Late Winter Skies

Even though our world here will be white for another month or so, one big difference I notice when we get to late February and into March is the number of sunny days with beautiful deep blue skies.  Even while the temperature stays cold (it was -29°C or -20°F this morning on the thermometer), the sun is rising earlier, soaring higher in the sky, and setting later.  If there's no wind chill you can feel the warmth of the sun on your face at well below freezing temperatures!

On these days over the past week, which were all chasing waterfalls days, I really noticed the blue skies, all made more interesting by white clouds blowing over.  This is Lake Eugenia, still solidly frozen.

I was really shooting the sky itself, but started looking for focal points that would make it more interesting, trying to place them down low and off to one side to maximize the blue.

Although it's hard to capture in a photo, one thing I like about driving around our valley is the way you often just get a glimpse of something over the edge of a field or in between the rolling hills.

This small barn which sits all by itself strikes me every time I drive by.  I really must walk over and explore it once the better weather arrives.

It has sat undisturbed in this field, with no other buildings nearby, as long as I can remember.

Often it's the valley itself that you just get a glimpse of, a band across the view that the human eye notices, but the camera can't really capture well.  Once you get a little further north of our location the valley widens out and this is the typical view you get driving over the edge and down.

When I try to divide our long winter season into recognizable chunks, the blue skies and strong sunlight of late February and into March are the most obvious difference I can see, so this marks 'late winter' in the valley for me.

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