New Year's Dance of Water, Light, and Ice

Morning arrives quietly in the Twin Ports. There's no fanfare or fuss, no explosion of color in the sky. Only the slightest blush of pink heralds the sun's appearance. Appropriate, since the culture of northern Minnesota dictates that everything be understated and downplayed. You just don't stir up excitement here, or call attention to yourself in any way. Dawn follows the rules.

In December in this part of the world, the sun takes its time getting here. It's almost 8 am when the sun peeks over the edge of the world on the far side of Lake Superior. Many residents have likely been up for hours, drinking coffee and checking their email, getting ready for the day. The lights from their homes make the hillside twinkle and wink.

In a few hours, the sky will be bright and filled with light. The winter sun is weak but enthusiastic. It reflects off the snow and off the water, being magnified and bounced about as it makes its journey low in the southern sky.

The sun's low angle creates interesting shadows on the snow dunes alongside the Lakewalk, skipping across their tops like a rock across water. As I approached this area, a fox scampered away along that trail barely visible in the lower right corner. It was unusual to see one in the daytime, and unusual also to see one in this location. Perhaps it was lured out by the warm (25 degree) temps. I wonder if it has a den nearby.



In each photo I took this afternoon and evening, the sun showed itself as a lovely starry prism, though I was using only my standard camera lens and no filter of any kind.

All too soon, this day that I want to last forever is coming to an end.

I could roam the shoreline with my camera for hours, days, weeks on end, if only the sun would stay out and I could manage to avoid freezing to death.

But alas, wishing doesn't make it so, and the daylight slips away as quietly as it arrived.

Happy New Year everyone - 1/1/11, wow! :)