ORIENT

CHILD'S PLAY

WHITE OUT

I remember the movie Endless Summer, but this feels more like an endless winter. The white stuff started falling this afternoon and it is still coming down. I saw this person (through the windshield of a car) trudging through the snow holding an umbrella. What I like is there are so many unknowns--- is the person walking towards me or away from me? Is the person male of female? Everything is occluded by the falling snow.

ENOUGH

I suppose it looks pretty, but I have had more than enough of the white stuff. Life is hard enough without the weather ganging up on us too. I'm beginning to understand that golden years (when they arrive) = Florida.

SNOWED IN

Long Island got hammered with a big blast of snow today. Periodically, during the day I glanced out to see just how much more snow had fallen. I have a big pine tree that has stood on my property since the house was built in 1946. I could tell the limbs were hanging low under the heavy, wet snow. In the early evening I heard a loud crack and a big limb was down. Across the street, one of the neighbor's daughters was sledding over mounds of snow piled up by her dad. She hit the bump, flew off her sled and rolled in the snow. I couldn't help but remember the proverb, "A young tree bends an old tree breaks". And so it is with people too. Note to self: be flexible.

UNDER COVER

I can hear the wind blowing and whipping around outside the house. The gusts are so strong they are knocking over the garbage cans. It is a perfect day to stay in bed, but I forced myself to get out. First thing I did was make coffee to warm up. Next step, feed Slugger (which is usually the first step because he meows up a storm wanting to be fed in the morning). All of a sudden I realized it was very quiet and Slugger was nowhere to be found. Somebody decided not to get up this morning!

WET

STORM CLOUDS

I had several outside shoots scheduled for today and given the kind of weather we have been having on Long Island I wondered just how prudent it was. I reminded myself that I don't schedule assignments, I just take the pictures as I gathered my rain gear together. When I got to the venue I walked around the field trying to figure out a good location and as I looked up saw these dark clouds gathering. I managed to get the shoot done and moments later the rain came.

WHITE OUT

I was up and out before seven this morning looking for weather art while navigating the slippery Long Island roads. We got hammered today. But between images of cars stuck in the snow, people digging out and kids building snowmen there was another picture. A simple beautiful scene that reminded me of Long Island's intrinsic beauty.

THE START

The old adage "March comes in like a lion..." is proving to be quite accurate tonight. Just before midnight I walked outside and looked down my street. Already about three inches. Tomorrow is going to be a tough day navigating the Long Island roads. I just hope March goes out like a lamb!

REWARD

I've been getting home later recently and there are usually a myriad of errands to run after work. Tonight as I walked to my car after completing the final task I felt stressed and overwhelmed. I looked up and saw the sky's "afterglow" following the sunset. It felt like a reward at the end of my daily race.

SNOWY NAVIGATION

If I didn't know better I would think all the snow we have had this winter is some sort of punishment. As I navigated the back roads today looking for a "snowy" kind of photo I tried to recall the last winter that was this bad on Long Island. It's almost midnight and I just came in from shoveling yet again... it is still snowing. One thing I know for sure, all this white stuff will really make me appreciate being in Florida. One week to go!

SKIPPING SHADOWS

Today's milder temperatures lured people outdoors. Lots of people found ways to expend pent-up energy. Skipping through the shadows of the Long Beach boardwalk was just one of many. I liked the sharp contrast of light and dark running through the image on a diagonal. The girl's red pants were just a bonus punctuation mark. Twelve days until pitchers and catchers report!

A WINTER BBQ

I love to barbecue in the summer. As the day gets shorter and the temperature drops, cooking becomes an inside activity. Not so for a good friend of mine who has been known to grill outside in single digit weather while standing on snow and ice. Perhaps it is my imagination, but the steaks seemed to taste even better on a winter grill. Maybe it was the side dish of warm summer memories that came with the steak.

GOODBYE '08

This afternoon as I peered out the kitchen window and watched the snow flurries, I spotted Mr. Cardinal in a thicket near the bird feeders. I have a few cardinal pairs that live in my yard all winter waiting for warmer weather and the promise of Spring. Tonight as we wait for 2009 to be ushered in with a lot of fanfare, I will remember Mr. Cardinal and the proverb, "Good things come to those who wait". For the most part I simply hope that 2009 is a good year. No big expectations, just an abiding hope that several things don't happen.

SLIPPERY PATHS

Frigid cold and snow continue to blanket the metropolitan area. Today I learned that I can continue to work at the place where I have been working for the past thirty years. My job will involve different things, but I am ready to embrace the challenge. However, I am sad for my work family, so many of my colleagues are forced to try to find work in a challenging economic climate. It isn't easy for any of us... those who are able to remain or those who must leave. My heart is heavy for those whom I will miss and at the same time I am breathing a little easier, but I feel strange about it. So many lives have been changed and I ache for my friends. For all of us the road is uneven and slippery.

MESSY

The icing on a really, really rough week was today's snow and sleet. Is there a message in all of this?

AFTERNOON STROLL

In the late afternoon as the day became gray, a harbinger of the rainy weather that was approaching, this woman looked determined to get in her walk. I liked the loneliness of this photo. The gray sky, bare tree and even drooped shoulders of the woman combine to give a real sense of isolation.

SWEATER WEATHER

Whenever I see skeins of wool I think of my Mom. She was an avid knitter, making sweaters, scarves, socks and caps--countless caps. For more than thirty years she knitted watch caps for The Seaman's Church Institute. Those caps were distributed to sailors in their holiday packages. Mom's hands were always busy. She had the uncanny ability to knit and watch tv, a trailblazing multitasker, before multitasking was fashionable. Today I wore one of my winter jackets and when I put my hand in the pocket I found one of the watch caps that she made me! Mom doesn't knit much any more, if only I had paid attention and learned to knit!

OLD COUNTRY ROAD

I hate it when the clocks "fall back" and the days get shorter and shorter. Today as I was driving west on Old Country Road, a road I have been driving on since I got my license I saw the last remnants of the sun slipping below the horizon. I liked the counterpoints of the dark sky and headlights/taillights with the bright spot of the sun. I saw this road and intersection in a way I had never seen it before. At the end of the day (no pun intended), isn't that what photography is all about?