Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Scenes from a Winter Walk

We gripe and moan about the cold and the inconvenience of the snow but we don't mean it. Well, okay, we mean it, but we wouldn't give it up. Okay, we would sure give it up if we had the chance, but sometimes, we do see a good to it. This trail along the river is beautiful in spring when there are buds on the trees and frogs peeping and wildflowers under the trees. It is pretty in the summer with trees in full leaf and birds flitting about and lush ferns in the woods. It is gorgeous in the fall when the leaves are yellow and orange and the air is rich with organic scents and the grasses turn various shades of tan and brown. But in winter, layers of beauty add dimensions that cannot be imagined in warmer seasons. Depending on the temperature and the wind conditions and the snow cover and the humidity in the air, there can be frost or hoarfrost or snow clinging to branches or ice frozen in crystal droplets from branch tips. The river itself can be solid and covered in snow or glaze ice that reflects the blue sky or icy chunks piled up along edges of a flowing center. Tracks of animals and birds tell us there is still life out there and berries glow red against the duller colors of the bare branches and seed pods show bare and sculptural from stems along path. The trail in winter varies from day to day in subtle ways that only those with the spirit and attitude to get out there anyway will enjoy. Be one of them and bundle up and get outside today!









2 comments:

Chuckles said...

"bundle up and get outside today" - we tried but we could not get up the driveway due to ice. Tomorrow probably won't be any better - the rain is supposed to start soon and the temp will be dropping. We may not even get over to see our son and grandkids for Christmas Eve - the only reason we left Florida for Misery. Oh, well, sooner or later...

DFV said...

You are such a dear poet! Snow is awesome (when you don't have to shovel it!). But perhaps the most beautiful yet most treacherous sight in the world to me is rain which has frozen then has been snowed upon! The trees really do seem as if encased in glass! But to set foot on any of it could mean death. Whenever this happened in my childhood, radio broadcasts warned people (especially the elderly) not to step outside of their homes! But to see it was like a siren call: you had to be in it.

Have a wonderful Holiday, Karma! Your sparklies are still in the Faerie Portal!

Dan