Living in paradise (most days, but not quite all)
It was cold and rainy yesterday. We made ourselves cozy in the sitting room with a nice coal fire burning and never left the house. However, when I got up at 7 this morning, it was still night, of course, but the light from the crack in the shutters was suspiciously bright. I opened them and saw that we had a goodly sprinkling of snow in the ground – half an inch or so.
Sunrise was at 9am today and by 10:30 the day was very bright. So I drove off to hunt for photos. I would say the Q2 did not let me down.
I made for the barriers and the beaches near them. These are the steps down to the beach
The light was searing bright, the snow on the sand sparkled, the wind was light and I was in justa jersey. So the sun cooked me pleasantly while my fingers froze on the camera (I had forgotten to bring my lovely silk gloves from Paul).
The concrete blocks of the barriers sparkled too,
The sea grass shone against the blue sky
And the overall view was the usual 'Orkney magnificent':
I have no idea why the snow decided to lie as a stripe on the sand, but that's what it did and this picture is proof! I suppose God thought it would be more decorative that way and might make a nice picture for me.
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After the beach at No.3 barrier, I drove on to Holm, on Mainland, now with a wet knee as I had needed to kneel to take some of these shots. Here is the beach on the eastern side of no.1 Barrier in Holm. Here I chatted with a nice man who had taken his dog for a swim. Apparently the dog loves a swim in any weather. The black labrador was very friendly and bounced around me, shaking sea water from his pelt.
When I turned my back to the sea and looked inland, I found myself facing this stunning view:
After that I drove up the hill to one of my favourite vantage points:
No telephoto on my new camera, but no worries, with 47 megapixels to play with, I just crop:
The hills of Hoy were well and truly snowcapped.
After that, I once again turned to face inland and toook my Leica shot of the day – this:
All in all, a very pleasant little excursion that makes me say 'wish you were here'.