On The Threshold of A Season

Great blue heron amongst water lilies in the cove.

Between the polar vortex and far-too-frequent snowstorms, I was not immune to bemoaning the interminable winter. As the cold became dangerous, I worried about the birds, big and small. The post titled “Music to My Ears, Polar Vortex be Damned” (please click here if you missed that post) resulted from days on end with no birds about. And as for the herons that winter-over here? I was too afraid to give voice to my fears for their survival this winter, lest my writings “make it so.” 

Inside this small studio space, during the long winter months, I’m able to observe the herons in a sort of perpetual summer while working through the thousands of photos taken the previous year. It is a treat and a respite to be able to gaze at lush greenery on the computer monitor mere feet from icicle-shrouded eaves, or when the cold winds howl and whistle through nineteenth-century window casings.

Last summer, I reflected in “Artists and Models“:

Are there any artists who don’t fall in love with their models, their muses?

I am enamored of them all, the great blue herons I’ve been observing for the past decade in the watershed here. Our winters can be harsh, so generally I’m not able to be out on the water from December until April. Once back on the lakes each spring, I survey the area, looking for each of the individuals in their usual territory of years past… Each year brings great relief and big smiles when I find the individuals I’ve been following over the years, and also some anxiety around the missing herons.

We have now gone ten full days without falling snow. Even though there are still icy mounds slowly melting at the end of the driveway, a magnolia has started to bud, and pre-dawn birdsong has called forth the morn the past three days.

And perhaps the best harbinger of Spring: my season pass for kayaking arrived in today’s mail from Charles River Canoe & Kayak.

The boathouse is open.

It is the threshold of a new season.

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Thanks to Paula for her wonderful Thursday’s Special Non-Challenge.

Thanks to Krista and WordPress for the Weekly Photo Challenge: Threshold.

Thanks to Ese for her Weekly Shoot & Quote Photo Challenge: Wings.

Thanks once again to Stewart Monckton for the Wild Bird Wednesday prompt.

Thanks to the kind folks at Charles River Canoe & Kayak for outstanding kayaking and canoeing. All of the Great Egret photos and many of the Great Blue Heron photos in the photo galleries of this blog were taken from the seat of a CRCK kayak. 2014 is my ninth year of boating from their boathouses. Charles River Canoe & Kayak aren’t just “outfitters”, they’re “community.” If you’re a paddler (or a wanna-be-paddler) in Eastern Massachusetts, check them out.

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A selection of my heron and flower photos is now available at the Five Crows Gallery in Natick, MA. Drop in and see the work of the many wonderfully creative artists who show there when you’re in the area.

Five Crows is on FaceBook. To give the gallery a visit, please click here.

Remember: Walk softly and carry a long lens.™

The Tao of Feathers™

© 2014 Babsje. (https://babsjeheron.wordpress.com)

Great Blue Heron, Kayaking