This winter has been long and snowy. I know a lot of people are over it and are ready for spring. Don't shoot me, but I'm not one of them. I guess I'm OK with spring coming, but I'm also OK with winter. The me of ten or fifteen years ago wanted nothing to do with winter. No cold, no snow, none of it. The older I've gotten, though, the more I have come to accept and even like winter. I like its quiet and its darkness and the sound that snow makes when it falls. I love how beautiful everything looks when it is covered in snow. It's ok, you can think I'm weird. That's not to say that I'm not looking forward to warmer weather to some degree; I am....especially warmer water. No matter what, it still is awful to surf in cold water.

This winter I've become well acquainted with my bird friends, in my yard and in my parents' yard as well. Sometimes I was not able to get out and go far to shoot anything but there were always birds around. Birds are cool little creatures. They make nifty faces and fluff their feathers and they can fly, which I'm pretty jealous of. One of the neatest things about winter is taking photos while it's snowing, especially of birds. Or taking photos in the snow. This photo was the day after what was probably the last snow we'll have this winter. I'm not going to lie, I'm just a little sad to see it go. You can vote me off the island now :).