Wash your spirit clean!

Keep close to nature's heart...

and break clear away,

once in a while,

and climb a mountain

or spend a week in the woods.

~ John Muir

September Days

By all these lovely tokens

September days are here,

With summer’s best of weather

And autumn’s best of cheer.

~ Helen Hunt Jackson

Every flower is a soul blossoming in nature.  

~ Gerard de Nerval

Winter Window

Someone painted pictures on my

Windowpane last night --

Willow trees with trailing boughs

And flowers, frosty white,

And lovely crystal butterflies;

But when the morning sun

Touched them with its golden beams,

They vanished one by one.

~ Helen Bayley Davis, Jack Frost

Winter in Big Bear

Winter came down to our home one night 

Quietly pirouetting in on silvery-toed slippers of snow,

And we, we were children once again. 

~ Bill Morgan, Jr.

A merry Christmas to everybody!
       A happy New Year to all the world! 

A Magical Thing

I heard a bird sing
In the dark of December
A magical thing
And sweet to remember.

We are nearer to Spring
Than we were in September,
I heard a bird sing
In the dark of December.
~ Oliver Herford

The one red leaf, the last of its clan,

That dances as often as dance it can, 

Hanging so light, and hanging so high,

On the topmost twig that looks up at the sky.

~ Samuel Taylor Coeridge

The Golden Hour

The period of one hour before sunrise or sunset is often referred to as "the golden hour." This description is very appropriate for the Big Bear valley in the mountains of southern California. Whether there are clouds in the sky or not, there is invariably a lovely golden glow to the atmosphere.

Hiking in the forest north of Big Bear Lake,
late in the afternoon, that glow is filtered by the trees.

At Captain John's Marina in Fawnskin, the late day sunlight glitters on the water.

At 6,700+ feet above sea level the low clouds roll up the mountain and across the lake.

The tiny island of boulders for which Boulder Bay is named,
is little more than a dark shadow in the late day light.

Pink Knot Marina has a great view as the sun sets on the opposite shore.

The park at the end of Pink Knot in Big Bear village is a perfect place to watch the sun go down.

The view from the south end of Stanfield Cutoff at the east end of the lake.

Walking along the north shore trail, the setting sun faintly
illuminates the fields of tall grass and wildflowers.

A Winter to Remember

It's been quite a while since I've posted on this blog. Believe me, my intentions were never to be this neglectful. Computer problems and uncooperative quirks on this blog have kept me from posting as I would have liked. So now, home again in Huntington Beach and typing on my IMac, I'm playing catch up.

On February 14th, the weather prediction for the next day, was to be the "storm of the season." As a native Southern Californian, I never want to miss the chance to enjoy a few days of REAL winter. So my husband and I packed up both our cars, loaded up the dogs, and headed for the mountains...our cabin in Big Bear Lake, to be exact.

During the twenty years we're owned this cabin, such predictions are oftentimes disappointing but this was certainly NOT one of them, as the following images will show. This will be a long post as I am including images from nearly everyday I was up there.

We're here...well almost.
The driveway will need a bit of plowing before we can get the cars in.
I didn't realize the area had gotten so much snow since the last time we were here, in December.
Also, time to take down the Christmas lights.

The next morning, this was the view from the front door.

Driving to town for breakfast. We were so glad our Suburban has 4-wheel drive.

Breakfast at the Lumberjack Cafe.

This is the view of the lake from Stanfield Cutoff. Well, it's there...somewhere.

I had to take these photos through the car window to keep the snow off the camera.

Nothing is more beautiful than
a fresh coat of new snow.

Somebody's not going anywhere for quite a while.

This is what big Bear Lake looks like after a big snow storm.

First thing the next morning, we found these footprints by the front porch. They are much larger than Wiley's, our Bouvier, who weighs 130 pounds. Hmmm...what do you suppose?

Driveway and street are plowed.
It's time to check out the neighborhood.

This is why I love to come to the mountains in the winter...when there's snow.

As the days warm up, the ice on the lake breaks up.

My last evening at the lake was, for a photographer, like being a kid in a candy store.

Time to say so long...until Spring.