As the last day of January comes to its end, it would be a mistake to think that

Mother Winter will release her white world
any time soon.

Walking with Misha

Misha loves to run.

As soon as she is let off  leash she will run

around and around and around me ,

sometimes up to five times or more with out stopping.

 Once all the excess energy and pure joy of running fast is
finished it is time to check out the surroundings

Beautiful colors of Winter.

I only went out for a walk and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in.  ~John Muir, 1913

Captured by this photograph of a  young girl's gaze ,

 I penciled a likeness hoping to 

portray the calm reflective feeling.

Images from this week

Not far from where I live is a small park. Making time to walk in nature quiets my mind, but that day it was cold and very windy and I almost thought of going back home till I remembered the geography of this place.

There is a section that is like a deep bowl. A limestone bluff and the creek form one side...

and if I walk eighty paces or so, a steep tree covered hillside is on the other side.

This is where  the wind stopped and the quiet began.

 A hole in the ice covered creek, the water still moving.

wonderful patterns of snow paint images on the bluff.

so quiet it was, but for the

 the sound of the Nuthatch.