Cold Quiet

I love the quiet of New Year's Day.  Seems that the world stands still for the most part.  

Of course, we know why.

In many cases, the night before becomes the day of,  and when the "day of" turns a few hours old, some of those who celebrated the night before well into the "day of" may be  deep into sweet dreams.

All the more reason to go to bed early the night before and get up early the day of to enjoy it's peaceful silence.

On this year's first day, the world around us was cold, making the stillness more pronounced.

And, the cold beauty of a quiet day made for a great New Year's day for me.

I encountered no competition from cars, no bright lights and no barking dogs on either dirt road during my pre-daylight walk yesterday. 

Later, Bill and I took a short drive to some pretty spots around Sagle.  

Except for a couple of guys out tending a bonfire in their yard overlooking Lake Pend Oreille, the village of Garfield Bay sat motionless in its winter quiet.

We drove past the Capt'n's Table, the Green Door Coffee Shop, the resort and up the private road overlooking the main channel of our beautiful lake. 

While Bill found a place to turn the pickup around, I walked down a short trail and tried to get some good shots of the lake.  

Trees and limbs provided scenic obstructions to the wide mass of frigid water surrounded by even colder looking steep mountains. 

We met no vehicles while taking the Garfield Bay cut-off road back to Sagle Road, but we did see a lady on crutches doing her best to make it down the icy road with her two big dogs.

Further on, we saw a man wearing backpack and a hunting knife strapped to his side.  We wondered if these two humans were connected but separated by his ability to travel faster down the icy road. 

We drove to Gamblin Lake.  Silence still ruled the trip, except for occasional conversation about who lives here or do they live in the house up on the hill.   

Bill knew the Rose Bowl was about ready to start, so the Gamlin Lake parking lot served as a good turnaround spot. 

While Bill watched the football game, I spent time outside tamping down trails across the hayfield, to the Lodgepole Log and through the woods.

The dogs helped. 

It was, indeed, a cold, quiet way to start the year, and I enjoyed every minute of the first day of 2013.