I came downstairs just as the sun rose over the hills and bounced so beautifully off of the ice.  That shot requires a subzero temperature and the exact moment the sun is coming up over the hills.

It was -7 on the thermometer, I knew I only had a minute or so before the sun would rise higher in the sky and I’d lose the perfect balance of that shot.

As a photographer, I know now that I just can’t pass up a beautiful shot like that, I would regret it all of the day. I guess it’s an addiction of one kind or another. The shot comes first.

This was definitely not a shot for the Leica, and I was holding my Iphone in my hand, heading for the shower. I opened the back door, rushed outside, moved away from the porch, and got off a shot or two.

It was cold, but not unbearable, and no one could see me from the road, even if they were passing by (I heard an Amish cart go by, they would have totally freaked out if they’d seen me).

Rushing back to the door, I felt the cold in my feet. The door resisted opening. I thought it might be frozen.

Being mad, I thought Maria would find my body a half hour or so later,  I regretted not having taken Zinnia out with me, I could have hugged her and stayed warm.

I saw Zinnia appear in the frozen door looking troubled, perhaps thinking this is what happens when she’s not around.

One day, I thought, I might do a naked photo show somewhere. I’d be clothes, of course, but all of the photos would have been taken while I had no clothes. There are quite a few by now.

Then, of course, the door popped open and I was soon warming off in the hot shower and admiring my photo, a brisk start to the day. I got solid chewing out from Maria, who can really curse when she’s pissed off.

She’s not so adorable when she’s mad.

Maybe a sauna feels like that, I wouldn’t know.