New Year in Waiting

It's a new year and a theme day. I picked out a couple of shots that I like, but I am unable to say that they are the best of the lot. The first is a still life and the second a photo with people peopling the image. The tiger lily shot continues the tiger theme from the last few days, but in addition, the flower is locally grown and shows good texture.


The photo below is a shot of some familiar faces having a good time on a downtown street. Exuberance is good for everyone.


Kagami Sensei was on the internet when I got to the iBook this morning. We talked for a while about her New Year's activities, and ours. Her blog today contains much of the interesting bits. It was very nice to have a conversation with her on this first holiday of 2008.

It was a cold, cold day. Herb and I decided to get some sun and exercise. We dressed warmly and drove to the Falls. A bank thermometer on Snelling Avenue announced a temperature of 2. I see by Carl P's blog that he was there today, too. I guess we missed him. I have a couple of photos that are nearly identical to ones newly posted on his blog. The icy falls are quite dramatic. The stairs to the lower levels were ice covered and closed, but we skied down on our boots for a better and different look at the creek. We took some pictures there, then Herb and I took a walk to the nexus of the creek and the big river. The creek was iced over in spots, but the flowing water kept the stream from disappearing completely. In fact, a duck was swimming around in a pool of open water, feeding off God knows what. It was an interesting walk, cold and slippery, but not without company. There were other walkers and some cross country skiers. At the river we tarried a bit to watch some guys in kayaks paddling up the river towards the Ford Bridge. I consider them foolhardy to be on the river at that temperature, but also very hardcore. We walked back along the creek, but bypassed the treacherous stairs for a stroll up the meadow and the smaller hill up to Minnehaha Avenue. In all we were outside about an hour and suffered no frostbite. It is unnecessary to declare it the coldest day of the year.

We rewarded ourselves with lunch and a movie at Rosedale, "The Golden Compass." It was a good start to a leap year.