Country Views on Christmas Eve Morning

I decided to take the back roads today.

The air was mild, most snow melted,

roads clear of ice,

pockets of fog and mist along the way.

In one area

land was being cleared,

giant conifers laid low.

The old golf course views 

always look like an arboretum to me.

It was a quiet, peaceful morning.

Frost Landscape on Window

That vineyard below the orchard....

The Timely Return of Winter

Flaming Finale, Sparkling Overture

The sky just after sunset on Wednesday was spectacular, the nighttime sky clear and full of stars. The next morning dawned clear again, and frost kissed everything.

The Snows of Yesterday

Light: Inside/Outside

Saturday After Thanksgiving in Northport

These photos have no pretensions to anything approaching art. They’re more a stab at documenting one little village (Northport, Michigan) and one small business (Dog Ears Books), far from the hordes of big box shoppers, making their own fun as the holiday season gets underway. I made cookies, Sarah wore her holiday scarf, and the horses came to town. 

As darkness fell, there was caroling down by the big tree, and at 6 p.m. the tree lights were turned on. I’ve included a second tree with lights at the end of today’s post, because the sign to the left of that tree has an Up North flavor that makes me smile.

Subtle: Two More Ways

Still curious and encouraged by a friend to see what the photo in the previous post would look like in monochromatic versions, I took it to Photoshop and produced a black-and-white copy, then one in sepia.

Desaturating the color alone did not produce the results above. I did that first but then also darkened highlights and lightened shadows -- before, of course, adding back in the warm tone in the second version here. 

Subtle

I'm a sucker for fog and also for old, twisted apple trees. Seeing this orchard tree against the backdrop of fog-softened birches at the edge of a small woods, I couldn't resist the shot. There so little color I considered taking it all out for a black-and-white or sepia tone, but in the end I left it alone. Don't know if it "works," but I like it.

Coffee Inside -- Outside, Snow

This was the view Sunday afternoon from Another Cuppa Joe at the Traverse City Commons, looking out on a snowy landscape.

Banded Landscape

Dark Sky, Sunlight on Water

Morning Spotlight on Harbor

Snow-Covered and Slippery

Reluctantly, we enter the annual zone of transition.

The look of the land has changed. We are edging into winter.

The water on Grand Traverse Bay looks colder, and the opposite shore is invisible, shrouded in mist and swirling snow.

A bit of warm brown hangs on in the woods, the ground is still green in the cherry orchards,

and certain apple orchards contribute spots of bright red to the scene.

As long as there is light, there will be color, even when a winter-weary spirit sees only stark black and white.

However you see the world in November, be careful on the roads!

Another Look (Altered Sky)

This Is November in the North