In spring and summer and fall I don't have to look for beauty. It surrounds me! New life, greens and pinks and whites and reds and blues. My winter view is totally different and I love it. There are open skies because the trees have lost their leaves. There is a nip to the air that makes me appreciate my warm and cozy house. I don't take things for granted in the winter, and that makes me more aware of each day.
A walk in winter is a gift. Often I am cold and the wind is blowing and things look a bit dreary. The next day the sun shines through the branches and I notice the dried petals of the Oak Leaf Hydrangea. If she can stand it outside then certainly I can.
"Nature looks dead in winter because her life is gathered into her heart. She withers the plant down to the root that she may grow it up again fairer and stronger. She calls her family together within her inmost home to prepare them for being scattered abroad upon the face of the earth." - Hugh Macmillan
As we delve deeper into winter I spy this beauty outside my studio window.
The Oakleaf Hydrangea never fails me. From one season to another it gives me beauty while reminding me of time passing.
When I took this picture the sun was shining, the air cold (but not freezing) and all was right with the world. Entering a new year, this beautiful plant reminds me that everything has its season and some are able to remain beautiful throughout all four seasons. "January is the quietest month in the garden...but just because it looks quiet doesn't mean nothing is happening. The soil, open to the sky, absorbs the pure rainfall, while microorganisms convert tilled-under fodder into usable nutrients for the next crop of plants. The feasting earth worms tunnel along, aerating the soil and preparing it to welcome the seeds and bare roots to come." - Rosalie Muller Wright, editor of Sunset Magazine 1999
