In the Light of Morning

At last, I am finally getting around to posting these photos I took yesterday morning on our first walk of the day.

It was a warm night with rain the day before. I got up and it was still 50 degrees. It was a warm night with rain and though I know that it was wishful thinking, I was hoping the frogs would be out singing.

They were not, but boy were the birds!

Even this morning there was a new one out there singing that I hadn't heard before. I never saw it but just heard this pretty little trill ended by a solid whistle.

And let's not forget the sassy ever honking geese. I couldn't decide on which photo I liked the best.

But then I like geese, even when they're being pushy and aggressive.

As you can tell form some of these photos, it was still kind of dark as we were walking.

I like the ever changing light as you are out in the early morning or later evening hours. If you just wait a bit longer, you'll get an entirely different look.

So I'm trying to place them in order as by time so you can see the lightening of the sky.

Snapped a couple ducks taking off too.

This drainage slough, kind of makes the body of the parks wetlands into little island when the water is high. I wasn't able to get a good picture of the whirlpool present on the higher side. The ripples in the lower portion of this canal though are from the upwelling that occurs on the northern side.

All in all it was a very pretty morning. Amazing how dreary the day became later as the temperature fell to the 30's and the wind came up.

I was glad I had gotten the kiddos out early. We also had a wonderful walk the day before when it was in the 60's before I headed to work for the day.

Tomorrow is possibly going to be a little ugly with freezing rain conditions. That will slow me up on the way home from work tomorrow night. But the days after that are supposed to be in the 40's. We're getting there.

Happened to glance over and see this neat little spider water walking. Snapped several photos but only one came out. The camera kept focussing on the objects under the water.

I finally just switched the camera over to manual later to catch this image. I was just fighting to make it focus on the cat tail in the foreground. Cattails are something that always catch my imagination. I remember reading about them as a kid but growing up in Alaska we didn't see many of them. They are there but you have to hunt for them. They require sheltering conditions in the cold there and just aren't very present. Here they seem to be everywhere. I thought this photo kind of captured the year. There's the summer loving cattail and other grasses, the autumn seeding of the actual cattail head, then the winters still frozen snow and spring run off present in the background.

Sun still coming up, and the geese still coming in.

Then there are clouds from a different perspective entirely.

Either way, very pretty.

And this little guy who let me snap several pictures of him.

He seemed to understand that I wouldn't let the dogs come out and disturb him while he hunted in the stuff washed downstream.

I couldn't decide on just one photo because I loved the color and texture of the moving water and the grasses in the background.

And then just one last red wing. This one the grasses are really in focus, not the bird itself.

On the way back to the car this guy had to circle around and take another look at us.

All my Wyoming readers will recognize this bird. Turkey Vultures, they're everywhere. That's alright, I think vultures are kind of cool. If you don't check out the feeding habitats of the Lammergeier. But then, I like snakes and frogs and such too.

The silos's in the morning sun as it actually breaks out of the clouds.

And the last photo of the days walk I will share, I snapped as I was heading back to the car, and the sun was actually "rising" out of the bank of clouds on the eastern horizon.

I thought it was very pretty. I love it when you can actually catch the "rays" of the sun as light diffuses through the clouds or around other obstructions.

Now, let's talk knitting. I got these done.

Those were the last ones for my brothers family. Now that all five pairs are done for them this week I will get those shot off in the mail. I will be returning to this pattern after I have a break from socks. I think I want a pair for me. For those sticklers, mine won't have that gap that these do. I knit these for a skinny footed gawky teen. I really shouldn't have pulled them on to my foot. Notice how like my left leg is slightly sturdier than my right one, my foot is too? I am in the process of designing a shawl, but will not share that until it's a bit further. Well, I actually had a chunk done last night but tore it out today. I'll be happy with it soon, I promise.

Have a good night everyone.