White on White

Snow and Ice in Virginia's Valley


Icicles provide an accent to this window.


Squirrel tracks in the fresh snow.


It's a white-on-white sort of day.

The 'National Geographic Kangaroo Rule' is now in effect for Journey snow photos. Early National Geographic articles were full of great illustrations of the place being featured. Australia would always feature photos of kangaroos and other colorful wildlife.

Sometime in the 1980's Geographic instituted the 'Kangaroo Rule,' which basically meant the editors would avoid the standard kangaroo shot at all costs. An article about Australia from the period had only a soft-focus of a roo in some brush... a real artsy shot but nothing for a kid writing a report to want to cut out. Only the Canon camera advertisment on the back cover showed a clear picture of a roo... a wallaby to be exact.

Cutting pictures from National Geographic was a crime just short of vandalism in our house, but the educational value of the magazine was legend. Many a school assignment had us scanning the gold spines of the Geographics [Dad never bought the index... there was an extra charge for it] and the search was generally worth it. At some point we picked up duplicates at a yard sale and the cutting of pictures rule was relaxed somewhat.