Frozen Sunset

I went out to photograph the last sunset on the Sandias of 2010 and found tiny ice formations on the twigs hanging just above the surface of the water in the river. They apparently formed when the water was about an inch higher earlier in the day and were left suspended above the water when the river dropped an inch later in the day. One ice formation resembled a mountain and displayed the sunset in the reflection of the water below it. A beautiful image to close out 2010.

The low this morning was 5º F at our house, but it never warmed up all day. The temperature was 18º F when I went out to photograph the Sandias around 11:00 am this morning and the same temperature when I went out to photograph the sunset at 4:30 this afternoon. The wind was brutal, but it blew the haze away leaving the mountains clear and crisp. Photos from this morning and this afternoon are posted below.

I went to three hardware stores in search of the upper limit cut off for our furnace this afternoon and none of them had it. I bypassed the cut off temporarily to bring the temperature up before we go to bed so the house will be warmer before I undo the bypass for the night. It was 4º F at 10:00 pm, so it is already colder tonight than it got last night, and has hit the low the weather widget on my computer is showing for Corrales tonight!

With all the remodeling and reorganizing we've been doing this past week, we are going to start the new year with a better organized kitchen. The weather kept us from venturing out of town during the break, but at least we got some household chores accomplished.

Thinking about the tiny ice formations on the river reminded me that when I was a kid the Rio Grande froze over a couple of winters and I went out and played on the ice. That was in the late '60s and early '70s — I remember getting much more snow in those days as well.

2010 has been an eventful year that produced a lot of changes for me and Laurie. We are looking forward to a healthy and productive year in 2011.