Looking back at my last two posts, I was struck by the contrast…the dreamy tropical seascapes vs. the home reality of winter. I have never cared too much for winter. I spent much of my time bundled up and avoiding it. Now that I’m older and my internal thermostat has risen a few degrees, the chilly weather is not so intolerable. Photography has also changed my perspective on the scenery. Bare branches against a winter sky are a much more interesting subject than a sea of green.
A recent snow storm gave opportunity for some inspiring scenes. With a few tweaks of digital alchemy, I’m enjoying the results of a drive through the countryside.
It is the life of the crystal, the architect of the flake, the fire of the frost, the soul of the sunbeam. This crisp winter air is full of it. ~John Burroughs
What a severe yet master artist old Winter is…. No longer the canvas and the pigments, but the marble and the chisel. ~John Burroughs
Nature has many scenes to exhibit, and constantly draws a curtain over this part or that. She is constantly repainting the landscape and all surfaces, dressing up some scene for our entertainment. Lately we had a leafy wilderness; now bare twigs begin to prevail, and soon she will surprise us with a mantle of snow. Some green she thinks so good for our eyes that, like blue, she never banishes it entirely from our eyes, but has created evergreens. ~Henry David Thoreau, Nov. 8, 1858
I prefer winter and Fall, when you feel the bone structure of the landscape — the loneliness of it, the dead feeling of winter. Something waits beneath it, the whole story doesn’t show. ~Andrew Wyeth
Every mile is two in winter.
