1.21.12 Misty Morning Ramble

This morning "the fog comes on little cat feet" to Nicollet Island, and I can't resist taking pictures at the southern tip of the island, as I so often have. It's a favorite spot for the photographically inclined, and this morning there is one such specimen wandering along the shore, camera in hand, while I stood on the embankment above, looking through my own lens. My Christmas balls remain in place.

This second shot is my favorite of the two, the darkness of the bridge contrasted against the fog imparts an attractive juxtaposition of hues. It's a pretty morning and seems to portend a pretty day, albeit a trifle chilly (a whopping 4 degrees ABOVE zero!). I continue on my usual route up the eastern shore, my mind open to whatever the world may present. A jogger trots past, I've seen her before and we exchange good mornings. "All I can see is your nose poking out," she merrily sings out, for my face is swathed in my balaclava. It's useless for me to reply, for she hasn't broken stride and is already well on her way. I'm smiling back at her beneath my shroud, but I guess there's no way she would know that.

When I reach my favorite bridge, I decide to provide another non-island perspective, so I descend the hill on the crude railroad-tie steps, cross the bridge, and wander in a northwesterly direction along the bank opposite the island.

Here is my island as seen from that bank. You can see the little cavelike rock shelf I've featured in past posts, as well as a pretty river reflection of the trees along the shore. As you can see, we haven't had much snow yet, and more than once I've had to question whether I'm still in Minnesota. This has been a truly bizarre winter, with only a few days of frigid weather and no real snow to speak of. At this rate, it seems the worst we have to look forward to is one more month of real winter, if that real winter ever shows up. Not bad for a place where winter has historically lasted long enough to become a widely known and joked about characteristic.

For this next picture, I merely turned my body a quarter turn to the right, toward downtown Minneapolis, and you can see the main body of the river heading southward, while a channel of it breaks off to come in my direction and encircle Nicollet Island, which is the shoreline on the left side of the picture. I walked a little further north for this next shot.

In this shot (at right), I am facing the northern tip of Nicollet Island. Gazing down along its western shore, you can see in the distance the railroad bridge which I've given considerable exposure in previous blog entries. The tall building in the distance is the Carlyle Apartment Building which you may also recall from previous posts. The surface of the river appears more and more frozen with each passing day, as the temperatures plummet, although I still wouldn't attempt to walk across it. There is plenty of beauty to enjoy without taking unnecessary risks, even if a little foolhardiness every now and then adds a delicious frisson of exhilaration to a day's excursions.

Life flows on, in and around us--with beauty, the nuanced or blatant tinctures applied by nature's brush, and ample opportunities for risks and rewards.

D.E.S.