Sunday Stroll - Winter Light

The world outside our windows is full of motion and light today. Fat drops of water are falling steadily from the icicles on the eaves. Wind is pushing walls of snow across the landscape. Birds are stretching their wings in the almost-forgotten joy of brilliant sunshine that pours like water through the bare branches and down across the hillsides. I couldn't put my boots on fast enough this morning. I had to get out into the glory of the morning!

I followed the snow-mobile trail down the hill into the vegetable garden. The deer had been foraging the snow-covered compost pile again. Limerick keeps sprinkling it with dried corn. How will he feel in July when the deer return again and again to the garden, looking for a remembered treat? *grin*

I headed over to the marshy lowland in the northeast corner. Sun was spilling through the birches and all around me sunshine and shadow painted the surface of the snow. I made a snow angel and lay for a while contemplating the blue sky beyond the willow branches.

I found these tiny tracks and could not determine their origin. Perhaps the viburnum were writing poetry in the snow.

I found the butterfly garden still sleeping deeply. There was no January Thaw this year to disturb the long winter slumber. The beauty of the garden is subtle in February. One finds it in the shadows that spill over trails hidden by snow, and in the evergreens, and in the sweet color of the sky that arches above.

The tiny blue spruce that I planted last fall is alive and well, but mostly buried in snow, even on a hillside where the wind sweeps most of the snow away.

When I got back in the house, I warmed my hands with a steaming mug of tea, but my focus was still outside... on the dripping icicles at the eves, the wind tugging the window screens, and the bright, bright sunshine spilling into the house through the window glass. Good morning, February!

all photos by Aisling, February 1, 2009

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