After recent bone-chilling days, a welcome mid-February thaw provides a few days of respite. At Jordan Lake overwintering seagulls shed and replace winter garb with breeding plumage. For miles on end, feathers and down drift on lake waters and collect in wrack deposits along rugged eastern shorelines.
© Ilija Lukić 2026
Large congregations of overwintering Ring-billed Gulls still gather on Jordan Lake beaches. Now and then they take flight, akin a whirlwind of feathered aerialists. It's a primal response to threats from predators or to mob a beach-combing human intruder.
Like ominous whispers of impending doom, said living cloud of aviators rising into hazy skies is a fearsome deterrent to those who trespass into their domain. Yet, the beauty of the swirling and tumbling spectacle of aerial acrobatics also tugs at heartstrings—it’s primal poetry in motion.
© Ilija Lukić 2026
Dawn spills rose hues over snowbound hollows,
Lets human heart find snow-globe-like escape,
Chase hopes, dreams and joys of bright tomorrows
That restore the soul as new self takes shape.
© Ilija Lukić 2026
Where one day past celestial fires raged,
Newborn winter mists quench cosmic passion
And icy hush has astral flames upstaged—
With sky’s hearth cold, realm of light turns ashen.
© Ilija Lukić 2026
Just watching snow sift onto cobbled shore
Comforts my weary heart, it’s angel down.
Said stroke of grace heals earthly scars at core
And helps forge inner peace without one frown.
© Ilija Lukić 2026
Remnants of last weekend’s ice apocalypse still linger in deep woodlands and sun-sheltered nooks and crannies across landscapes as well as urban spaces. As wildlife rebounds with innate recovery behavior, people return to more normal winter routines.
However, today there is increased urgency in foraging among wild creatures and food markets brim with shoppers in preparation for a follow-up punch of raw winter weather. Significant snows and extreme cold are in the forecast for this weekend. All denizens of Central North Carolina breathlessly anticipate winter storm Gianna’s softer, albeit much snowier landing in contrast to the gelid chaos wrought last week by her cousin Fern.
© Ilija Lukić 2026
Over the last few days raw winter weather keeps me close to home hearth fires, growing whiskers and reminiscing about rookie firefighter days.
In mind’s eye I catch and ride the tailboard of a 530-series structural firefighting pumper, as a crew member responding to a house fire—in sub-zero Upper Michigan climes at KI Sawyer Air Force Base. We lived and breathed our creed: Desire to Serve - Ability to Perform - Courage to Act.
Lost in reverie ‘bout bygone days, I ease bone-chilling recollections with a room-temperature shot of Šljivovica (plum brandy) followed by a cup of freshly-brewed Earl Grey Tea and a slice of my wife Melanie’s widely-desired cheese cake.
Before long, my mind drifts into balmy breezes and tranquility of sunlit beach-combing adventures.
Reflecting on these memories leaves me with a light heart and ends on an upbeat note, as I contemplate finishing my painting of an American Bald Eagle. Heart and soul soar on said eagle’s wings, ready for untold creative and physical adventures.
© Ilija Lukić 2026
Jack Frost holds court past first cockcrow,
Intent on hosting dance of death,
Mid glaze ice and Hominy Snow
And fleeting skiff of winter’s breath.
Ilija Lukić 2026
In the wake of Winter Storm Fern, wildlands as well as people and underpinnings of human activity suffer the beauty—albeit ravages—of sleet, graupel, glaze ice and dusting with flour-sifter snows. Old Man Winter’s minions spill single-digit arctic temperatures across landscapes and relatively warm Jordan Lake waters, where winter’s gelid airs create a vaporous haze above the liquid plain. The wheel of life seems to pause in the profound absence of life’s hustle and bustle. The palpable quietude overwhelms senses, yet frees heart and soul to soar in defiance of winter’s danse macabre.
Be still my heart,
surrender to stillness.
Let go of fear—
draw on calm and respite,
Veiled ‘neath unease
and feelings of duress,
In silver linings of life—
embrace it.
© Ilija Lukić 2026
It’s been a quiet, uneasy peace with forebodings of chaos amplified by dire prognostications of raw winter weather and scurrying of humanity to prepare for the worst. In the next few days Central North Carolina will host a shindig of warm upper atmosphere southerlies from the Gulf of America and arctic northeasterlies at ground level—the most likely and unwelcome fallout, a heavy glazing of ice, a perfect silver storm.
A copse of trees in mindful unison
Finds peace as they reflect ‘bout unity
With raw lake breezes, warmth of winter sun
And life in harmony, designed prudently.
© Ilija Lukić 2026
My post this day is a tribute to a group of nearly two dozen Buddhist monks from Ft Worth TX on their 2,300-mile Walk for Peace…their stated purpose”…not to protest, but to awaken the peace that already lives within each of us.” They will spend the afternoon and night here in Pittsboro and continue their trek in the morning.
I wish them Godspeed in their endeavor to encourage people of all walks of life to come together in the spirit of compassion, mutual respect and understanding.
Our backyard thermometer, mounted near a patio door on the northern exposure of our home, flirts with afternoon high temperatures in the mid to upper thirties.
At Jordan Lake timid westerlies barely ruffle surface water. Overnight lows in the teens form first ice near secluded shorelines. Ring-billed Gulls appear to ignore the bone-chilling effects of the gelid water and huddle in silent flotillas wherever placid, wind-sheltered shallows are available. Single-digit lows and snowfall are in the forecast.
© Ilija Lukić 2026
Yesterday’s weather system brought meager rains and a half-hour of wet snow flurries with its trailing edge. As the arctic airs continue to spill into our neighborhoods and countryside, last remnants of said snow linger into afternoon hours.
Why then, with biting breezes and gelid Jordan Lake waters do overwintering Ring-billed Gulls prefer to congregate in wind-sheltered open water and shallows?
It’s not just for predator-free roosting and safety. This curious behavior also happens to be the most energy-efficient way to rest, because of unique biological designs and adaptations to manage the cold. Their leg blood vessels use a specialized, countercurrent heat exchange system that keeps their core warm. And, since the feet have little muscle and nerve tissue, they are resistant to freezing damage…a miraculous design.
Coastal Carolina seabirds are known winter visitors at Jordan Lake NC and often congregate on leeward shorelines. While most of their opportunistic, omnivore brethren are in pursuit of food, a small flock of Ring-billed Gulls enjoy a fleeting respite in sheltered shallows on an exposed tip of sandy lakebed—where the Seaforth Peninsula eases into drought-stricken lake waters. Weather forecasters call for a meager reprieve with rain, then snow followed by bone-chilling cold..
© Ilija Lukić 2026
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Several venerable Willow Oaks (quercus phellos)—majestic veterans of onslaughts by storm and flood—thrive in the lakeside environment. The secluded area under their stately canopies and among gnarly sapling boles is an inviting sanctuary for wildlife. The oaks are also known as Water Oak, Peach Oak and Swamp Chestnut Oak.
The trees provide shade on hot summer days and hold cold breezes at bay in winter. The wind shadow of said stand of oaks—unmistakably shoreline sentinels as well as attention-grabbers—encourages winter visitors like Ring-billed Gulls to rest, fish and socialize in adjacent lake shallows.
© Ilija Lukić 2026
Time abides no one...
unseen, yet flows in ripples
called life’s ebb and flow.
Best witnessed when quietude
reveals rare eddies
in the endless tides of life—
Doors to self-discovery—
which help clear life’s noise,
restore glum, despondent heart
and lost, downcast soul…
Heart learns who you truly are,
when you shed guise and mask.
© Ilija Lukić 2026
Working the spread since daybreak, cowboy time,
Ridin’ for the brand and kickin’ up dust,
Till summoned by chuck wagon dinner chime,
While skies pour gold ‘cross Dutch oven cobbler crust.
© Ilija Lukic 2026
Just short while past
I cherished autumn’s throes,
Now winter’s chill
Gnaws at body and soul,
Fuels inner qualms,
Well-known killers of dreams,
And weaves grim web,
As-cold-as-death in shadows,
Till hope’s showers
Of light and warm embrace
Make my heart whole.
Rejoice...I thrive once more.
© Ilija Lukić 2026
Hope and growth are mutually linked. Hope provides the vision and growth the capacity to achieve it. When I meander through forest leaf litter on this first day anno Domini 2026, hope springs eternal. The kaleidoscope of leaves and coarse woody debris speak volumes about growth, hope, beauty of individual differences and perpetual renewal—the tree of life.
Jack Frost holds dear his artful reign,
Where fragile sun lulls raw landscape;
Yet, tell-tale heart filled with disdain
Cries havoc, there is no escape.
© Ilija Lukić 2026
Our winter has been one of extremes, with sparse precipitation and a roller-coaster ride of temperatures ranging from the teens to seventies Fahrenheit. A lingering feeling, that Old Man Winter has not yet brought the full force of his arctic minions to bear, persists. Thoughts of snow, sleet and frigid airs bring to mind both visions of exhilarating winter fun, as well as trepidations.
