OK, I'm better now. That really was thunder, ending my last post, but it didn't stop a little more yard work. True to form, a pair of storms went by on either side of town. So many of them miss us that way, no matter their direction of travel. There was finally some late evening rain, with the result of a nice morning fog.
You know what that means, right? CAMERA TIME!!
Ahhhhhh.......
Without stopping for coffee, morning pills, or even combing my hair (it just frizzes anyway so who can tell?) I got a few shots of the front yard, then decided to grab the dog and head out to a favorite scenic spot nearby and get a few shots. It's usually much foggier along the river than 4 miles away here in town, and the subject matter is much more interesting. Translate that to "it isn't this yard" if you like, but regardless of my summer chores, it's way more interesting.
In that respect, the subject is a nationally protected scenic riverway, the St. Croix as it divides Minnesota from Wisconsin. Add a park / boat ramp / bridge and a high cliff on the opposite side of the river valley, Osceola, WI, and I'm in hog heaven. The river was as still as a river can be and still flow, so reflections were perfect, even capturing the fog. Spider webs littered the ground, so full of dew that the ground was freckled white in many places. Trees fall along the bank periodically, leaving some roots occasionally, otherwise bare trunks and branches in several tones of grey and brown, their reflections making unusual architecture. The bridge disappears into the fog as distance increases, and even what passes for morning rush hour leaves all kinds of opportunities for shots of an empty bridge, perfect for the atmosphere.
I worried that the sun, now above the horizon and visible as I descended from the west into the island park, would chase the fog away. Instead it seemed to congeal clouds around itself, allowing the fog an extra hour of grace. It almost broke through once, and I managed a rather orange shot as it tinted the river, though it tricked the light meter into turning everything into silhouettes except the water.
Birds were out scooping insects out of the air above the water, but all my camera would have caught was black blurs, so I didn't even bother, just watched them for a bit. Fish were jumping, and while I never caught a shot of one I did get one of spreading ripples on the smooth river surface.
By the time I decided I was finished, a few more humans and a dog had entered the scene. It was still way to early for canoeists to be pulling out, were it a sunny day, waiting for their ride + canoe back upstream to where the rental company was set up. I've enjoyed the river that way several times, years ago when my knees were young, and loved every minute of it.
On my way home I found more reasons to take pictures. This is rural Minnesota, and there are farms with photogenic red barns and silos, an orchard/vinyard, fields of corn tasseling or round hay bales scattered around, roadside flowers, ponds, flocks of turkeys, families of sandhill cranes, and who knows what all. I found detours - of my own making - just to see what there was to find, While the fog was mostly lifted around this higher land, the clouds were still heavy and the light appealed to me. The radio promised more rain later, though for now it was still down in the southwest corner of the state... "But Stay Tuned! Next announcement at ...." Gravel washerboard roads yielded a horse out to pasture, a weathered barn of many colors, like a Joseph's coat in reds and greys, an old shed with a 10 degree tilt on one side and a 15 degree tilt on the opposite, somehow still standing despite the challenge. I spied a different stage of a flower I've known all my life but never noticed looking like this, so I let my camera study several of them for a while.
Eventually I found home again, but still wasn't ready to quit shooting in favor of breakfast, coffee and morning pills. My work in the front garden yielded views of several flowers in bloom, and with the light still good, I fumbled my way around and between remaining weedy trees and plants I needed to avoid crushing if at all possible. It wasn't, of course, not completely. (Shhhh!) A couple blossoms were inhabited by katydids, and the front yard toad was out in the grass waiting for the bugs to shake off the damp and spread their various parts again so it could see its breakfast. Breakfast was starting to sound good to me - my kind, not the toad's - so my excursion finally ended.
The upshot of all this was 212 new shots for the morning. Once uploaded into my laptop and culled for what I actually liked, I was down to 142. More will "fall" later, but the day is making other demands. The sky is still white, but somehow it's not as bothersome as it was yesterday. Somehow? Who an I kidding? It's the camera that makes the difference, of course. Just when I needed it.
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