Early Sunset

After a very pleasant day of walks in frosty sunlight we returned home shortly before this sunset. Since we are three hours drive further north the days are noticeably shorter.  This picture was taken at 2:15, the sun was gone by 2:20. The long dusk meant it wasn't truly dark until an hour later, but even so it feels a bit strange to be looking out at a nighttime sky at 3:30!
The river here is about 2.5 km wide, or perhaps it would be more accurate to say the river flows into a 2,5km diameter lake, before finally flowing out into the Bay of Bothnia, the sea.  On the horizon you can see the large paper factory at Obbola.
The flocks of waterfowl are getting steadily smaller as the area of open water shrinks, and more and more of them fly south to more temperate regions. Sometimes I think we should follow their example, but at the same time there is so much beauty in this chilly winter.
One of the beauties is the noise that such a large expanse of ice makes. the extra shows Rusty, listening in concentrated fashion to the ice singing, booming, groaning, as it forms, expands and contracts.