Saturday Slight

OUTSIDE:  the best therapy money doesn't need to buy.

In more than one conversation of late, the "ain't it awful" subject of winter showing up way too early has exposed a common feeling.  It's depressing. 

It's depressing, especially if some of us are not skiers who are probably giddy as can be this morning, thinking about those snow-covered slopes at Schweitzer, where the resort is seeing one of its earliest openings in years. 

Yup, those people probably didn't sleep last night cuz they're so excited to hop in the car, drive up the hill and hit the slopes. 

For others, however, that blast of winter at the beginning of the month set many minds into a downward spiral with the thought that what seems like endless days of gray and wet and snow and messes to clean up could be longer than ever this year.

Apparently, Mother Nature was listening to the grumbling, and she has given us a break with some rain, a whole lot less snow covering up all those leaves and even some sunny, crisp days where green has again returned to the flats and the most brilliant of white snow covers the mountains---just as it oughta be. 

So, some of us are breathing a sigh of relief and hoping the old gal who runs the weather department holds off a little longer down here in the valleys and just keeps dumping on those mountains where snow is supreme and much welcomed. 

In the midst of our most recent weather transition from winter back to fall, I spent several hours for two or three days outside desperately raking and even some mulching in green spots on the lawn with hopes of ridding the yard of most of the blanket of leaves which had been hiding under the blanket of snow. 

It has been a successful pursuit, and now I'm down to the touch-up stages where if we get a snow dump, that'll be okay. 

One somewhat dreary raking day, I came inside and checked Facebook where I saw that Danielle Otis from Western Pleasure Guest Ranch had tagged me to the 7-day black-and-white photo challenge----a photo each day, black and white, no people, no explanations.

Well, these days with photo editing programs we can turn most any color photo black and white.  Knowing I have thousands and thousands of pictures in my library, I thought the challenge would be an easy task.  Just use the editing program and "voila," lots to choose from. 

But then I thought why make it so easy and why not take advantage of this excuse to go out and get some new photos specifically for the challenge. 

My knees were beginning to ache from so much raking, and I had planned to go back outside to do some more that day.  Instead, I let the rake sit, put the dogs in the garage and took off to "I knew not where" with my camera.  

This time my camera and my car took me to a road I seldom travel because a major portion of it winds through wooded areas along Pack River Flats.  

When it's been raining, that segment of road has some mighty big mud holes, stretching so far that a car almost has to get off the road avoid the giant puddles.  Plus, it's a pretty bumpy road. 

The plus side:  hardly anyone else 'cept maybe the residents travels the road, which for a photographer always out on the hunt is a good thing.  Nobody's hanging on your bumper at the precise moment you wish to stop and snap a photo. 

This particular photo hunt turned out to be pure pleasure cuz I stopped any time I wanted and I saw the world around Pack River Flats through a completely different eye---since I was looking for good black and white subjects.

I also marveled at the restoration project in the flats, spearheaded by Cathy Cousins and the Fish and Game----all those geese love that place. On this hunt, I also discovered interesting items along the roadside where, in the past, had gone completely unnoticed.

Finally, the trip took my mind completely off from remaining leaves to rake and the troubles of the outside world.  

For an hour or so, I had actually entered a pleasant and peaceful realm all my own, undisturbed and undistracted. 

I also discovered, because of the focus of that day that purely black-and-white photography provides a completely different perspective and a multitude of new opportunities---especially at a time of year when we're in seasonal transition and we tend to think that the beauty has all vanished. 

Not true.  

The scenes along that drive and later, along stretch of the same road (known as Sunnyside) where the sun shines and where swimmers, sunbathers, boaters, etc. hang out along the shoreline throughout the summer, are very different when the lake is drawn down for the winter. 

Suddenly fascinating structures or natural phenomena, usually hidden by all the other seasonal beauty, get their opportunity show off. 

Long story short, this assignment has offered me a new perspective and it has demonstrated one more time how therapeutic our outdoors can be when our minds start going into seasonal tailspins. 

So, thanks, Danielle for this meaningful and fulfilling assignment and thanks to all the other photographers who each day are posting such amazing photos of our black-and-white world, which really isn't so ugly when leaves fall and water recedes and mud seems to rule the landscape. 

Finally, I've included a link from one of my favorite local writers, Ammi Midstokke.  I read this week's Sandpoint Reader and thought if fit in perfectly with my message this morning.  

One note:  Ammi and my daughter Annie were in the same class at Sandpoint High School.  I'm thinking there must have been something in the water when they were born cuz the two of them lead about the most adventurous, amazing and inspiring lives imaginable. 

Happy Saturday.  GO, ZAGS! 

Enjoy the link and Annie's photos below.

From Ammi Midstokke:

http://sandpointreader.com/fine-fettle-seasonal-affective-disorder-sad-states-mind/

From Down Under . . . .with Annie

One amazing day of caching! Not many could beat this. It started at 6:30am exploring the town of Alexandra and finding caches, meeting amazing people at the Mega, caching all afternoon finding amazing gadget caches with wonderful people, a BBQ and ended with a 4+ hour T5-D4 4WD night Cache.....one of the best caches I've ever done.

Saw a kangaroo, a wombat, so many cool birds (like the ones you see in zoos in the US), didn't get eaten or attacked by anything! Well....except for that one stick in the forest that I thought for sure was a snake! Thank you, Australia!