Bear and I

I got to take a little walk in the neighbor's forest to the east. I wanted to see why they seemed as if they were cutting every single tree down in one of my favorite places. I didn't get far. The logger was cutting trees much closer than I thought.

...and I had an idea in mind and ... well, honestly, I didn't want 
anyone to see that I'd brought Bear on the walk.

However, Bear insisted.

He loves the forest as much as I do.

He asked to be set on a stump so he could look over the situation.

He slumped the longer he looked at the damaged forest he loved so much. He looked absolutely miserable.

He wanted to know why the trees in this beautiful forest had to be taken.

How do you explain 'greed' to a Teddy Bear?

Bear was sad, he wondered why they had to make the forest so ugly with nothing but stumps and twisted tree tops. 

I explained that they didn't want the tops, just the trunks.

"But Bears like to climb into the tops," Bear told me. "We like tree branches to get away from scary things."

He was upset and decided that the forest looked very 'Scary' to him now.

Bear decided we needed to get home where he felt safe.

"I'm comfy here," he said quietly. "Just let me sit on your bed. I'll even share it with Charlie. Maybe we will try a walk in the forest again some time. I need to think about it."

 

I have only this...

I got out yesterday. It was still below that zero point when I took a walk up through the woods to go get yesterday's mail. Charlie did go with me as did Bear.

It has been a while since Bear and I went on adventures together. Silly me. When there is no one to hike with, I can always take Bear.

He never complains...

Even if he gets stuck trying to get over a log. 

I had to give him a hand of course and we went on our Merry Way.

In the afternoon we decided to go for a hike along the creek to see what was happening since the Big Chill from last week.

We didn't find many tracks other than a few deer tracks and quite a few rabbit tracks.

I left Charlie home as we were going deep into the forest and this is the beginning of coyote mating season. Mostly the coyotes will leave us alone or run off. But over 30 years of hiking these woods, I did have two instances where the 'yotes followed me and a dog during the day time.

Bear and I stopped for an updated photo of one of my favorite spots on the creek. The trees that lay across this section are now on the creek bottom. The creek no longer flows where I am squatted. It has moved to my left.

Much of the creek had ice on it and in some of the places where there are springs, it was open.

This section had slow moving water from a spring inching its way across the ice. It flows up and over the ice and then freezes.

Layers of ice build over each other.

This 20 second video shows how the water creeps over the ice.... 
I sat in the snow next to the creek and was amazed by how quietly the water just seeped onto the ice.

Overnight, it will have created a new layer of ice and will rearrange the pattern of the snow on the creek.

The ice wall got a face uplift and the colors of the ice seem to glow yellow in all that bright snow!

I spotted this little beauty in among other winter flora. I think it is the tiny hulls of the Fleabane flower.

The next few days will be beautiful with temps still below freezing, but above frigid. I hope to get out and enjoy them....

I have only this left to say....

I do not wish to be ruled by fear. 
I wish for compassion and freedom from fear.
Is that too much to ask for?

Nowhere...

Sometimes you find
yourself 
in the middle
of nowhere

and sometimes in the

middle of nowhere

you find

yourself.
~Unknown

Colder than a...

.... well, you know the sayings! I will let you complete your own sentences.

Here's Fred staring at the porch door as I got put my boots on Friday morning.

They look cold, but aren't. I free feed hay and they have heated water along with cozy woods.

By the way. Fred is 37 according to our records. He seems to be doing much better this year than he was last year. Fiesty as all get out. He bosses the bigger ones around. Other times he goes off by himself and plays the Grumpy Ol' Mule and sleeps next to the huge oak tree.

By 9 AM my co-hikers begged off from going to the ice caves. I don't blame them, one of the kids was missing his boots. 

I was restless as this was a planned day. So I waited a bit for the sun to come up a bit higher.
Then I was on my way to do exploring.

I am known as the NUT who loves winter. And I am a Winter Geek.

I'm going to include a photo from a gazillion years ago of my father on a night he prepared to go cross country skiing. He was ALL in on winter. Imagine this, when I visited him we could ski at night for miles and miles. Our conversations were about weather, skiing, techniques, and nature.

Dang! He looks like an original Horror Film Slasher!

He studied cold weather and how to dress for it. Imagine how he would be amazed at how cold weather clothing has improved since the 1980's!

I was not the only nut out there. One older lady was skiing and there was an old gent skate skiing. His movements were rather fluid and it was a pleasure to watch him glide by.

I decided to do some off trail sight seeing. I knew I'd walk into the wind for about 1/2 mile but then I'd go into an area that was protected by woods and bluffs.

The river seemed frozen over, but I won't walk on it. I know how deep and swift it is near the bluff.

Getting the shots right were really hard and I am pretty sure I didn't do it justice.  I was shooting towards sunlight and dark rocks. 

My hands got cold. I'd put my mittens back on over my knit gloves. I did more walking and admiring more than anything else. 

Bear suggested we move into the sunlight. Bear is usually right about things.

I cut through the frozen backwater pond towards the trail and the sunlight.

The sun was very welcome.

Bear and I walked alongside the trail with the wind at our backs. The sun filled us with warmth. I crunched along and thought how fun this trail would have been to ski with my father. 

Bear agreed with me. I like Bear, he is a pleasant but stuffy fellow. He reminds me that life should be enjoyed and no matter what, a person doesn't have to be lonely if they have a friend like him.

It was cold but it was refreshing too.

Bear is a good partner. He never complains about anything. 
Not even my driving.

 

Projects

I have had this idea for a while. This week I stood with Miss Aurora and we talked about everything under the sun and she mentioned the Wonderland book of portraits that are extremely exotic and beautiful. It is done with models and special lighting effects.

In my head I had a vision of doing some self portraits in woodland settings. I'd done some of that last year when I was out and about with Charlie and Bear.

One of my favorites from last year was sledding with a Teddy Bear and Charlie running alongside us. I used a timer on my pointy shooty camera and set it to 7 shots hoping that one shot would deliver the following.

These are not the same type of photos that the artist Kristy Mitchel has done. But the discussion did rekindle some old ideas I had about self portraits.

I went up into my Magic Room [really, it is a spare bedroom where my paints, crafts, and toys are stored] and looked down at the outfit I'd picked out over a year ago. My intentions were to 'dress' up and take a self portrait in the woods. You know a dreamy shot where I looked beautiful and exotic.

Pfft. 
I should know better.
Most people who call themselves a photographer absolutely hate getting in front of the lens. I didn't like it as a kid and liked it less as my face aged. 

What I think I look like in front of a camera...or wished I did:

What I generally look like [in the winter]:

How I feel before coffee in the morning:

And here are two versions I did this morning while having coffee on a knoll overlooking the neighbor's meadow with Bear.
I like the B&W version much better.

I'm not very good at this and it took quite a bit of running back and forth with the timer set. I could use an app on the smarty phone to do it, but I always end up with the damn phone in my hand.

However, this is more me. I'm not gorgeous and dreamy looking. I have a face that has been beat up by the weather and sun. It has amazing wrinkles in it. If I were a man I'd have a gnarly weathered face. 

But see, I am going to be okay with that because really. No amount of makeup will make me look young and dreamy.

So what will my project be? Oh it will change constantly. But I am going to put on the gypsy crazy lady outfit and play dress up. Well, why not? I have to entertain myself.

I won't even try to do those incredible artistic shots. Those were someone else's vision. I want one of my own.

I'm going to work on the Bear and I stuff too. I really like doing things with Bear.

So...

off I go

to do my own thing.

You never know what I will come up with.

Bear & I

I know it is silly, but I sometimes like to take my favorite old beat up Bear with me. I think it is fun. Bear was purchased at a Thrift Store and was piled in a shopping cart with other stuffed animals. $1 each. He had a fancy Christmas sweater on him that I took off. 
He was intended to be a woods bear and after losing him twice to floods, he got tossed into the wash machine and became my pal.

I want to take him to the bluff with me yet this year so I can have coffee and just sit with him. 

I think a photo of him reading a book on a bluff would be a fun thing to try too....

So, Bear & I headed out before dawn and arrived at the KVR buildings while it was still dark. I stuffed him in my backpack and off we went down to the river bottom and took the short muddy and wet path to old 131 and viola, we arrived.

It was far from spectacular but I decided to watch and see what would present itself. 

I could hear the Sandhill Cranes calling out. Wow! Are they ever noisy! I think they flew overhead and landed in the pond behind me. But the brush was so dense as was the fog, I never got to see them.

This is really difficult stuff to work with: heavy fog and low light. So I actually brought a tripod so I could steady the camera to do some 'minimalist' type of photography.

I walked around and then decided to see what interest, I could find in this spot of the pond. It looked really bleak.

Focusing was really hard. The camera couldn't find what I wanted and so I went to manual focus and even that was difficult.

The grass clumps were interesting and that little island behind the first clump was host to a family of Canada Geese this spring.

A different look in that same area...

And one more closer look at some grasses.

Bear started to complain that I was ignoring him so we took a short walk to for some other things of interest.

And we found a cool spider web.

When the sun burst through the fog it gave a whole new look to the place. The fog got heavier for a few minutes. The photo below is a six second exposure.

Bear and I shared some coffee from my thermos and hiked back through the muddy trails to the 'Ru.

On the drive home the sun would come out at moments and when we got right down next to the river, all light was shrouded by dense fog.

I had to pull over and stop.

I'm still undecided on the above photo. Should I have shown more reflection? Should I just crop it to the two right trees? 

But I am happy with this as it is. I think if I brightened it a bit, it would make a great black and white canvas type photo.

Side note: A friend of mine sent me an email asking for scenic photos of interest. She specifically said she wanted people, bicycles, and happy sunny photos. No fog shots as they make her sad. These are for publication in a brochure for tourism in the area.

Hmmm. I do Infrared, fog, forest, and rarely people photos. I happen to love my fog shots. 
They are so wonderfully moody. 

Bear says I should do what pleases me. I like Bear's advice.

Lessons from a Teddy Bear

We had a great thunder boomer and downpour on Thursday night/Friday morning. Some areas had hail. Luckily we had no hail.

Well before the storm arrived, I walked out to the meadow and thought I'd take a 'gander' at things. If it was moving in swiftly, I'd vacate the area. 

When I saw lightening, I packed up and hustled back to the house. I have a pal that is a storm chaser. He goes out to bluffs and gets the most amazing time lapse photography along with some fantastic lightening shots.

I'm a wuss. I'll photograph a storm from my porch but never out in the open.

2 years ago lightening struck a tree in our donkey's pen and literally blew a tree up. The hot wire fence was fused part of the way around the pen. I lost Thor about a month later, his donkey 'tude just went away. The Vet said he probably got electrocuted. 

Any...way.... so yeah, I fear lightening. 

The thunder was so intense later that Charlie become a quivering mess. I snuggled  with him on the couch. 

Well fast forward to Saturday. I had Big Plans. I wuz gonna go to KVR for a morning hike and rock climb.  I looked out the window to see a thunderstorm brewing to the Northeast. 

Instead I grabbed Bear, coffee, and camera and took off up the road. Maybe the clouds would produce something interesting and maybe they wouldn't.

The skies were mostly bleh. Bluish greyish, and a bit of color tossed in. I decided to be like Bear and sit down and be patient. The sunrise itself was hidden from view.

It was a flop. So I grabbed Bear and headed towards the car. I forgot my coffee and walked back when something interesting started to happen.

So, I decided to watch a bit more. Bear hollered from the car:

I TOLD you to be patient!

Bears!

Then this happened...

"Wow! Would you look at that!" I exclaimed.

Told you so.

[See, it is like this. Bear goes with me so I can have a conversation with him. Otherwise I just have to talk to myself and that surely would be very weird, right?]

Finally I looked at the time and decided to start home.

Uh. Ummm.

Bear was right. 

Be patient.

Be Like Bears

 

The Bears gather in the Forest Garden for Tea and Conversation. 

The Bears like each other despite their differences. They don't judge each other on looks, color, style, or where they are from.

I like Bears.

They are smart and full of warmth.

They are not stupid or ignorant. 

They are always full of love and compassion.

Some days I prefer them over the human aspect of the world.

Of course there is also Rabbit.

Rabbit loves unconditionally.

Be like Rabbit.