On The Beach....

..Looking for Joy....

There has been a noticeable eroding of joy these days, what with all the Omicron news and cancellations, restrictions and dire warnings...and of course short days and long nights, cold temperatures and lack of sunlight.....   geez..it takes a real effort to keep one's spirits up! 

But...this morning, the sun was brilliant and the sky was blue! Knowing it would not last, I was determined to make the most of it, and went down to the beach. I always find something there that perks me up and I return home with a smile. 

OK, so the paths were icy...but it just meant taking tentative steps and holding on to tree branches to get around the bad sections, and it  was worth the effort..The marsh and the lakeshore were deserted...of people..but not of geese and ducks! As the marsh had pretty much frozen over, they were all out on the lake. The only sounds were the honking of the geese and the lapping of the water on the sand..lovely, so peaceful. The sun was actually warm..imagine that!..I had bundled up for the cold and for once was overdressed!  

I took lots of photos despite the fact that at this time of year, there is not much colour and of course while I was there, the sun chose to disappear behind the clouds..making for some lovely sights but not necessarily "joyful" photographs...I wasn't there today for dark silhouettes against pastel grays, and silver with just a touch of yellow or blue on the horizon..I needed a very blue sky.....something uplifting and hopeful! 

So..although I like some of my gloomier shots today - I will save them for my 2021 photo book ..I chose the main, looking east, as it had the most blue of any of my shots (!) and I put in the extra one, looking west, to remind me of how the day was changing...

I went home thinking about the highlights of my cheer-up morning...One was the endless flocks of honking geese that kept flying overhead in waves..never-ending waves..like squadrons of fighter planes! The other was a woman I met along the path ..she had brought her teenage son, with binoculars, to the lake to watch birds...seems that he had taken an interest in birdwatching early in the pandemic and it had since become his passion..And this made her happy. As she said, it was one good thing that had come out of all that isolation! ... a highlight for me because teachers, even retired ones, love to see kids who have a passion for something - anything! :)) 

A good morning that earned a hot chocolate by the fire....