Challenge - Week 51

"You can hope to find value in winter, but those who enter the season with an open mind consistently exceed mere hope. Snow can transform evergreen scenes into soft white backdrops as wintering birds fly by, and cold temperatures can transform water into beautiful icy patterns. There is only one requirement to enjoy the wonders of winter. You have to get out of your house."
-Me

This Week

One component of this year's challenge was to come up with a quote. My idea was to encourage people to go out and enjoy the winter when most people seem to hide from it. I decided to include three straightforward subjects and some more general text (wonders of winter). I personally shot the three straightforward topics. Wintering birds flying by was divided into two (wintering birds, flying by). Since hope was supposed to be this year's theme, I made sure that hope was included.

I should point out that it was a busy week for me, and I didn't have as much opportunity to shoot as I usually do. I also knew that my quote would come up, so I took a picture of a local roundabout a couple weeks ago. When will I ever have another ice-related opportunity like that? This week, we actually saw some snow. I didn't have a lot of time to find the best shots (same was true with the ice), but it's kind of nice that I actually saw snow during this challenge.

Pictures

	***Old Picture*** A couple weeks ago, abnormally COLD TEMPERATURES TRANSFORMED this miniature WATERfall on the 40th street roundabout in University Place INTO BEAUTIFUL ICY PATTERNS.
	SNOW TRANSFORMED EVERGREEN SCENES INTO SOFT WHITE BACKDROPS.
	We found this WINTERING BIRD on Chambers Creek.
	A couple Double-crested Cormorants FLEW BY. These birds can be found year round, but the bulk of our sightings are WINTER BIRDS.

Flickr Friday - Hotel California

Just seeing the word "California" makes this a bad subject for me to pursue. When I see that word, I want to bash the Calivermin who infest our state (see what I mean?) To avoid offending the Flickr community, I have decided to pass this week.