So this afternoon I got a ride to the favorite tree and the stone house. The MA had a little time after lunch to drive me around- like the Cinderella I pretend to be- and I did a deep snow drive by shoot! The truck is tall enough that I didn't even need to get out of it. Unfortunately, the wind was strong enough to have knocked a lot of the heavy snow off of the branches and such, but it still is a somewhat different look than the other snow pictures this winter.
And Wow, did we get a lot of snow. Haven't seen this much since I don't know when. I went for a snow shoe walk back to Little Cabin in the Woods this afternoon and it was an effort. Took lots of photos- over 100.
Along the driveway |
The mailbox! |
There are two buckets under the snow here somewhere |
I felt amazingly alone. There was no traffic that I could hear, no snow-mobiles, no chain saws. I had my camera and my phone, but didn't use my heart rate monitor or my ear buds or listen to music. I just listened to myself. My breathing, my thoughts, my eyes, my camera, my shutter click, my ski poles crunch, my knees bend, my feet sink down, my heart beat. There was me and the wind and the snow and the branches.
I almost stopped a few times and turned around, the walk was tough, but I found as I walked that though I was breathing hard- I wasn't tired. My legs were fine, my endurance is good. So I overcame my mental obstacle and dug deeper- I went on to my original destination. You'd think the way back would have been easier, but that isn't true. The snow was so deep that it only made me have to decide whether to step on my previous snow shoe tracks or not- it was not a simple follow the path back walk.
Little Cabin in the winter |
But I made it fine and this is what was waiting for me- watching for me..... Good old Jac! He loves me even when I am not about to feed him. I love the smell of horse and hay- gotta love a good horse slobbery lick!
He was waiting with kisses!! |
Snow shoes on the butterfly chair |
Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.
My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.
He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.
The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.
My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.
He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.
The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
Robert Frost