Oh, the Weather Outside is Frightful....

Seriously, it is NASTY out there today. Here on the western shore we get very little lake effect snow, but we're getting some today--big wet flakes. I guess I'd need a faster camera to capture the horizontal snowfall.

Gloom and Doom

I'm actually in a pretty good mood, but the Lake, the Lake is having a tough time.

Pre-winter Wintery Trio

Steam rises off the warm (32 degree or so) Lake water into the cold (8 degree) air.

Those black specks are Canada geese, warming their tootsies in the 32 degree water.

This picture just looks so wintery. Brr. I'm cold just looking at it!

And all this a full 2 weeks before winter officially arrives.

Better Camera Needed

See those little bumps on the horizon? I didn't think so. But that's a lake freighter, enjoying a calm lake the day after our calm snowfall.

Calm Before the Storm

This was taken at 9:15am--the clouds are preparing to dump a load of snow on us later today, but right now it looks serene and desolate.

Smooth

Compared to yesterday, things are calm out on the Lake. But as you can see, the water is still gray-brown, so the sediment is still mixed in after two days of big waves.

Stormy Beauty

This is a shot of a beautiful first big (-ish--about 4 inches) snowfall we had last night and this morning.

And this one should give you a sense of the power of the waves. It looks rather serene because of the sky color, but the waves are big and loud today. I could hear them inside the house all night. They are still very loud outside my office window right now.

An added bonus in this pic is that you can see the dumpster. There's a dumpster right outside, below my window. I can only see it when I am standing up, but it is there. It serves its purpose as a contrast to the beauty of the Lake.

A final note: This is my first day back in the office after a 10 day respite. And I have to admit, I missed it. Even though I saw the Lake a lot while I was away from the office, I thought about what the Lake would look like from this vantage point several times. And the first thing I wanted to do when I got back here was to take a photo of the Lake after this first substantial snow. It really is lovely.

The power of blogging is that I am more aware of the Lake now. I guess that's kind of a zen thing, though I doubt most people would see anything involving computers that way. But if not for the blog, I wouldn't be so aware of the Lake; one doesn't really work without the other.