W-wa Jeziorki: Up with the weather! Fine, frosty morn

Monday, 3 February 2025

Up with the weather! Fine, frosty morn

Sunday night, family calls – Zooming with my brother, Skyping with my daughter – and Wenusia the kitten wants outta the house. As usual, to do her business outside before bedtime. But on this occasion, she did not return... Never did this before... I waited up as long as could, but with Monday morning being the start of the working week – reluctantly in the end, I had to go to bed, having drunk a second large tea to ensure that I'd be waking up all through the night. I moved my pillow to the other end of my bed so I could see the kitchen window, and having left the roller blinds open and a lit table lamp on the windowsill, I dropped off to sleep.

I dreamt about my lost cat being in London and befriending a small dog, then woke up at 1:30. Checked outside – no sign of. Temperature was -4.8°C. Woke again at 3am, then again at 4:30, checking each time. Calling out into the darkness. Nothing. Finally woke and got out of bed at 7am, just before sunrise, again checking for Wenusia, again nothing, so I got dressed, made my coffee, had a light breakfast, and got ready to venture out into the frost to look for my missing kitten. I laced up my stout winter boots, put on my warm parka, hat and scarf, ready to brave the elements, opened the door – and who should stroll in nonchalantly as though nothing had ever happened but Wenusia.

Seize the day! I thought. So I filled her bowl with cat food and set off with camera to make the most of the opportunity. An hour before the Monday office Zoom call, time for a lap around the manor to photograph a most splendid morning that, had it not been for Wenusia's night out, I would have missed to routine.

So then we are having. The sun now rises half an hour after the latest sunrise (07:43 between 27 Dec and 3 Jan). The ground is covered with yesterday evening's snow, turned crispy by the overnight frost.

Below: the sun rises over the forest between Jakubowizna and Adamów Rososki. Fallow fields of tansy and goldenrod touched by frost. It is absolutely beautiful outside!

Below: rows of apple trees between Jakubowizna and Grobice. Time for some gratitude!

Below: abandoned farm buildings, Nowe Grobice. Or 1930s Kentucky.

Below: looking east from Nowe Grobice. All photos in this session taken with my Nikkor 35mm f/1.8 lens, which gives a nice approximation of the field of view of the human eye. To zoom in, walk forward. To zoom out, walk back.