… In a deep and dark December.
I am alone
Gazing from my window
To the streets below
On a freshly fallen silent shroud of snow.
[“I am a Rock” by Paul Simon]
Before starting this post, I looked back at the weather a year ago – we were in the midst of snow, and in the deep freeze with a brutal-feeling Polar Vortex … now THAT is what you call a “deep and dark December.” I was hustling to fulfill the last walking miles goal I had made for myself, struggling to get those steps done, in what was deemed the sixth snowiest December on record. I wrote in a blog post “I am sure I am not alone in concurring with William Shakespeare’s phrase ‘now is the winter of our discontent’ even if the intention for these words is not the same.”
Now, fast forward one year later …
December 2018 is quite the opposite – we have had just one-tenth of an inch of snow this month and will not see any flakes until New Year’s Eve. The weatherman said this morning that Detroit will be warmer than Phoenix, El Paso, or even Las Vegas today, with temps nearing 60 degrees.
I e-mailed the temperature stats to my boss who is flying home today from a week spent in Los Barriles, Mexico where he and his family have enjoyed sun and fun in 70-degree temps. I told him he didn’t even a jacket for re-entry to Michigan.
Since warm temps might be equated with the seashore, the closest to the seashore I can offer you are these photos taken along the boardwalks at Bishop Park and John Dingell Park – if you stroll along the shoreline, and close your eyes while you hear the seagulls screeching, you might believe it was a Mid-Summer day, a little breeze off the water, a boat or two bobbing in the waves. But, once your eyelids flutter open again, you’ll see the bare trees and the drab Phragmites waving in the breeze in the background.
These photos are from Bishop Park and Dingell Park on a sunny Sunday, December 9th.
Bishop Park in Wyandotte, Michigan:
John Dingell Park in Ecorse, Michigan:
Linda Schaub
WALKIN', WRITIN', WIT & WHIMSY 
Wow, great photos. How long did you have to wait to get the shot of the seagull landing? Nice composition. The story is good yet the photos begin to swallow the post. Great job. I really enjoyed reading.
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Thank you John – I am glad you enjoyed the post. In both locations, it is right along the Detroit River and the seagulls were everywhere, so I didn’t have to wait long to get pictures of them landing. Sometimes they sit on the railing, at either boardwalk, and they are all lined up and, as I approach, they fly off – maybe not all of them, but off they go and they do a couple of trips around the area, then return to see if “the pest” is gone. Then I get them coming back again. I have tried to get pictures of Canada Geese taking off or landing. They will be honking, but really give no indication that they are about to splash down on the water, or land, nor when they take off … the signal caller says “now” silently (or maybe in “geese speak”) and they are off in a flurry of activity. I like seagulls as they are not too skittish and I can keep approaching, fairly close, til I reach their comfort zone, then off they go.
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I can’t believe how much more snow you get on the north side of the lake. Last year wasn’t that bad here however, east of Ohio gets it so much worse than we do. Your pictures were beautiful. I just took took all my outside Christmas down in 56 degrees! How nice!
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Last year was a bad Winter Diane and we had 62 inches of snow for Winter season.
We still had snow in early April – I thought it would never end! We have sailed right through December with just a few flakes (1/10 of an inch – almost unheard of in December in SE Michigan) … it’s been great. We did have rain today which was unfortunate, but we have 54 degrees right now … it can stay like this the rest of Winter in my opinion!
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Beautiful captures of the gulls! Enjoy those temps Linda! Happy New Year!
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Thanks Sabine – I arrived home with a lot of photos of the seagulls – they were everywhere – I was lucky to get them flying or landing. 🙂 Temps are 54 now – almost tropical. Same to you.
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Like you Linda, I am okay with this weather over last year. It can stick around the rest of the season as far as I am concerned but I think my hubby will be quite disappointed if he doesn’t get to play on his snowmobiles.
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We have 54 degrees right now Ruth – almost tropical – hope you’re having similar temps in your neck of the woods. I like Paul Gross at Click on Detroit and follow him and he says after mid-January we’ll get our snow and cold, and a regular Winter, but up to then, little snow and not horribly cold. Your hubby has 2 weeks to go!
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Yes we had 54 as well they said the temps are dropping quickly now though glad I got out today and enjoyed some sun and warm 🙂
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That’s what I heard too on WWJ a short time ago. A 20-degree difference in a matter of hours.
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Such pretty water pictures! I am with you. I like this December’s weather much better than last year’s. I ran a trail race the beginning of last January where the starting temperature was zero degrees F. There was snow and ice covering the trail. Brutal conditions! I am running the same race (it’s a 3 hour timed race) next weekend. The weather is supposed to be much warmer and I am keeping my fingers crossed.
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Thanks Laurie – it was a cold day when I took them – maybe 18 degree wind chill. I still have some pictures from almost three weeks ago, that I set aside due to the Christmas posts. When I looked back in my blog from this time last year, I saw we had a two week Polar Vortex, so that must have been the tail end of it for you. For us, we are not supposed to get into the real cold weather until mid-January, so I’ll keep my fingers crossed for you for milder temps. We have good weather all weekend, and rain, maybe turning to snow for New Year’s Eve.
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I hope to be in Florida by the time the real cold weather hits! We are going down to visit my sister in January.
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That sounds nice and then off to your tropical vacation in Costa Rica. Get ready to photograph some beautiful birds there.
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Miss Linda…………………………….Hooray for the balmy weather in December!
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That’s for sure Ann Marie – we can keep this and bottle it up!
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Great shots – if I hadn’t noticed the barren trees in the background, I would’ve thought you were in Florida! It is a weird winter – we had rain for 2 days, and now it is snowing lightly, but not accumulating. I’m hoping this sparse snow in December doesn’t mean that March will be overloaded! Congrats on beating your walking goals from the year before. That’s a great accomplishment!
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Thanks Shelley – I went through all my shots to pick some that looked Summery and when I was there I ensured I had pictures of the “no fishing” signs next to the seagulls. We had a light covering of snow this morning, but it didn’t impact walking – could still wear my shoes and get five miles in – was going to go for six, but figured five was good for today – started this sleety pinging on my face and I said “enough already!” I will add up my miles for the last day and see how I did … I’ve been keeping track on a sheet of paper, usually on the computer, but behind the 8-ball on everything.
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Another nice post……you have been busy. I’m trying to catch up, hope I haven’t missed any! I have managed to continue with my walking, even on the colder days…..but we have been spoiled with the weather. We had about an inch of snow overnight, but mostly melted now and no snow in sight for the next week. I hope it continues nice, as it sure shortens up the winter.
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Hi Joan – Thank you – glad you are enjoying them. I think you have seen all of them, will look when I am done, but looks like you saw them all. I posted every day, but one day, and that was because, as of today’s post which I’ll do later today, I will have 200 posts I published this year … I decided to mention that in today’s recap and I kind of liked the even number. I have enjoyed the nice December weather too – glad to hear you’ve been able to continue walking. We had two rainy Fridays and I didn’t get out and right now it is raining very hard. I had concerns about meeting my goal in November though after we had all the bad weather. I ended up walking 111 more miles than my goal and will shoot for more next year. I am hearing our weather is good til mid-January, then Winter returns with a vengeance – hope they are wrong, as do you.
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I was rained out yesterday too. I don’t think I missed any of your posts. 200 is impressive. I have 75 I think over 17 months…..
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Right now we have freezing rain – the last time it made a real mess in the Park and I ended up walking on the grass as the path was covered in snow. We had icy paths again this morning, so likely I will just walk in the neighborhood tomorrow – the weather is very odd, but no snow so that is good. 200 is alot of posts, and now that Winter is here, likely there will not be as many and I don’t usually do as many Christmas posts either, but my boss was on vacation and for once I had no work that he left me, so I had extra time to myself. 75 is impressive as well. I probably did that amount the first year and a half I blogged – in fact I started the blog on 02/11/13 and then it was crummy weather and didn’t write again for a while.
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PS. I always loved that Simon and Garfunkel song!
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Me too – I liked their music, especially the softer songs, like that one.
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I’ll have to use Gordon Lightfoot’s “Song for a Winter’s Night” the first time we have a lot of snow or in the dead of Winter. I’ve used it before. I really like his music. Here is a clip of him – this was quite a long time ago, from the timbre of his voice and how he looks. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfyDs6uXww0
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I used that song last Feb in a blog called Music and Poetry for A Snowy Day. Wow I hardly recognized him in the video….it must have been very early days. I wore that album out when I was in first year university!
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I have used that song in a post awhile ago too, likely on a snowy Winter day … love that song and I listened to it on an album just like you … over and over again, but can we ever get too much of Gordon Lightfoot? He’s had some health challenges through the years … yup, I would not have recognized him either.
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The way you captured the birds is just awe-inspiring. Such beautiful captures. I aspire to photograph nature as well as you, Linda! Glad you are soaking up this beautiful December 🙂
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Thank you Mackenzie and I aim to learn how to use the manual settings on the DSLR this year … 90 percent of the time I use a compact digital camera, when I go out for longer treks on the weekend I use the DSLR but on automatic … I just bought in June so one of my resolutions this year to study the manual and learn how to take pictures not using the automatic setting. It is hard if you have flying or running critters though!
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I have a DSLR too, but haven’t used it because I don’t know how!! 2019 will be our year to figure out our cameras 🙂
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Good luck to us on learning it in 2019! I took a look at the camera manual, then went and ordered “Canon Rebel T6 for Dummies” on Amazon. I researched around because I wanted a camera that was easy to use and a good stepping stone from a compact – I used a 35mm years ago, even took a class, but shot on automatic all the time. So, I got this one in June, devoted a Saturday to familiarize myself, the books overwhelmed me and I learned more about the camera by Googling the camera’s name on YouTube. I like visuals … but that was just the basics. I keep going back to the compact – easy, breezy, just like a smartphone which I guess is what you use. I found this guy online and bookmarked it to go back, and then a fellow blogger and I were discussing photos. Her daughter upgraded to a different DSLR and gave her her old one. She didn’t have a manual, so Shelley found this same guy online and watched his series of videos. So I’m going to do this one snowy weekend … when you get time, hop on this site and maybe you’ll go this route too: https://froknowsphoto.com/
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Those are all great places to start- thanks for sharing with me!
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You’re welcome Mackenzie – I will hunker down and try to learn this camera before Summer arrives. (Fingers crossed.)
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Enjoy the better weather Linda
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Thanks Zena – I hope it stays mild a little while longer.
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Mind blowing
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Please read my first post
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