white greenhouse

white greenhouse, originally uploaded by jahansell.

I heard the marvelous Margaret Roach on this morning - it got me to thinking about seeds, soil, greenery, leaves, sun....spring. So I stopped in to see what was happening at Paley's. If they've got anything going in the greenhouse yet I couldn't tell - no way I was going to climb the snow mountain to find out!

Broken-down fence

branches old fence, originally uploaded by jahansell.

I feel bad posting this. It's a snowy landscape. I think we've all seen enough of these.

I should do as Rick did on Facebook yesterday and post a pretty summer scene. The only thing new and different to shoot around here today is the brown dirty snow piled up by every driveway, and I really don't feel like doing that. Icicles? OK, I could try that, but...yawn.

I've gotten a bit obsessive about checking the weather forecasts - I have three weather apps on my phone, and I check them constantly to see how much snow we're getting in the next round. If you do this too, you owe it to yourself to visit Gawker.com and read the story about Accuweather maps.

Miraculous amaryllis

miraculous amaryllis, originally uploaded by jahansell.

I just had to share this story as there's a metaphor in there somewhere:
I've had this amaryllis bulb for quite a few years - 6 or 7, maybe. Every winter, after it blooms, I water it and keep it in the window. In the summer I put it outside, and in September I bring it in, cut off the foliage, and put it in the cupboard where it goes dormant for a few months. Usually I bring it out in mid-December, at which time it starts to bud, grow new leaves, and bloom.

This year, I forgot to pull it out til last week. In complete darkness it had thrown up leaves and a stalk, and the flowers had started to open. But it was pale white, limp, and looked dead. I put it in the window, gave it some water and within about four days, it had gotten its strength back. The stem is broken a little and can't hold the weight of the flowers (you can see I have a kitchen implement propping it up!) but the flowers are spectacular - as good as if I'd been coddling it all along!

So: the lesson? You tell me - in the comments!

Dangerous!

Watch out - don't get caught under one of these at the wrong time! (Remember that old Charlie Brown cartoon - Snoopy is lying in his doghouse and there's a huge icicle hanging over his head? He's afraid to move in case he shakes it loose... I've felt like that all week.

Tracks

tracks, originally uploaded by jahansell.

A few years ago, in early summer 2006 (very early days for this blog) I took a similar shot of this field after a different sort of extreme weather conditions. Someone really likes to ride up and down across it! Whose fields are these? I think I (don't) know...

white throated sparrow with sunflower seed

white throated sparrow with sunflower seed, originally uploaded by jahansell.

I promise I won't turn this into a bird blog - but this fellow was so handsome with his yellow lores and spiffy white throat. I sat on my porch to try to get shots not through a window - it took a long time for them to be brave enough to come eat with me sitting right there. But come they did, at last - a bird's gotta eat, especially when it's zero degrees.

Farm on a hill

farm on a hill, originally uploaded by jahansell.

Mole Hill, to be specific. I like the unexpected fence and light in the corner of the frame.

If you saw my reflection in the snow covered hills

snow hills, originally uploaded by jahansell.

Frankly I'm getting a little tired of snow already - and we have at least 2 more months of it! But I'll keep trying to find fun new ways to show it.

If you want to be featured in Sharon CT Daily Photo - your house or your business or you - let me know!

Where else in the US...

sharon po, originally uploaded by jahansell.

Would the postmaster let you know you have a package...via Facebook? Thanks Kelly and Katie for keeping the mail flowing!

Not a Bald Eagle

not a bald eagle, originally uploaded by jahansell.

But you can see why I thought it might have been? I'm still hoping to see one along West Cornwall Road by Miles pond. But this is just a cap of snow on some kind of burl or knot in the tree- when I started to see dozens of them I realized that it was not a hunched up eagle! (Not that eagles ever hunch - they always sit tall!)

Evergreens everwhite

evergreens, originally uploaded by jahansell.

More snow, more ice, more slush - tomorrow I'll go out looking for icicles to photograph.

A peaceful snowdrift

snowdrift, originally uploaded by jahansell.

A quiet Sunday, a ray of light.

Sharon Basketball

I had some fun at the SCS girls game the other day playing with scale and shutter speed. Click through to Flickr to see some more.

Spot of red

red church grey sky, originally uploaded by jahansell.

The Methodist church provides a spot of technicolor on an otherwise black-and-white day.

The Blizzard of 2011

The Blizzard of 2011, originally uploaded by jahansell.

Downtown Sharon, 9am.

Local Hero

local hero, originally uploaded by jahansell.

While most of us were still asleep, Sharon's road crews were out making the streets safe for everyone. Karl's little snowblower had a tough time in the 20-plus inches of fluffy stuff, but by 10am, all the sidewalks from the shopping plaza to the historical society were clear!

Hills of Amenia

hills of amenia, originally uploaded by jahansell.

This is the view from Route 44 as you descend into Amenia - not all the way at the top, but at a spot a bit lower down where it seemed a little safer to pull over and shoot. But the photo was a little disappointing - flat, maybe - so I doctored it up in Picasa, just for fun. If you want to see the original (with just a tiny bit of sharpening) it's here. Which do you like better?

BIG snow coming, I hope to get some nice photos. There are some interesting special effects I've seen on Flickr - maybe I'll figure out how to get that shadowy mysterious effect in Photoshop and have something fun to show you.

Twin oaks sunset

twin oaks sunset, originally uploaded by jahansell.

Taken with my iphone last night. I usually think sunset pictures don't work and try not to post them - but this one ain't bad. More big snow headed our way - need a new and interesting way to shoot it!

More snow this morning

snow day, originally uploaded by jahansell.

Though this picture is from yesterday. Today we've only got about an inch of new snow. Yesterday all around town you could hear that distinctive scraping sound as people shoveled out.

brown leaves reflection

brown leaves reflection, originally uploaded by jahansell.

After a series of completely mixed up and confusing forecasts (at one point, weather.com said we'd get 1 or 2 more inches then it would end, and simultaneously posted a Winter Storm Warning predicting 7 to 9) we got a lovely fluffy light 5 inches or so. It stuck to the branches and twigs all day - click through the photo to my Flickr page to see a few more images.

Wheres Waldo?

wheres waldo, originally uploaded by jahansell.

I'm sure there's some obvious reason why this pond in Millerton (behind the veterinary/Hylton Hunt Salon) isn't iced over. The geese don't care why, of course - they're just glad to have some open water. When I went there I spooked them - you can see they're heading into the water and swimming away from me. I thought there were only geese (and this is just a small fraction of the total spread out on the field to the left and the pond to the right) but if you look closely you can see someone else in the picture!

Ice over

ice fishing, originally uploaded by jahansell.

It's official - according to the Lakeville Journal, Lake Wononscopomuc (I wrote that without checking - how'd I do?) is frozen over. This gentleman is on Indian Lake, fishing just before sunset. Tomorrow I'll show you a pond that is mysteriously un-iced, and its denizens.

Downy

fluff, originally uploaded by jahansell.

If you were wrapped in a blanket of these, could you withstand these cold winter days?

Fluff friend

fluff friend, originally uploaded by jahansell.

Or Pet Pals...the one on the left looks more like a plush stuffed animal I'd buy for my daughter than a real live horse. He's the perfect size for a kid to ride, too.

ice water

ice water, originally uploaded by jahansell.

I heard there were eagles down by Audubon's Miles Wildlife Sanctuary - the manager, Mike, sometimes drags deer carcasses out onto the ice to attract them. But I saw no eagles (nor coyote nor bobcat.) It was a beautful spot, nonetheless - I have such happy memories of the years we lived in the big stone house!

Miami?

miami, originally uploaded by jahansell.

If the cold is getting you down, just drive down West Cornwall Road til you see these 12 foot tall "palm trees" and pretend you're in Florida!

House on the hill

From Drop Box

The big snow we had last weekend is already melting - it felt like spring today.
Happy New Year - may 2011 bring many more photographs!