If you’ve read this blog for a while, or even just last week, you may know I’m not a big fan of winter. I will, however, give winter its due when it presents some beauty. We had a snowfall filled weekend this past weekend in Massachusetts, and in most of the northeast. I’d say we ended up with about 5 inches total after it was all said and done. There is no school today in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, so I took the opportunity as the sun peeked out today to get a little winter wonderland exercise and photography trek at Conant Brook Dam. Come along with me.
The entrance to the path I follow had only been walked by a few at the time I arrived. Cross-country skiers made a bit of an indent in the snow, so I followed along in their tracks.
I’ve shown you this pond several times in this blog, but each season, each visit, reveals another nuance, and a touch of tranquility.
The quality of light and the presence of clouds changed as I continued my journey to the top of the dam, made a bit more arduous by the presence of deeper snow underfoot.
When I reached the top, I paused to take a shot of another view I’ve featured many times, but this time with sticky snow clinging to all of the branches below.
At this point in my walk, a somewhat decent cell signal returns, so I took a moment to send a selfie to some friends, and to show them that I actually remembered to bring the Canon with me on this walk.
This is the snowy view across the top of the dam. I walked all the way across, and sometimes I travel the diagonal path down the dam that you can see in this photo I took from the bottom:
I considered it, and I had my trekking poles with me, but I thought better of it since it was kind of slippery out today. Over where you can see the railings above the spillway, the route back to the path can be a little tricky to navigate without snow covered rocks, so I erred on the side of caution and just turned around and went back across the top of the dam.
On my walk back down toward the pond, sunlight was playing on the water, but I had trouble trying to capture it through the branches in my view. By the time I got back into a clearer area, the water sparkles had passed, but I did manage to get a nice reflection of the sun on the water.
While I was taking this photo, subtle movement out of the corner of my eye caught my attention. A single Canada goose was quietly paddling, poking in the water looking for food.
Normally, I wouldn’t have given this bird a moment’s notice. There are so many of them around here we think of them as nuisances. They have a tendency to be quite aggressive when there are babies, and in certain places you have to be careful not to step in their poop! But this time, the moment felt different. It was alone, as I was, just going about its business, as I was, with a light spray of snow blowing across its face, as it was across mine. It seemed peaceful, as I was. It continued on its journey, as did I.
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