O, wind,
If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?
~Percy Shelley
How sad to be a unwanted guest, one accused of reaching it’s icy tendrils into the cracks of all surfaces, and leaving a trail of white where ever it’s cloak is dragged.
Winter we do not love you, or at least very few of us do. Those that claim you as friend, not foe are subjected to a deriding roll of the eyes when they turn their backs on us. We seriously doubt that they know their own minds when they claim to enjoy this frigid season.
Is it not in the very core of our soul to long for spring? To hope for that renewal, to depend upon the longer days, the lightening of the morning skies?
If you are a gardener, you count the minutes of light that are added onto each day’s end. You reach for the curtains in the morning to see if there are slivers of illumination before you eat your breakfast. You peruse the bare branches, interrogating them, do you have any green yet?
You watch the ground for those first small weeds that signal a change, welcoming them only during this time of the year. Later you will destroy them with a vengeance, now you sing to them.
Your ear is tuned to birdsong, hoping that the chirping birds are searching for each other, the cawing of the crows in the early morning signifying the time to build a nest.
For winter is a unwelcome guest, one that we cannot seem to evict at this time of year, the not too subtle hints we are leaving going over it’s head. Stubborn, nasty, unwelcome.
And it cannot change our mind.
Jen @ Muddy Boot Dreams
Gorgeous photos as always Jen!
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like a prayer for spring. I might recite it daily until I hear the birds chirp again. Counting the days...
ReplyDeleteWithout winter, we wouldn't appreciate the spring as much as we do!
ReplyDeleteLove your pics, Jen, but I cannot wholeheartedly share your sentiments. One need only search for the word Winter on my site and a plethora of beautiful images of Winter will appear. But Winter is not only a beautiful season, it also provides the water that will keep my gardens alive throughout the dry Summer months in this desert I garden in. We have had seasons of drought in the past when the Winter season provided little snow to fill the lakes and reservoirs and rivers and streams. It is no fun to ration water. So I will put up with Winter's discomfort and seek to find it's beauty. BUT, should old man Winter begin to linger longer and attempt to displace the welcome coming of Spring... then you will hear me grumble. I do love Spring. And I do love the rest from garden cares and time for planning that Winter allows in my life. So thankful to garden where there are four beautiful seasons. Sorry, I seemed to have found a soapbox. I'll step down now.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful photos. I would love to pull weeds but I can't find any under the snow. V
ReplyDeleteVery poetic. Nice. I sure don't like the cold.
ReplyDeleteYour cloak of white is much prettier than mine. Beautiful photos:)
ReplyDeleteWinter white flowers looking much like the snow falling. I understand the need for the snow to replenish the water systems later on but dang it this ruined my holiday plans to visit my sister on the Island. Now that is a serious situation!!
ReplyDeleteHi Jen, beautiful photos, what is the name of the flower?
ReplyDeleteI'm more on the side of several others who have commented here, that there is a purpose for winter and a beauty to this season which in it's own right is as lovely as the spring,summer, and fall seasons...I've lived in places where there is no winter as we who live in the north know it and I can say this, I wouldn't give up the snow, the cold, and fridged temps, BUT with this said, my patience run out when the next season is suppose to come and the previous season won't relinquish it's hold...
Without winter we can't enjoy spring. That being said, I am glad that my winters are short. I am a warm weather person and couldn't endure long months of winter so I feel your pain. Here's wishing you some spring weather very soon! Beautiful photos as always!
ReplyDeleteFascinating images, Jen! As for the winter, I love it (even after I got in trouble with the snow and my car last month), but I prefer it to rule not when my plants started to bloom! It's snowing again here....
ReplyDeleteSuch fantastic prose, Jen! Your words drew me in. And the pairing with the white tulip photos is perfect. I feel the same way about winter from childhood years of it overstaying its welcome into June in the mountains of Colorado. That's why I choose to live in a climate where it doesn't snow in my garden. It snows on the mountain that looms over the valley to our southeast, but it stays away from my precious world at near sea level.
ReplyDeleteCindy at Rosehaven Cottage
Oh we are surely ready...but how would we stay so green without the deluge of winter!
ReplyDelete