Sharon's Week 1: Bald Eagle Palooza

Beginnings and Endings

I feel like I have so much to say today so feel free to skip ahead to the photos.  First of all, I am so glad we have so many people on the project this year...I love looking at what everybody else does differently and similarly.  Sometimes I think I'd like to look inside people's brains to see how they differ from mine (I guess I'd have to look inside mine too) because the photographs we all come up with can be so completely different.  At the same time, similarities can be seen at a different level...either with the idea or the execution.

I was pretty grumpy this week about having switched from the photo-a-day thing to one project a week.  Last Thursday (New Year's Day) I was stressed about the possibility of not taking a photo after taking at least one every day for a year, so I took a photo.  Friday, Saturday and Sunday...more photos.  Monday was a work day followed by last minute cleaning of the house so I could host book club then book club then clean up so the camera did not come out.  Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday...ditto...no photographs.  This morning I woke up wanting a restaurant breakfast and I knew Maxine was off today too so I called her and she agreed to have a Hobbit second breakfast with me.  I complained to her that I felt like this weekly project wasn't going to be enough to keep me inspired but then I was inspired.  Last year I made a photobook of the 365 project but I also included two pages each week of photos I took other than the project photos.  If I do that this year as well, then I will be forced to pick up the camera more than I might do otherwise.   And those of you that know me well will realize that I won't be able to tolerate variation in the structure of my photobook (two pages for the blog photos and two pages for the other photos) so I will make sure that I take a variety of photos each week.  Problem solved! 

So I headed over to (surprise, surprise) Whitefish Island.  It was lightly snowing at the time but I thought I could still keep Hermione (my camera) safe but holy cow, did the weather change!  I could barely keep my eyes open for the snow blowing into them by the time I left an hour and a half later and I was cradling Hermione in the puffiness of my jacket and mitts trying to keep her from getting too wet.  It was all worthwhile however...bald eagles were everywhere!  My photos of them are not great because of the snow...they look like poor, grainy photographs but that doesn't matter...I enjoyed the birds and their antics.

This photo can be considered a beginning...it is the beginning of a branch, or an ending...it is the end of this tree's life as a decoration and you can see a little bit of browning on some of the needle edges.

Next we have my new project notebook where I have all the assignments listed and I can jot ideas down as I think of them.  It is the beginning of a new year and a new project.

This photograph was taken at the end of the Pinder ski trail at Hiawatha.  We call it the cathedral of trees and it is beautiful at any time of year.  It used to be more beautiful when it was narrower with one or two more rows of trees but progress happens.  The trail was made wider to accommodate skate skiing.

And while I was taking the photo above, this was the end of Levi after his first ski of the season (and after not leaving the house for a whole week!).

This eagle (I think it is a young bald eagle but I wouldn't stake any money on that) was at the beginning of the trail at Whitefish Island.  When I got out of the car (and visibility was still farther than 10 metres), I saw this eagle in the first tree over the walkway.  I thought initially that it was the clay owl that always tricks me into excitement (I still have not seen owls in the wild) but then I realized that the owl was not in the right place.  I got the camera ready before moving closer but the bird has keen people perception and he flew off pretty quickly.

I then harassed the chickadees a bit but my fingers were frozen so I decided to walk around to warm up.  I'm so glad I did...the bald eagles were active but it was unfortunate that the snow was so heavy.  I'm not sure who met his end here but the eagle is certainly happy about it.

Well, those are my beginnings and endings for this week.  I'm looking forward to seeing everyone else's.