Author: Dale

From “Nature” in The Selected Writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson by Ralph Waldo Emerson:

“The inhabitants of cities suppose that the country landscape is pleasant only half the year. I please myself with the graces of the winter scenery, and believe that we are as much touched by it as by the genial influences of summer….

“To the attentive eye, each moment of the year has its own beauty, and in the same field, it beholds, every hour, a picture which was never seen before and which shall never be seen again. The heavens change every moment, and reflect their glory or gloom on the plains beneath.”

From “Wild Peaches” by Elinor Wylie in Three Centuries of American Poetry edited by Allen Mandelbaum and Robert D. Richardson:

“The spring begins before the winter’s over.”

As we approach the end of January, I’ve posted a few photos taken during the unseasonably warm first half of the month (the unseasonable warmness didn’t last), where I found surprising bits of color among the more muted tones of winter.

The mahonia (in the second gallery below) was a striking mix of winter and spring, with yellow flower clusters growing among green leaves, surrounded by other leaves that apparently felt the cold more and had turned deep purple. I also found a rare pair of yellow daffodils, looking a little tentative but nevertheless quite adorable in their willingness to sneak out of the ground this time of year. And the two roses — southern roses are pretty resilient — seemed unaware that a cold snap was on the way, even though their stems were mottled and faded as they tend to get when the nights are cool. I guess they might have been thinking that winter was just an illusion….

Thanks for taking a look!

From “The Journal of Henry David Thoreau” in The Complete Works of Henry David Thoreau by Henry David Thoreau:

“[Dec. 26, 1855] After snow, rain, and hail yesterday and last night, we have this morning quite a glaze, there being at last an inch or two of crusted snow on the ground, the most we have had. The sun comes out at 9 A. M. and lights up the ice-incrusted trees, but it is pretty warm and the ice rapidly melts. I go to Walden via the almshouse and up the railroad….

“Trees seen in the west against the dark cloud, the sun shining on them, are perfectly white as frostwork, and their outlines very perfectly and distinctly revealed, great wisps that they are and ghosts of trees, with recurved twigs….”

From The Selected Writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson by Ralph Waldo Emerson:

“[The] Will-of-the-wisp vanishes if you go too near, vanishes if you go too far, and only blazes at one angle.”

Continuing with some additional studies of winter shapes (see also Winter Shapes: Hydrangeas and Japanese Maple Leaves and Winter Shapes: Hydrangeas and Japanese Maple Leaves in Black and White), here is a random collection of tiny leaves, stems, and vines — followed by a set of five images of goldenrod rendered on black, followed at the end by lucky shots of resting bird that spread its wings and took off just as I pressed the camera’s shutter.

Thanks for taking a look!