Cold but beautiful morning in Oswego, NY

This morning was one of those snow-crunching, lung-burning, clear, sunny, and COLD mornings here in Oswego.  The temperature was -1 at my house, which was pretty warm compared to other communities. Lake Ontario keeps us "warm" in the winter and cool in the summer.  Fortunately, I had my camera in my purse today. On my way to work I couldn't help but make some detours to take some morning pictures.  The Varick Dam, on the Oswego River, was breathtaking. The sun had just come up and mist was rising off the river just below the falls.  
The pictures are beautiful but also a bit eerie looking.

It was so cold, the steam station started up today. The only time we see it running is in extreme cold or heat.  It was stunning against the gray-blue sky. You can see where the sky was darker out over the lake - behind the stacks, where there was a band of snow.

 

I'm joining A Delightsome Life's A Return to Loveliness party this week.  An early morning paddle on Nick's Lake in Old Forge, New York always brings loveliness to my life, and peacefulness, calmness, and happiness.  Although I don't like summer leaving us, a trip to the Adirondacks in the fall always makes for a joyful, restful camping trip.  This picture was taken last year. We aren't able to make it up there this year and the leaves are at peak right now.  I'll have to be content with memories of years past.

Join in on the party here - A Return to Loveliness

Monroe County Lamberton Conservatory, Rochester, NY Highland Park

Today I used a vacation day and my daughter and I took a trip to Rochester, NY to Highland Park. There, we visited the Lamberton Conservatory. This was established in 1911 and completely refurbished in 2008. What a wonderful place to spend a chilly, snowy, gray winter day. There were fruit trees blooming - oh my, what a wonderful scent.  I was in heaven!   Enjoy my pictures. I don't know the names of all the plants but I hope you can feel what we felt being there.

This is a small fish pond, also home to a turtle. Do you notice the snowflakes falling outside?

A banana tree, see the wee bananas? They aren't ones we eat.

Cactus room - as we arrived there was a bus load of 2nd graders leaving. I would be very afraid to have them in this room - lots of dangerous looking spikes! There was a large rat tail cactus that I didn't take a picture of, but it was one of the funkiest plants I've seen.

 

 

Put yourselves in our shoes - we climb over a snowbank leaving our car, boots, winter coats, gloves on. We walk into this warm room filled with flowers, color, perfumes. I can see myself living here year round.

I would volunteer to work here in a heartbeat!

This poor  fellow had an infestation of bugs and needed to be trimmed back to get rid of them. Kind of like having lice, huh?

This room with Spanish moss cascading from every tree branch was my favorite.

I love this plant, a Shrimp plant. I've never seen it before. I wonder if anyone ever sneaks little pinches of the plants to take home and root?

Impressive Staghorn fern

More turtles - I hope you enjoyed the tour. We only paid $3 to enjoy this sanctuary. They offer season passes for $10. Believe me - if I lived closer I'd be buying a season pass and spending as much time here as I could - sitting on one of the many benches daydreaming of spring.

Moose River, Old Forge, NY

I took a much needed break from everyday life. I watered my garden and left for a few days - weeds - have fun growing! We went camping in Old Forge, NY at Nick's Lake State Park. We were joined by other family members. On Saturday, we met more people in town who had come for the day and we spent the afternoon paddling down the Moose River. What a relaxing, wonderful, stress-free afternoon. (except the part when we had to portage, oh my aching back!!) We paid to have Mountain Man Outdoors transport us and our canoes/kayaks to a put-in site. Then all we had to do was let the current carry us down river (with a little bit of steering on our part.) Stopped for a leisurely picnic lunch on one of the many sandbars. It was a wonderful break from life. Mountain Man Outdoors rents all the equipment you need for this trip if you don't have your own.