Apple blossoms, dandelions, violets, and a pathetic little bleeding heart are adding some color to the yard, which is nice to see after the long white season.

Last Friday, my Art of Recovery photo partner and I spent some quality frigid windy time photographing at Great Island Common on New Castle. It was pretty, but about fifteen minutes was all we could tolerate before heading to the Golden Egg for a hot snack.

It was bitterly cold at Salisbury Beach State Park last Friday, but I managed to get a few photos of the wintry beach area while waiting for an encounter with a snowy owl.

River Ice

The fluctuating temperature and tides create some very interesting textures and ice formations on the river. I noticed these yesterday while crossing one of the bridges over the Cocheco.

Yesterday afternoon we took our first snowshoe hike of the season. We started out just before sunset, so by the time we got into the woods, the light was getting quite dim. The snow covering everything reflected enough of what light there was for us to be able to follow a logging road in the woods, and lights in a few houses enabled us to find our way across the lake and back home.

Great Bay National Wildlife Refuge

This morning, my Art of Recovery partner and I took a hike in the Great Bay National Wildlife Refuge to see if we could get some images for our art project due in the Spring. I was hoping to get some ice photos, and happily the melting snow and ice revealed some interesting shapes and patterns in the ice covering the path, puddles, and ponds.

Last Saturday we noticed a huge cargo ship docked at the Granite State Minerals pier in Portsmouth, unloading road salt. I climbed a tall snowbank to get the image of the salt piles and the stern end of the ship.