Truant

[vaneramos]

This morning I paid my first visit to the Eramosa River since January 13. The storm of January 27 and subsequent week of heavy snow has transformed the landscape but today my eye and camera were mostly drawn upward.



I have been afraid to use my camera's close-up feature because it draws so much battery charge, an extravagance I couldn't afford. In fact I used it so rarely I had convinced myself it didn't work, but it does. The new rechargeables have set me free to experiment, with pleasing results. The rest of today's posted images were taken using the close-up switch.



It is a pleasant day with temperatures around freezing and softly falling snow. If winter stayed like this, I would be content.



I have described and photographed the dolostone cliff at close range before, but usually it is invisible from a distance. Now that the maple woods has dropped its leaves and the ground is heavily snow-covered, the rock face is revealed. The following image shows where the river forms an invisible boundary between the open field in the foreground and the line of trees beyond. The cliff forms a dark band below the crest of the ridge. This is one of my favourite places to hike.



Finding nice lichen to photograph always makes me think of avad. Today was one of those days. One image is posted in iamthelorax, and a closer view in texture.