Last chance to experience sun+snow this winter?

Weather forecast suggests that today will see the end of the spell of clear skies that bring sharp frosts at night and wintery gorgeousness by day. So a walk is in order to make the most of it all, to bring elation to my spirits, to extract maximum repeatable joy from the being in the light.

Below: pollarded willow, on the farm track between Grobice and Kozłów. Photo taken just ten minutes after today's meridian (when the sun's at its highest in the sky). 

Left: a female adult sparrowhawk (krogulec, Accipiter nisus), perched on a fence-post, Grobice.

Photo taken at the long end of my 70-300 Nikkor zoom, and – for the first time – using the Generative Upscale AI feature in the latest Photoshop. The picture was cropped tight on the bird, then blown up four times, with AI filling in the space between the pixels as they are moved apart from one another. 

I must say, I am impressed, and cannot find any anomalous artefacts within the image.

Below: new house at the edge of Kozłów; just as I did in early autumn, I took the photo and asked Chat GPT to make me a poster image in the mid-century modern style. And here they are...

Below:  having reached the furthest point of my walk, I turn around to head back, this time towards the sun. On the outward leg, my hands were frozen; with the sun shining on them, it soon felt warm enough for me to take my woollen gloves off!

Below: within two and half months, this snow-covered field will be yellow with dandelions... That cloud bank is drifting ever closer; more snow is due sometime over the next three days.

Below: today's welcoming party – Scrapper (left), Wenusia, and Pacyfik at the back there. Czester, Arcturus and the glamorous Céleste stayed in all morning.

This time three years ago:
Into the wet snow

This time six years ago:
Minimising #Flygskam

This time seven years ago:
Notes from the Arena of the Unwell II

This time nine years ago:
Ice – pond – night

This time 11 years ago:
Sorry, taki mamy klimat – Polish rail in winter

This time 13 years ago:
Music of the Trees

This time 14 years ago:
Studniówka – a hundred days before the exams

This time 15 years ago:
It's all in the mind – but where's that?

This time 16 years ago:
Roztopy – the big melt-down

This time 17 years ago:
The year's most depressing day