Flower Mound River Walk, February 2021

Winter -- real, honest-to-goodness, winter, complete with freezing temperatures and snow that actually accumulates -- is not a frequent visitor to North Texas.  It's been six years since we've had what I'd truly call a snowstorm, and I say that with all the subzero snobbery of someone who was born in Vermont, grew up in upstate New York, and spent 17 years living in Colorado.

Despite that distinguished (?) experience with winter weather, I've never experienced cold like we had here yesterday.  Maybe my blood's just gotten too thin after living here since late 2014.  Whatever the case, after receiving a decent amount of snow on Sunday conditions were truly frigid.

I couldn't wait to wake up on Monday and shoot pictures. :)

Our normally free-flowing "river" was an obvious casualty.  Nothing was flowing at 7:00 in the morning, when the thermometer read a balmy 0 degrees.

The forecast had called for heavy cloud cover, but the skies were fairly clear.  All the buildings prevented seeing the sun actually rise over the horizon, but it was nice to get a touch of pink in the few clouds that lingered.

The outflow from the upper pond hadn't completely frozen.  Can't imagine how cold it would have to get for that to happen.

Even with thick mittens, my fingers soon became so cold from emerging to work the camera that I had to head back inside to warm up.  They actually hurt so much that it made me nauseous, so I switched to a different pair of gloves when I went back out at 8:00.  By then some of the earlier ice had given way and more water was flowing.

I don't think I'll ever stop being a complete sucker for shots of moving water.

As cold as it still was, with temperatures having only risen into the low single digits, the sun was working its magic on the upper cascades as well.  But that second pair of gloves?  Not much better than the earlier mittens.  I was back inside after about 20 minutes.

After an hour or so I ventured back outside to head north towards Timber Trails Park, but only made it halfway before I could already feel my fingers getting cold again.  And I hadn't stopped to take a single picture yet, which usually involves taking my gloves off (if only briefly) to more deftly work the buttons, lens, and polarizing filter on my landscape body.  So I went back inside and waited until noon for another attempt.

Now the sun was high enough and bright enough that even though the air temperature had only risen about 10 degrees it just felt considerably warmer.  I wonder why that is?  One of my students observed that falling snow has a similar effect, and I had to agree with her.  It just feels warmer.

Anyway, there was no snow falling now.  Just bright blue skies and the fountain at the north pond trying valiantly to continue spraying.

I headed north mainly hoping to see ducks and geese on the pond, but there were none to be found.  Continuing on to the edge of the woods in Timber Trails Park I found remnants of the huge flocks of American Robins that have been widely observed lately.

Chonky boi all puffed up to try and stay warm.

Even at its zenith, the winter sun is low enough in the sky to still cast long shadows.

I had just remarked to Danelle a day earlier while we were watching a small flock of Cedar Waxwings through our bedroom window that I still don't have a shot of one that I absolutely love.  They've always been pretty skittish around me, and I haven't been able to get close enough for anything great.  This fellow stayed pretty still, but wouldn't emerge enough for me to get a completely unobstructed view.  I made a pretty decent half circle around him looking for just such an angle, too.

This shot is just one twig away from being one I really love.  Great behavior, interesting pose, sharp focus, and a little catchlight on the eye.  And one annoying twig bisecting the scene.

Even with the sun warming things fairly nicely this Northern Mockingbird still had a pretty full puff going. 

I don't do much with abstracts; I tend to prefer a single, obvious subject.  But I found these snow-covered branches a bit mesmerizing.

I went back inside quite satisfied with my midday outing, and only because I'd seen everything I thought was worth seeing.  One more brief foray at sunset was still on the docket, and the pedestrian bridge right across the street from my house provided a nice setting.

This shot really begs for some clouds in the upper left to fill in that vast blue sky.  Or like, a spaceship or hot air balloon.  But without those elements it still documents the impact of the weather on our chapel and reception hall.

One last view down River Walk Drive, glancing behind me periodically for cars, and it was time to head in for good.  All told I think I made five separate brief excursions throughout the day to capture this unique weather event.  Quite a change from five years ago, as Facebook reminded me later that evening with a picture of Zak and Taryn swimming in our pool!