Fog in the Woods
Monday morning brought us hoarfrost and I stayed in. Tuesday the weather brought in a heavy fog. Foggy weather is some of my favorite weather. Everything is quieter and softer on the edges. It is like the world has become a white canvas and each thing painted on it is starker, more saturated with color than usual – and it is, due to the water droplets clinging to everything. You can notice the details of each thing without the noise of the next thing trying to thump its way in.
I have terrible vision. I can not see a thing when I don’t wear contacts or glasses. I wouldn’t survive the zombie apocalypse – I’m scrappy and strong, but I’m crazy blind. I see things as I see them in the fog, really close up (like right up next to my face) and bright without much in the background. I’m never unaware, with what I do, that I am a. lucky I live in a time when this can be corrected and b. this could likely go downhill. I take a lot of my photos as I see, with a wide open aperture, and narrow depth of field.
After our sledding and hiking adventure the over weekend and the hoarfrost bidding me to photograph it on Monday, the quiet song of the fog gave me the final push out the door. I got the dogs’ collars on and we headed back out to the same spot we had been with the big beautiful trees. I knew there were some places I’d like to photograph in the fog and it would be an easy place for me to run the dogs by myself. I like to be able to navigate a setting before taking them off-leash since working on recall for our dogs has been in a very controlled environment due to leash laws in our town. Our two (especially Leo who seemed to have never been on a walk before we got him from the ARL) are still learning walking commands.
I had to beat the fog burn-off so we hurried out and up the hill. The dogs were so excited to be on a hike and smell EVERYTHING. There wasn’t another person in the whole place (though I could hear a car driving circles in the parking lot every once in a while when I got to a clearing). While it seemed we had been racing the sun as it burned off the fog in town, here just outside of town, in the forest, it hung low and thick in the trees. In places, I could hardly see around a corner. It obscured the view across the lake. It was like walking in a dream, with the dogs bounding through the clouds and snow-covered trees, happily playing with each other. It was incredibly peaceful. The dogs slept so soundly that afternoon.
A few days later, I took Jeff with me. He wasn’t sure about going and thought up five different things to do first. I insisted it would be fun and when we got there he said he had no idea. Watching the dogs in their element alone is worth driving the few minutes out of town. Working with them on their recall, and walking skills, and just getting some extra exercise is an added bonus. For us, being in nature, especially in the winter is so very important. The trail by our house has been closed all winter and it has been such a loss to us this year. So, we are getting creative. We are having to look beyond what is right in front of us, use a wider depth of field and see what else we can do. Like I have said before, post-pandemic this has been hard for a lot of us and has taken a lot more effort, but has proven worth it.
The following weekend, we took the boys to the woods with us. They got to experience the dogs running free too. Ben and Sam were a little more nervous about it. They are afraid of losing the dogs and say they are tired of all the hiking. It was crowded and muddy since the snow had melted so their experience wasn’t quite the spiritual event I had had the first time in the fog. They did, however, concede that hiking wasn’t so bad, the dogs did have a good time, and it was pretty fun – which is a win from these two.
January leading into February in this part of the world can be a hard time for a lot of people, especially right now. A lot of days only seeing what’s in front of you is all you can do. And that’s ok. Focus is good. Quiet and rest are good. Sometimes someone comes along and reminds you to widen your view and take an adventure. I hope if this is you, you find your way to the woods.
