winter solstice

we are celebrating the return of light (winter solstice) here in minnesota with a winter storm–a blizzard with high winds and five to eight inches of snow. while we will be safe and warm hunkered around the fire, the other animals will be franticly finding nooks and crannies to wait out the worst of it. it has been absolutely beautiful here for three days. but tomorrow will be brutal. we will putting out food for the birds and critters and hoping for minimal casualties. stay safe everyone, this is one of those times when nature reminds us who’s really in charge.

white tailed deer (buck) leg and hoof

peaceful passing

my husband came across this dead buck this morning on his daily walk. i didn’t get out to photograph it until later in the afternoon, and it had been lightly snowing all day. the neighbor had come out while i photographing and said the deer had been alive the day before, that she thought he had simply bedded down. i will never know what happened to him. but there is a certain peacefulness in this photo. i am told that freezing to death is actually a very peaceful way to die. i like to image his was a peaceful passing.

white tail deer (buck)

still hanging around

i wish i knew what kind of leave these were. while the big leaf drop happens in late ocotober here. there are a few trees (oaks and willows for example) that hold their leaves well into winter. no one really know for sure why. one (partial) explanation is that non-native trees don’t know well enough to let go of their leaves–but that only explains some of the trees and shrubs that hold leaves into winter like buckthorn.  anyway, i don’t know what these leaves are…they look a little like linden bracts–which are still hanging around. but i don’t think that is what they are. any talented naturalists out there, who can help me out?

unidentified winter leaves

white sky backlighting

it is very hard to photograph snow on a white background. the only way to do it is wait for an overcast white sky, and then shoot the subject with the soft backlighting of the white sky so the snow appears ever-so slightly darker than the background.  furthermore, for the subject to be STILL-worthy, it means that there should be nothing else between the subject and the background–no clutter in other words. so in this case, i had to find a branch tip with no other branches, higher up, that would interfere with my branch. it’s tricky. the branches have to closes enough to the ground for me to photograph, but not have anything other branches interfering. this is probably too much information for you all. but it explains why i have relatively few photos of snow in STILL considering i live at a latitude with 4 months of snow every year.

bare spruce branches with snow

still sticking

two days of sticky snow turned the twin cities into a flocked and frosted wonderland. minnesota in winter is typically a place of brutality and beauty. Brutiful to borrow an expression i love. but there was nothing brutal about this sugary sifting that laid a white blanket over every horizontal surface, from railings to driveways to the tiniest twigs at the furthest end of oak branches. hats off minnesota. you do this well.

river birch