I haven’t counted the number of sunny days versus dark days in the winter. But I like winter, so maybe that’s why I notice the sunny days more than the gloomy ones, and see winter as a bright and shiny season.

When my cat SamSi was still alive, I would go outside with him to photograph him in the snow. He liked going outside year round.

The kitten I rescued two years ago, Victoria, doesn’t like going outside in the cold. But the sun was shining Sunday, so I had to go out and photograph something.

I had been trying in vain to do some forced perspective to get a photo of these figures against the icicles hanging from the garage. I gave up and went to finish shoveling the driveway when I noticed these icicles hanging from a dried sedum (a.k.a. stonecrop).

If I’ve gotten at least five hours of sleep—which I did last night despite Vicky waking me up early—cold weather doesn’t feel cold to me until it’s below zero degrees Fahrenheit (which is around -18 Celsius). Sunday morning it was 17°F ( -8°C) so I was able to sit seiza in the snow and get down on all fours as needed to get these shots. I love the look of the dried flowers encased in ice. Totally worth it.

I didn’t mean to lay this post out in the style of Remake (i.e. Sephiroth chasing Cloud). I prefer OG Sephiroth.

おまけ！〜 Bonus! 〜

Here’s the full shot of Cloud in the sedum, the first photo in this post. I was trying to get the icicles in a graceful arrangement, though it does take some of the attention off Cloud. I increased the saturation a wee bit here, which makes Cloud look better, but takes away some of the wintry vibe since the orange for the dried sedum, as in the Sephiroth photo above, gives more of a fall feel.