Minutes into spring

We began the evening at dinner with some good friends in the city for the day. A toast to spring was appropriate after the long winter. When we left the restaurant, far away the sun was crossing over the equator and the sky looked brilliant. I needed the camera.

By this time of day, the clear sky was joined by sister wind, adding a windchill factor to the twilight. Bundled up, I headed for the boardwalk to capture the supermoon on the frozen harbour just minutes into spring.

I passed other photographers on their way home with long lenses in tow as I headed along the trail. They meant business. With my point and shoot camera, I was drawn further into the quiet of the deepening darkness. 

Below the bridge, the mallard couple had returned for the night, swimming in the ever widening stream. 

The real attraction was the sky however, as the blue joined the colours on the western horizon.

As I walked along in the cold air of twilight, I wondered if I’d be able to stay long enough to see the moon over the harbour. But as I rounded the bend, looking back towards the city, I paused. 

The huge moon was like a beacon to spring. Its reflection was punctuated by snow drifts from the last storm, a reminder the spring melt will be slow.

The boardwalk in either direction was empty and the wind wasn’t high enough to howl, but the cold made me pull up my hood. The quiet was deafening. This place, alive with the sounds of people, birds and squirrels during the day, was now a bed chamber with a beacon cum night light. The blue deepened around me as I captured a few more shots and turned to leave.

As I walked along, I wondered where all the animals were nestled for the night but inspired by the occasion uttered, “Welcome spring.” Then all around me nature whispered, “Shhh.”