Monday, December 30, 2019

Hiatus #17


We haven’t had a white Christmas in years, but we are visiting our daughter and fam at the edge of the beaten path in of Alaska, and this happened.




--Miles O'Neal

19 comments:

E.M. Goldsmith said...

Oh, I so love the purity of snow in the quiet. What a lovely view.

Carolynnwith2Ns said...

Lucky you :)

Carolynnwith2Ns said...

After looking at this peaceful picture again I wondered which of the four roads/driveways would you travel? I'm leaning toward tire tracks but still a bit unsure.

LynnRodz said...

Lovely photo, so peaceful. No hesitation, I would be drawn to the Christmas tree at the end of the road. Beautiful.

LynnRodz said...

Wait, that is a Christmas tree, isn't it?

CynthiaMc said...

Gorgeous. Makes me want to grab a book and curl up by the fire.

Lennon Faris said...

Beautiful!

Hmm, for 2N's question, from left to right I'd pick #2. Kind of wild (but not as wild as #1), and close to #3 which I'm guessing has a fireplace, hot cocoa, and Christmas cookies, i.e. the fun neighbor. #4 looks to me like it goes to the next town over.

nightsmusic said...

Lovely and thanks for sharing this. We had a 50 degree day in Michigan for Christmas. It was so disappointing. We're supposed to have snow tomorrow, but who knows. So I shall enjoy my snow vicariously :)

The Road Not Taken

BY ROBERT FROST

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Claire Bobrow said...

What a beautiful snow scene. My mind immediately went to the Robert Frost poem! I love how the tree lights draw the eye to the end of the middle path.

Beth Carpenter said...

There's something about a picture of a pathway, or four, that always draws me in. You've perfectly captured the feel of Alaska in the winter. No color, just form, and even the shapes are rounded and smoothed by snow. Shh...

Lisa Bodenheim said...

Love this image with its dreams of unplugging--from work, from crowds, from discourtesy--and finding quiet neighborliness and aloneness.

Nightsmusic: It's a snowstormy day in Minnesota, so hopefully it continues your way.

nightsmusic said...

Lisa, it's supposed to start here in earnest around 10 tonight. Three inches by tomorrow morning, but I'm always so disappointed by the inaccuracy of the weather reports. You know the old saying, it's the only job where you can be wrong 90% of the time and still keep it.

AJ Blythe said...

It's such a beautiful, calm scene, and then that bright yellow triangle on path #3 grabs your attention. Wanting to know what it was, I'd choose that path.

Craig F said...

Is that the Gorton's Fisherman in that yellow slicker?

Maybe he is just stopping by the woods on a snowy evening

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound’s the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

I would take the road to the right, it looks like it opens on some more divine vistas

I got close to there in the late 70's. The great adventure to see Alaska before it got trashed. You can see such great notions of what the world once looked like, gorgeous, but not so much for a thin blooded Floridian

Katja said...

I'm TOTALLY fond of this - snow, high fog, quiet, nature, cosy, and that lit up Christmas tree.

I do hope you had to take the second path from the right to get to where you wanted to!!

Kate Larkindale said...

I miss snow... Living in a temperate climate does have advantages, but I do miss snow. Especially at Christmas. Even having had more summer Christmases than winter ones now, it still feels wrong.

roadkills-r-us said...

Thanks, y’all!
I believe that is a Christmas tree.
Our daughter & fam rent a house inside a nature preserve. This pic is where three driveways branch off the private road (#4, right). Our daughter’s drive is #1 on the left.
The previous two trips, I thought they were all driveways. It was this trip I found out the private road went on as #4. Next trip I will wander down it.
About a half mile behind where I stood to take this photo is the Eagle River Mature Center, where we parked the rental car until the snow fell, due to the icy dirt road and lack of chains.

roadkills-r-us said...

*Nature Center, not Mature Center. Sheesh.

KDJames said...

I love this pic. It makes me feel so homesick for Minnesota, although MN is generally flatter than this. Thank you, Miles, for sharing it.

And I agree with Beth's description of winter in northern areas as being no colour, just form. You see the dark bare bones against a stark white landscape. There's nothing else like it.

We tied a record high 76* here today. Sigh.