A Short Year End Wintry Walk Near Home.
Another year is coming to and end, and more often than not, it is either cold, snowy or both here in Northeastern Pennsylvania. Today we had both, a two inch snow cover on the ground and a seasonably cold 32 degrees.
The clouds that blocked the sun most of the day were breaking up late in the afternoon and I decided to leave my office a bit early to enjoy the sunshine.
The sun is now slowly moving north but still is low in the southern sky. This low angle makes for some beautiful sunsets so I headed out to the mine reclamation area near my house in hopes of seeing one.
When i left on my walk it was still partly cloudy but, when the sun shone through the clouds it illuminated the now bare trees, such as this willow.
I walked past some ponds which are now covered with a still thin layer of ice. No frogs, birds, or even squirrels were stirring today. So different from the Summer.
And no green to be seen either. Only the white newly fallen snow and the frozen remains of the summer vegetation,
including the dried berry clusters of the staghorn sumac
I made it to the reclamation area, once an area of strip mines that was our playground, but now a good place to watch the sunset during the Winter months, before it heads to the north of the Ridge in early Spring.
Some clouds moving in from the west obscured the setting sun but it was still was, as they always are, a pretty sight.
After the sun went down, and I walked back home in he approaching darkness, I a peaceful, primeval feeling came over me. I enjoyed the cold and solitude and thought how people must have walked in the cold and dark before there electric lights and flashlights.
I thought how much more they must have enjoyed the stars and planets in the sky and a warm fire in their homes. I don’t have a fireplace in my house to enjoy but I did get a glimpse of brilliant Venus in a patch of clear sky overhead.
And walking in the cold and dark gave me a good feeling as I approached my home, and the warmth that awaited me inside. I am not a big fan of Winter, I dislike the long dark nights more than the cold and snow. I prefer the greens of Summer when life is everywhere. But I will admit I do enjoy an evening walk on a cold Winter’s afternoon like today. Here is a link to some more photographs from my hike this afternoon. https://keepyoureyespeeled.net/photographs-page-2/nggallery/photographs-page-two-blog/Year-end-hike-sunset-December-30-2016
It is not easy to walk alone in the country without musing upon something. ~Charles Dickens
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