One-Liner Wednesday – Opportunity

#JusJoJot, Connecticut, New England Life, One Line Wed 49 comments

Ralph Waldo Emerson said:

“Never lose an opportunity of seeing anything beautiful, for beauty is God’s handwriting.”

This was the message that stuck with me on Sunday. It was -8°f (-22°c), but it was the last day of a long cold snap. Monday at about the same time, it would be almost 30 degrees warmer. The forecast said we were in for warmer weather, with rain and highs near 50°f (10°c) by the end of the week.

So, if I was going to get pictures of the ice on the Connecticut River, I was going to need to venture out in that -8° – the beauty wouldn’t last long.

I guess God has one of those pens that writes in any conditions.

This post is part of Linda G. Hill’s fun weekly series One-Liner Wednesday, and, as a bonus, #JusJoJan. If you have a one-liner, I’d encourage you to join in on the fun. You can follow this link to participate and to see the one-liners from the other participants.

We always get an icicle at this corner.
This little brook drains into the CT River beyond that tree line in the back.
The Gas Co-Gen plant close up.
Gas Co-Gen plant
Looking north to the Montgomery Building. a Little clear water before the ice bunches up again downstream of the bridge.
Looking west at Alstrom’s Gas Co-Gen plant.
The ice is lose, but bunched up pretty tight.
There’s a river flowing under that ice.
I’ve spent some time in that gazebo in the summer. Cool breeze off the river and green grass all around.
There’s park, riverbank and river between me and that Gas Co-Gen plant
Alstrom’s Windsor Locks operations across the CT River.
The Montgomery Building – Still awaiting its transformation into luxury apartments. They will have a nice view.
This is just below the railroad bridge over the river. On the west is Windsor Locks (left/south) and Suffield (right/north). On the east (close) is near East Windsor and Enfield boarder.
Railroad bridge across the CT River.
Looking west across the river
This little park in East Windsor offers a nice view of the river.

49 comments

    1. Thanks Cheryl. The sun was working overtime, trying to warm things a bit, but it wasn’t getting any help from the wind from the north.

      I have about 20 pictures of that icicle. I cou’d not capture what I saw, but this was close.

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  2. Winter can be cold and yet so beautiful…if one looks for it. These are great photos, Dan. Thanks for standing out in the frigid cold in order to share the beauty of your river. I imagine after a few days of warmth, those scenes will look totally different. We don’t have a ton of snow here, so the white fields may turn into wet brown grass until it decides to snow again.

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    1. Thanks Mary. If I’m lucky, I’ll be at Great River Park when the big chunks are floating past. They stack up behind one bridge, and then they start flowing. I guess it depends on how warm and how much rain we get tomorrow and Friday.

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  3. On those very cold days, the sun shines so brights, creating beautiful shadows that result in great photos. Even someone like me who doesn’t particularly like snow has to acknowledge the breath-taking beauty of days like this one.
    Your opening photo with the icicle is gorgeous with the glow of the light. I can never capture photos like this one quite right. Nicely done!!

    btw – I still can’t *like’ any of your posts. Now the problem seems to be popping up randomly on other blogs. Grrr.

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    1. Thanks Joanne. Winter does bring us a kind of beauty that we can’t see during the rest of the year. I’m glad you like the icicle. I was hoping for a better look, but that was as good as it got.

      I thought I had the no-comment mystery solved, but after a bit of research, my theory was disproved. I get one or two days a week when I can’t like posts unless I clear the cache of my browser.

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      1. I just cleared my browser history hoping to fix the problem. It’s interesting that I never had any WP issues until I got a Mac. Now it seems I have to clear the cache at least once a month.

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    1. I know! I think this is under 200 words. It may be a record :)

      I think the pictures speak for themselves. I think there are a few engineers, up and down the river that are worried about that ice moving in the warm rain we are supposed to get tomorrow and Friday. Lot’s of bridges on that river.

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  7. Such beautiful photos, Dan, but my favorite is the Gas C-Gen plant. When we were younger, we used to pretend we were smoking and blow out that steam from the freezing cold. You did that, too? Yes, those were the cool, younger days.

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  8. LOL! Your fingers must have laryngitis because you almost accomplished a one-liner!!

    Love the icicle. The ice floe on the river is both beautiful and downright scary. I like the shadows created by the bright sunlight.

    Enjoy the warmer temperatures! —-Ginger—-

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    1. Thanks Ginger. Well under 150 words – that’s probably a record for me. I like the shadows. I’m glad people like the icicle. I wasn’t happy with the way that photo came out, but I guess it works.

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  14. Lovely quote and great photos. Here near Woodstock NY we have had the same weather more or less. I have been feeding and giving water to our our squirrels and birds and chippies and thinking of some of your photos of them–

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    1. It’s hard to know. I think we had more snow by this time last year, but the bulk of our snow fell in February and March. It’s been a long time since we had significant ice on the river this early.

      Several years ago, we had over 80″ of snow in January. The snow we have received has stayed longer, due to the cold. That may all change tomorrow. We’re expecting 50 degrees and 2-3 inches of rain.

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      1. It’s probably just that I’m remembering phots you had on your blog from a little later last year. In Colorado, a few days ago, they had rain. To my brother’s and my recognition, it has never rained in January before on the high plains. It’s a weird year.

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    1. Thanks. As they taught us in elementary school, Stalactites go down, as they have to hold tight to the ceiling to keep from falling. It’s amazing what we remember. What’s my address again?

      I love the photos that we can get in the winter. The sun seems brighter and it shines through the bare trees in ways we’ll never see after spring comes.

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