Neighorborhood shoot after snow storm

Raleigh hadn’t seen snow to any degree for three years until 2025. And since the new year, we’ve seen it three times although the first two weren’t anything significant — an inch or so — and was gone in 24 hours.

Then on Wednesday, we saw snow and ice with an accumulation of a little more than 2 inches in a storm that swept through most of the state. The extreme northeast corner of the state, along the Atlantic Ocean, was hit with the heaviest snowfall — 14 inches in some place. Other places got just snow, a mix of snow and sleet or just sleet and ice.

I realize the word “storm” is relative. To people living in northern states, what we saw come through here Wednesday night and Thursday would probably be referred to as a dusting. But to folks who live in the South, this was a storm. (There was extensive day-after coverage of the havoc it wreaked on at least two local television channels, if that gives you any indication. And by extensive, I mean sufficient to pre-empt regular programming at least until the afternoon.) 

Afterward, temperatures stayed low enough to keep the snow around in Raleigh for several days. A bit of it remains, although not much, as I type this on Saturday evening. But with the sleet still caked to the neighborhood streets on Thursday, I decided it was a good time then to take a slow photography stroll. The ice on the street was mostly thin or covered with enough snow spots that walking was not treacherous, but I nevertheless walked slowly, making sure every step landed on some snow to avoid hitting black ice and wiping out. 

The shot leading off the post is an abstract/op art composition on the paver path in my backyard. I made this from the remnants of the snow and sundry small, odd shaped portions where some of the snow had melted to form these shapes. I used this as inspiration for other patterns I noticed elsewhere on the walk-around in the neighborhood.

A bench in the backyard (above), where a limestone angel sits. A closeup of the angel appears in the first photo below. She usually serves as a sentinel for what we call our puppy garden, which is off to the right and out of the above picture. After the snowfall, only the head of the yorgi figurine made it above the surface (second photo below).  

A combo photo (above) of a home water well connected by a watering hose. Below, a perspective shot and closeup of an interesting cluster in the tree. It kind of looks like a hornet's or wasp’s nest.

Above and below: Perspective and closeup shots of what struck me as an interesting lengthy, snow-covered pair of tree limbs. 

Above: I liked the juxtaposition of the home with the very tall trees.

The street shown above normally is very busy at this time of day on a weekday. It was not that busy on Thursday. Below, an imprint of one of the boots I was wearing. 

Above and below: Animal tracks in the snow. 

One neighbor (above) wasn't taking any chances and worked to remove the ice on her driveway. I've captured the statue below in previous neighborhood shoots, but I wasn't sure I'd gotten it with patches of snow adorning it like this before.

I stopped to capture the shot above because I was surprised to see that anyone had walked on the streets before me, but someone did. Below, another neighbor had a radically reduction made on their crepe myrtle tree. You can see the same stump in the perspective shot in the second photo below. 

The winter welcoming flag adorned with cardinals (above) was on display at this neighbor’s house. The composition below was the result of a radical crop to an image I took of the backside of a car parked in the driveway of yet another neighbor.

Above: I was hoping to get a good image from this shot of fallen branches in the front yard of a neighbor.

Above and below: This neighbor, whose home sits on a cul-de-sac on Perrimor Court, and until very recently, featured a driveway lined on both sides by Bradford Pear trees. But on Thursday, all the trees were gone. I noticed the pile of lumber (below) in the homeowner’s side yard (right of the garages shown in the above photo) and had to wonder if any or all of these were from those Bradford Pears. 

Another welcoming flag (above) with a Valentine’s theme, and another abstract/op art composition (below) made from formations I saw on the street. 

Above: The three nicely trimmed bushes adorned with snow is what caught my eye here. 

Above: I took this shot because of how the message on the sign on this neighbor’s house hit the mark on this day after the storm passed through our community.

Above and below: Street scenes, including (below) a patch of juniper sprinkled with snow. 

Yet another welcoming flag (above) and another abstract/op art (below) composed from how the snow left this section of driveway. 

Return to Angier, crepe myrtles et al

A little more than a year ago, I made a brief stop to grab lunch in the town of Angier in Harnett County en route to a visit to Gregory Vineyards to the east at McGee Crossroads.

I made a mental note to return to Angier so I could devote more time to do one of my community photographic profiles, and that return occurred in the afternoon of July 2 after spent the morning in Fuquay-Varina (see previous three posts).

Angier promotes itself as the crepe myrtle town. The crepe myrtle is a flowering tree or shrub, native to India, that thrives in warm climates.I first became acquainted with the crepe myrtle when I moved to North Carolina two years ago ... and saw beautiful flowering trees sprinkled throughout the Triangle area landscape -- including, I discovered several months after moving in, on my own property!

They reminded me of the gorgeous azaleas I came across in Savannah and Charleston a few years ago on my first visits to those tourist-popular destinations. The difference is that azaleas bloom in spring and last only a couple weeks; crepe myrtles bloom in summer and last the whole summer.

My timing to revisit Angier -- especially if I wanted to record evidence of the crepe myrtles -- turned
out to be impeccable. The blooms on the crepe myrtle in my back yard had just started to show on July 2, and you can see in the photo leading off the post, there are in good form in Angier. That photo was taken looking at the perimeter of one of the town's municipal parking lots, and there are additional red crepe myrtles lining another parking lot just up the block from here along the Centennial Trail at Charles Nordan Square (right).

The revisit also game me an opportunity to more closely explore Jack Marley Park, which I'd seen from a distance last year as Lee Ann and I drove out of town headed to the winery.

My endeavor to photograph churches in the communities I visit netted me Iglesia Amistad Cristiano, a congregation in the downtown area. I didn't learn until getting home later that other churches near Angier are located on the outskirts of town.

One of the more interesting "finds" during my stroll through the Angier downtown area was the sign above, which was outside the Red Barn restaurant, not far from Jack Marley Park. I chuckled, wondering what "Cowboy Church" might entail. Anybody know? Two other views of the restaurant appear below -- the first is a perspective shot of where the sign appears in relation to the eatery. The second is a more aesthetic view of the restaurant, which I grabbed while walking back to downtown after a short stroll in the park. There is a small cemetery immediately to the left of this photo. I'll post a few pictures of it farther below.

As always, to view a larger and sharper version of an image, just click on the photo. This is particularly helpful when accessing the blog on a mobile device. To view a full gallery of photos from my July 2 shoot in Angier, click on the link in this sentence.

Photo geek stuff: I used my Canon 6D and Tamron 28-300mm f/3.5-6.3 Di VC PZD lens for all the photos in this post. The lens was equipped with a B+W polarizing filter. I bracketed all of my compositions for three exposures -- one normal, and one each in 2/3 stops above and below normal. I used the shutter speed as my primary exposure setting variable, with the f/stop usually at 8.0 and ISO mostly at 100 (I adjusted the ISO when decreased natural lighting required me to do so). I merged the three images into one using Photomatix high-dynamic range (HDR) software.

Above and next eight below: Various looks at the Angier downtown, including Ed's Family Restaurant (fourth below), which struck me as a key gathering place in the original downtown commerce district. 

Above is the local Masonic Lodge. I don't know why the truck pictured below tickled my fancy, but it did at the time. It was parked behind the meat market pictured above. 

Above and below: Iglesia Amistad Cristiana (Christian Friendship Church), the church I mentioned in the introductory text. Church services are 11 a.m. Sunday and 7 p.m. Wednesday.

The fountain above is a focal point of Jack Marley Park, where there were visitors lolling by the shore when I arrived (below).

Above: This 19th century former school, off to the right of the access drive as you enter the park, is on the National Register of Historic Places. 

A ground-level study of a fence (above) separating the park from an adjacent, apparently unnamed cemetery (next three photos below).