Winter Morning

Alexander Pushkin's "Winter Morning," excerpt:

Cold frost and sunshine: day of wonder!  
But you, my friend, are still in slumber - 
Wake up, my beauty, time belies: 
You dormant eyes, I beg you, broaden 
Toward the northerly Aurora, 
As though a northern star arise!

Why am I always quoting Pushkin even though he's not my favorite? Truth is, much of his poetry has been translated surprisingly well from the original Russian, which means less work for me! That said, his Nature-related texts do possess an impressive level of accuracy that could only be appreciated.

Yermak, Susanin, and the Shining (Mobile)

Stuck in copious amounts of snow on a beautiful day in the mountains? Time to strap on some "teeth," err, snow shoes.

Like this:

At first, I engaged in some uphill snow-crushing on a cross-country ski trail, which wasn't strenuous.

Yet when I reached its end, I found myself in deep snow--to my hips--simultaneously feeling a little like Cossack Yermak discovering Siberia and Ivan Susanin leading the enemy astray to their deaths (and his). 

Cue Glinka's opera.

Along the way to the view below, I experienced typical mountaineering problems like accidentally stabbing myself with a snow shoe, while hoping not to step on a hibernating bear somewhere underneath all that white stuff. 

Before hiking back, I made a detour up (!) the side of the cliff to take some photographs, then retraced my steps back like the kid from the Shining.  

Here's to hoping that I pranked someone into thinking that I vanished beneath the earth! 

Snow Fog (Retro Mobile)

It's been weeks since I've visited the Mountain.

One of the best (worst) aspects to doing so is that I never know what to expect.  There have been times when the town, where I live, was rainy and dreary, whereas higher altitudes were filled with brilliant sunshine, and vice versa. 

On this particular occasion, I stepped into heavy snowfall and Cosmic Grayness. 

Snow-burdened and desaturated evergreens appeared out of its depths, while the chairs on the ski lift, or rather, their barely discernible pixels, dissolved back into it. Not a mule deer or a raven were to be seen or heard in these seemingly lifeless woods.

Postscriptum: With snow overflowing my boots, I slightly underestimated the knee-deep hiking conditions halfway up to the invisible Heavens, making me work as my dog's personal bulldozer.

Pileated Woodpecker

You will think that I'm a total nerd (again!), but I was very excited to finally be able to photograph none other than the pileated woodpecker! What's more, I noticed this creature in a fairly populated area, so I didn't have to climb any mountains.

On second thought, I should probably claim that I climb mountains to stalk animals more often to build up my wildwoman "cred."

My dog was annoyed with an extended stop on our walk--this was his time, after all--but allowed me to observe and photograph this drum performance.

Did I mention that this woodpecker is the size of a crow?

Really huge!

Red and White

I spent my youth in a place where it wasn't uncommon for the temperature to drop down to a refreshing -40 C / F in the winter. 

No, not Siberia.

The Canadian prairies!

Yet now that I've been living in a comparatively mild West-coast climate, I find myself wimping out at -20 C / -4 F. 

Perhaps, it's time to put on some gloves when I shoot! ;)