Snow Place Like Home

Kinda soon for another post but I figured "why not?" Alexia spent most of the morning trying to get me out of my funk... I guess she had a few good suggestions: Get outside, take some photos, quit whining LOL. So...I decided to fill the Mazda up with gas and head out into the cold with my wide angle. It was decidedly cold this morning but nothing like the rest of my family is experiencing (from Boston to Presque Isle, ME). Let's take a quick tangential moment to talk about Presque Isle, Maine or more specifically Wade, Maine which about 3% of the population has heard of (I have not statistics to back that up LOL). Mom always said that she wanted a cabin out in the middle of nowhere with a small parcel of land so that she could enjoy nature. Nature Mom? Really? I respect the Sequoias and of course the National forests spread across the US but you live IN A FOREST :D Weather: 12 degrees... FAHRENHEIT and that's during the day!! Tonight is going to be a balmy umm I don't know THIRTEEN BELOW!!! for a RealFeel of -10 LOL. Honestly, there is no place like home and Mom and Jim, your home is no exception. Truth be told, you would have to be crazy NOT to want to live up there... just make sure to have a couple of time shares and a condo somewhere balmy from October through February. Here's the evidence:

Back to my scheduled post though. Driving around Ayden, NC and surrounding area wasn't too eventful although I wished at many points that I had my zoom lens with me. A sparse brushing of snow early this morning left many trees with a stark outline that I rushed to capture. I was a bit too late given that the sun came out at around 11AM and melted most of the snow away. More on the zoom lens though, starlings are out in full force. These little black birds are incredible! They roost and flock in the thousands and are not afraid to fight even turkey vultures in numbers. Carla and I once got some great shots of one of these flocks but sadly I lost those photos. I did happen upon an empty field to drive into and get a couple of photos of which this was my favorite:

I particularly liked this shot because it captured both blue sky and snow... which is not always easy to do. Chances are that if I was caught by the right person on this road that I could have been shot (or worse). Luckily I managed to escape with little more than some mud and a few photos to document the experience. All in all a fairly productive morning in that I got to go outside, take some photos and quit whining.