaw parts which made another change.

The photographs in this post will be a mixture of several walks last week and will go back and forth between days without any particular order. This week will be warmer during the day so I expect most of the ice will be thawed out soon.

One thing I noticed which doesn't come through in photographs is that it was actually colder in the exposed sunny places around the lake.

The reason for the exposed sunny spots being colder than the wooded trails is the wind was relentless for much of last week.

Because of the wind chill, the protected wooded areas didn't feel as cold to me as the sunny spots where there wasn't a buffer from the wind.

I've noticed how big of a factor the wind can be in the winter but I always expect it to feel warmer out in the sun.

I never fail to be surprised when I step out of the woods into the sun and it's even colder because of the fierce wind in my face. Mind you I'm not complaining. I walk in the winter by choice, the geese and other waterbirds don't get to go inside to central heating and hot chocolate like I do after a walk.

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Monochrome Weekend: Splashing down where the ice has melted

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Sky Watch Friday: Frozen Lake, Blue Sky, Geese soaking up the rays

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Wordless Wednesday: Heavenly Wings on a Duck

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That's My World Tuesday: Photo walking in the New Year

New Year's day was chilly and gray but fairly mild compared to the cold blast coming in that night. I decided to go on a photo walk at the lake near my house.

It was almost like people, gulls and geese got the memo that they should take advantage of the mild weather even if it was rather overcast.

It has become something of a tradition for me to go on a walk at Shelley Lake on New Year's day. There was a time when I did that walk everyday. I can even remember in 1984 when I was pregnant I'd walk from my house to the lake, around it, back home, and then to work. I did that walk and later run for many years until 2005. Since then I still try from time to time but I do better at my age with my health issues if I don't push it.

These days I usually drive to the lake and start from different parts of the trail. I've always hated the idea of driving to walk, especially since I have wooded trails 1/2 mile from my house. But I don't have the energy any more to walk to my favorite spots if I start from home. Sometimes I do walk to the close trail from my house but by the time I get to the lake, I'm ready to turn around rather than do the full walk around it.

It was interesting comparing the differences in the populations at the lake on January 1 and January 2. There were gulls and geese both days but a lot more were in the water on the first day of the year.

The photographs above were all taken on the first day of the year, and the ones below were all taken on the second day of the year.

It was quite cold on January 2, 2010 but the blue sky pulled me outdoors. I wasn't the only one lured out by the beautiful day but there were very few people that came out into the very windy, cold day. If you compare the second picture with the one below you will see what I mean. There were so many people on the bridge New Year's Day that I photographed through the trees but on the next day I was virtually alone.

There were gulls and geese both days but far fewer out on the lake on the colder day.

Most of the geese and ducks were nestled on dry land on the second day of this year.

It was odd because for most of my walk there were only a few gulls flying over the lake, then all of the sudden it was like grand central station.

When the mass of gulls hit the sky, it was like someone had sent out a memo that it was time to get moving. They weren't diving into the water or going off anywhere but instead were circling en masse.

I was going to stop there but on the third day of the new year I spotted the handsome fellow below. It was extremely cold but I decided to at least go on a short walk in my neighborhood. He was in the tree across the street from my house and one house down.



That's my world as a new year begins. To find other participants please visit the home of That's My World Tuesday.