The Iceman Cometh

No, I am not referring to the all-capitalized ICE. I stay far away from making any political commentary on social media, or most places for that matter. Our area was hit with ice in the form of winter storm Bern, a system that caused much chaos and damage across a large portion of the United States over the weekend.

Forecasts for the area were grim, with predictions of up to .50" of ice for our location. When ice forms that thickly, the likelihood of trees falling and taking down power lines rises dramatically. We were so fortunate that in our neighborhood we predominantly had sleet, which tends to fall to the ground and not stick to items in its path. While we were prepared for a loss of power, that did not occur here. We are so grateful that we avoided the worst of the storm. I'll gladly take being stuck inside for a few days over having no electricity.

We had plenty of food and extra water just in case, and are lucky enough to have a gas fireplace in the house. It has a battery charger in the event of power failure, so we would at least have had that as a heat source if the power had gone off.

Making sure that the bird feeder was full before the precipitation began was good for entertainment. The birds and squirrels were very active in the yard during the storm. I never get tired of watching them, and taking pictures.

backyard critters

There is still some residual ice on the side roads and walkways, so I will stick close to home again today. In fact, I cancelled my six month dermatology appointment for this morning as the secondary road out of here is shaded and never treated. I hated to do that because it is so hard to get an appointment with my doctor, but it was not an emergency and certainly not worth the risk of an accident.

There is another storm heading this way over the weekend, and hopefully we will again be lucky and avoid the worst of it. I guess we didn't move far enough south!

The Weather has Been a Little Frightful

Like most of the country, we have been having some wild weather this winter. Sometimes the temperature is average, then it might be in the 60s, and next thing you know it is -4 degrees. It certainly is challenging for everyone, and makes it hard to determine when I should go out and take photographs.

The prediction for last Saturday was sunny and mild - in the 50s. My friend Caren and I had arranged to go to Lafayette Square in the city because she is always scouting for architecturally interesting sites for her photography business. It ended up being chilly and gray that morning, which is not the best for taking pictures. We took a nice walk in Lafayette Park anyway, and at least the ducks and swans were cooperative about having their pictures taken.

Lafayette Square

Sunday was also supposed to be nice, so Jim and I drove to the Audubon Center at Riverlands around 7:30 in the morning. The trumpeter swans winter here through February, and we always try to get there to see (and hear!) them. Reportedly they have about 1,400 of them there right now. The further we drove north, the more foggy it became. Talk about thick as pea soup!

Jim in the fog

When we arrived we could hear the swans, but we definitely could not see them. While we had a smidge of sunrise when we first got there, it was quickly gone. Again, it was tough to take pictures as everything was so gray. With the fog, the camera just did not know what to focus on. It was frustrating at best. Even when the fog lifted, everything was pretty dreary. We just did the best we could. We left after a couple of hours, and I bet we didn't drive two miles before we hit sunny blue skies and warming temperatures. Mother Nature got the best of us that morning!

Audubon Center at Riverland

Ice Age

Like most areas of the United States, St. Louis has been in a long, drawn out cold spell. We were sick of being stuck inside, so last Saturday my husband, one of our friends and I set out to take some photographs. Though the temperature was under 20 degrees, the sun was out and there was little wind. So we bundled up in long underwear, hats and scarves and headed first to nearby Clayton. Jim's company had designed a new plaza in the downtown area, and while I had seen it under construction I had not been back once it was completed. The ice on the waterfalls and pond made the spot very picturesque.

Clayton

Once we left Clayton, we drove to Forest Park. We were quite surprised to see ice skaters on the Emerson Grand Basin. There is a designated ice rink in Forest Park, but perhaps the open waters called to these folks. We were able to snap a few pictures of them before the park rangers came along and told them to move to a safer area. With the fountains still functioning, ice around them can be thin to non-existent. Having said that, after testing the ice near the edge of the basin and finding it to be several inches thick, I couldn't resist getting a quick picture of myself on the ice as well.

We then continued driving through the park, and found a couple other areas to shoot as well. The Muny bandstand is pretty in all seasons, but this was the first time I have photographed it with the lake completely frozen over.

Forest Park

By then we were quite chilled, so we headed to nearby Seamus McDaniels for lunch and to warm up. It was great to get out of the house for a bit.