Saturday, January 20, 2007

Like A Walk In The Park?




Like a walk in the park. When someone uses that term its usually to imply that something is EASY. Ha! Today I went for 'a walk in the park' and it was anything but easy! Winter loosened its grip on us this morning & made for a beautifully warm day, hovering around zero. So I packed myself up to get out of the house & get some fresh air & find some fresh photos. I headed to Hayne's Point. My favourite park to visit & one close enough to walk to. However, the light dusting of snow made the walking no less than treacherous! Though the new snow provided a crunchy bit of texture for my boots to grip to, how surprised I was to find the layer of solid ICE an inch below this nice crunchy snow. Slipping & sliding through the park, I gave in to the fact that I would have to walk like a penguin to get through the park in one piece. How I wish I could have slid on my belly across the ice like penguins do instead of watching my every step with fear. It made it hard to sight-see when I was so cautious of my footing. Some 'walk in the park'!

Still, I managed to scoot my way down the paths to my fave vantage points for some snow shots. The sky was slightly overcast which is perfect for snow photography, in my opinion. And there were bird & critter prints all over the snow. Fascinating. I could tell exactly where the local beavers had been & which hole in the ice they came in & out of. There was a very peculiar set of dog prints that I followed with wonder. There was one long line through the prints like it was on a single ski. I stared at it for a while & then concluded that his owner probably dropped his leash & let him walk himself for a while, the leash dragging in the snow behind him. Sound reasonable?






I saw a lot of dog prints on the shore when I was walking on the road nearest the waters edge (this park is surrounded by Osoyoos lake on both sides) I went down to check them out & noticed that it was relatively easy to walk along the shore because there was no ice build up. So I could give up the penguin walk and trot along without staring at my feet. I also noticed that some parts of the ice on the snow-covered lake had been pushed together to form some great cracks. Down on my knees, using my elbows as my tripod, I found fantastic ice caverns with stalagtites & stalagmites in the world of macro photography and there I crouched, lost in this divine world of ice!






So my walk in the park ended up being a fantastic time of discovery & photography! Maybe it wasn't easy, but it was very ENJOYABLE!

7 comments:

  1. Your photography is beautiful!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Beautiful winter photos Becky!

    ReplyDelete
  3. wow ..what beautiful pictures Becky ...I hope one day to be able to camp at Haynes point..you are luck to live down in that area ...please if you could give Barb a hug for me one of these days..tell her it's from her sis in Kamloops

    ReplyDelete
  4. wow - what an adventure, my Beck! I feel like I'm crouching right beside you taking these. Its funny, the weather can be terrible, the cold biting but it all fades away and you're transported to a mini-macro world for a while... its the before and after that time thats uncomfortable! Awesome photos! Thanks for sharing your day with us.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thanks for all the comments everyone! Some of these photos have great details when I view them bigger & bigger. I feel like I'm looking IN an ice cave!

    Barb, I think I picked a much warmer day for ice crouching today than you did last week. Not such a biting cold, but then, I don't lie on my stomach to do it either. Maybe only if I had a one-piece snow suit!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Great pictures. thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anonymous12:57 AM

    fabulous ice pictures, I think I may penguin walk over to my falls and see if they are frozen over too, thanks for sharing

    ReplyDelete