The forecast is for snow to continue even heavier through the morning, finally tapering off in late afternoon.

This was the deck at 8:15 in the morning on the 26th, three and half hours into the storm.

The camera without adjusting white balance sees the explosion of blue light from the snow, which our brain balances out. This and the next photo are not even as dark as the camera saw them originally, but I left a strong blue hue in because it was so beautiful.

Following pictures are from December 26th through the day, added to this post December 27th.

Path to the woodpile we tromped to gather bring firewood to the house. Naturally we did not think of it the day before when we could have used the wheelbarrow. The snow measure 10″ deep in the flat middle of the back yard, away from the house.

White Pine at back of the yard, drooping under the weight of the wet, heavy snow.

Rose of Sharon showing how the heavy, wet snow clung to everything.

Crows on the wing during the storm.

15 year old Buckey, the Maine Coon Cat, does not approve of snow storm.

The 2,295-foot long trestle was built in 1905 – 1906, and is still in use by the The Indiana Railroad today. It is the longest railroad bridge of its type in the United States, and the third longest of its type in the world. It is 157 feet high at its tallest point above ground.

Here’s a selection of the pictures I got. Note the twelfth and thirteenth. Two hawks were sitting on top of the trestle on the north edge, sunning themselves. A few minutes after we first saw them, I looked up to see them both lifting one wing to soak up the warmth of the sun, just as the contrail of a passing jet passenger plane crossed above them headed west, perfectly parallel with the trestle. It looks like the birds are saluting the plane.

I only had the mid-range telephoto on one of the two cameras with me, but did manage to get a picture of a red hawk, both in tree, and in flight. There is also a picture half way down of two geese we heard coming from the fields north of us, as they flew down above the creek headed for the trestle. You can see one of them just to the left of the center of the picture, the other is hard to spot, but is to the right and somewhat up from center. Click to enlarge the picture.

Don and the IU REDCAR south of the trestle.

Saturday morning we made a quick trip to the Bloomington Farmers’ Market. It is held during warm season every Saturday in an open plaza just south of the Bloomington municipal government building. A brass band was playing for passers-by, and children were playing around the fountain, despite the slight autumnal chill in the air. In the background is the tall brick chimney, a relic of many years ago when the area was filled with light industry. We had hoped to find one last water melon for the season, and we found one vendor who had a half dozen large, beautiful melons.

The fall foliage has been turning for over a week or more, although peak is probably still a few days away. So Sunday morning we drove out to McCormick’s Creek State Park, a small but beautiful and popular state park with many miles of easy hiking trails, less than a half hour drive west of Bloomington.

Following are some of the photos from the walk in Autumn woods, starting off with the Spirit of Autumn, and after that the Wizard with his Birds Head Staff.

The small but popular waterfall has got to be one of the most photographed landmarks in this part of Indiana. The water flow was very light, we have not had a lot of rain since mid-summer, and whole families were climbing up and down the waterfall. A rounded area of rock bulges out below the top of the falls, providing something of a staircase for the nimble and careful.