Monday, January 16, 2012

Winter's Beauty

Many people dread winter. Sure enough summer living is easy and colorful. But winter has its own beauty for those who have the eyes to see.

For me, a major part of winter beauty is in leafless trees. Their arms reach up and stand against the sky as pure silhouettes, their intricacy revealed.


Groves of bare trees and fallow fields join the cobalt sky to form a stark abstraction.


My favorite comes at the end of a winter's day, when the last rays of sunlight fall across the Chicken Creek valley to spotlight a venerable sycamore growing on the south bank of the creek. Going to the deck of our house to watch the show as day is dying is my daily ritual. Here's what I see for a few fleeting moments, a sight available only on a clear winter afternoon, only from the deck of this house, only here in Paradise.


My sycamore view is unique, but my love of its ephemeral beauty is not unique. Many of us, I'm sure, have favorite scenes that we return to again and again. We cherish these sights because they lift us out of ourselves and sustain our spirits in the time of long shadows.