Winter color in Stony Brook Reservation

[urbpan]

Yesterday the predicted 4 inches of snow was nowhere to be found. Light flakes melted as the struck the warm ground, and it was actually quite pleasant to be outside. I'm actually too nervous, almost superstitious, to say that I'm happy about this winter's weather--it seems partly like tempting fate and partly like celebrating the good side of something really awful.
But the weather made for a dark but attractive palette. The reddish browns of the leaf litter and the greens of the mosses and lichens were damp and unusually vibrant.




Melted snowflakes cling as microdroplets to the heads of the moss sporangia.


A little stream reflects the steel color of the snowy sky.


Turkey tails and old ferns are still beautiful when they're dead.


These "false" turkey tails (Stereum ostrea) are fresh and vibrant!


Damp and cool but not freezing is perfect weather for Exidia recisa. The big lichen is probably green tree shield, while the smaller one (looks like round greenish stains on the bark) is unknown to me.


A white pine sapling glitters with damp decoration.


I set the self-timer for a long exposure, so you could see the snow falling. You can't, but you can see that we were there.

Comments

[urb-banal.livejournal.com]

Beautiful! (I think we got your snow here in Toronto.)

I love the colours too. This is my fav. palette but I am forcing myself to use more colours in my quilts to keep from getting down and dreary.

[roaming.livejournal.com]

niiice. now I'm almost sorry I spent the day sleeping on the couch (except I felt very unwell so I guess that was the appropriate thing to do). But look what I'm missing! Thanks for sharing it.

[elainetyger.livejournal.com]

A really nice set of pictures; my favorites are the first one with microdroplets and the false turkey tail.

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

Thanks Elaine!
By the way, I got an offer from an old friend (and former roommate) who lives in Brooklyn, so I'll be staying with her. I'm going to make a plan to visit NYC for fun this year some time. I will do what I can to report on the Rodent Control Academy for you!

[bill_sheehan.livejournal.com]

Gorgeous!

I'm not going out until it gets warmer, though. The old bones just don't like being chilled.