Sunny Midwinter Strand

It's a gorgeous sunny morning, February 2008. We have had a few days of dreary grayness and I was eager to walk the Strand while it was still too cold to be busy with hikers.

Click on the pictures for detail!In West Elmira, near the large, dog-walking area, the ice dams are stubbon. Very cold weather could create flooding around them. The Town of Elmira dredged the Chemung and apparently created sluices. Let's hope they work.

This is the view upriver from directly behind the Town Hall and Pirozzolo Park. We are looking at Roricks Glen. There are ducks nearly everywhere we step. They are not happy to see me and fly away immediately.
The Canada geese, on the other hand, couldn't care less about my intrusion. They are napping in the warm sunlight.
These little fellows charged me as soon as they could see me. I ignored them to prevent being bowled over. As soon as they got close enough to detect my disinterest, they veered off to find other diversions.
Otherwise, most of us early morning walkers found solitude and beauty. Not to say that those Golden Retrievers weren't both handsome and delightful. I love dogs, the bigger the better, as long as they are well behaved.
Long shadows and harsh contrasts. Just about sums up what I found on the Strand.
A lovely view of the dog-walking "park" directly attached to the Town of Elmira utility area. Behind me are scrubby woods and piles of dirt and rocks from the dredging, I think.
The Town of Elmira is a relatively new municipality. It's rare to spot a full copse of spruces and firs, enough to hide the houses by the dike.
Each wooded area is broken by paths beaten to the river bank. This visit finds lots and lots of footprints and sledding trails. The children have been busy, despite the frigid temps. It's approximately 15F degrees (just under -10C).
This feeder creek has a little bridge, now covered with snow. In the good weather, dogs and children readily cross the makeshift span. Adults prefer to follow the waterbed and walk up over the culvert, top-middle of photo.

There were lots of pictures, many of which I sent to the productions departments at the paper. If the real estate advertising carried these lovely impressions of winter, people would flock to the area.

pb
Little Pond