A week into February, the winter seemed a drab washout of grays and browns on my morning walk with the dogs. After taking them back home, I went out again, needing more exercise and wanting to put in more miles before the snow descended on us. But this time with no dogs to distract me, I vowed to open my eyes and look, to stop along the way so that I could listen to something other than the rustle of my jacket. What I noticed for the next few hours was a lovely world of subtle color, the rushing sounds of water, the calls of woodpeckers and a kingfisher, the tiny, almost unnoticeable movement of tall grasses in the stirring air. All I had was my cell phone camera, so here are a few photos that ended up somewhat focused. The burnt orange pine needles and the crushed red bittersweet skins didn’t make the necessary focus cut, so we’ll have to use our imagination to add those colors into the winter walk list.
Translucent white ice dangling over Stony Run…
A rosy stem of black raspberry…
White grass skeletons beaten down…
Blues, greens and maroons of ivy…
Deep evergreen and faint blue…
And an even more brilliant blue…
Cream and toffee…
Variegated olives in sycamore bark…
Okay, the great heron is simply gray in the shadows, so this blue is sheer hope. I know that when he spreads his wings in the spring noon sun, we will all marvel at how blue he is.
So now it’s your turn to go looking.
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