Month: February 2015

Packing Snow

_C1_7430I talk about how I want winter to end, and wouldn’t you know it, the next day we get a perfect, beautiful snowfall with temperatures just below freezing and no wind: beautiful conditions for sledding and snowball-making. We’ve got about 3 or 4 inches on the ground now, including this fractal-looking slush that settled on a pond in southeast Fayetteville.

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_C1_7423I walked around Huntsville Road for a while before heading to Wilson Park, which has popped up on this blog once or twice. I figured a few people might try the park’s hills for sledding. I underestimated that one.

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_C1_7616People are very patient with my floating around with a camera. Laughs sounded out from every direction, and the energy was infectious. One guy even let me try a toboggan for the first time in years. (I’m 24 and sound so old.) It’s obviously below freezing, but the air felt oddly warm, comfortable enough to be outside for hours. If we’re stuck with winter, this is how it should be.

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_C1_7645I hope winter’s bringing you some fun.

Thanks for looking,

Dan

Flu Season

_C1_7348---CopyThis window display has the right idea. Who else is ready for winter to end? I got hit with the flu last week, and water keeps falling from the sky in one form or another. That’s about all I have to say about that. (This blog can always use more movie references.)

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_C1_7366---CopyThen again, there’s no matching the quiet of a calm snowfall, even in the middle of a city. Everything slows down, even the precipitation. Earlier this week, when I took these photos, the air was still. The noiselessness of snow is practically a cliche; I posted about it almost as soon as I got here. Still, I notice it every time. That counts for something.

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_C1_7336---CopyThe pigeons are always watching.

_C1_7374---CopyKeep an ear out for the quiet between the noise. Thanks for looking,

Dan

Wintry Mix

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_C1_7143These two scenes are from the same weekend. Saturday’s Mardi Gras parade partied its way under sunny skies and a high of 66 degrees. Temperatures dropped and snow and sleet fell last night, and at this moment, we’re sitting at 19 degrees with a layer of sleet covered by snow. A little more could be on the way today and tomorrow. It’s a winter as chaotic as last year’s, though with a bit less snow.

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_C1_7151Mardi Gras took me completely by surprise this year — Tuesday seems so early — so I caught only the tail-end of the parade this time around. The rest of these are from a couple of Fayetteville trails.

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_C1_7308Stay safe and warm out there, y’all.

Odds and Ends

_C1_7000That little speck in the upper right is Venus.

_C1_6934And the center-left speck in this one is Jupiter.

There is just no comprehending the size and distance of space. Objects bigger than a human brain can conceive are motes of light. There’s a lot of poetic potential there, but I just like thinking about it. If this post has a theme, I’d say it’s light.

_C1_6864I think I’ve seen more of these halos around both the Sun and the Moon in the last few months than in the rest of my life.

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_C1_7024Have you ever heard of honey locust trees? They have clusters of thorns that can reach several inches long, and they’re particularly wicked-looking — thorns can branch off of thorns. I pricked my wrist on one once, and an area the size of a golf ball swelled up and bruised for several days. What I’m basically saying is this tree could kill you if you run into it. It’s not right. And there’s a cluster of them in Walker Park! Yeesh.

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_C1_7124This woman is Lucia, sitting outside her World Treasures shop on Block Street. She also appeared in this post wearing big-eye glasses during last year’s Mardi Gras parade. She also went to Fayetteville’s Ferguson protest last November. I always like seeing Lucia around.

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_C1_6995Ducks are always a good note to end on. I hope you all enjoyed the warmth this weekend. Thanks for looking.