There is a wondrous simplicity that seems to take hold of the landscape in winter.  With all the snow that has fallen, our world has become very black and white.  Color is hard to find in the surroundings.  With a fresh few inches of snow this past week, I headed out of the house with my camera before dawn.  I didn’t have to venture very far  — just over to a nearby golf course.  The world was quiet on this winter’s day; there were no birds,  animals, or other people when I got to my destination.  The silence was only interrupted by the sounds of my snowshoes.  Quickly the sun moved over the horizon and into the sky adding some color to the scene.  Doing so it lent its warm light to the cold landscape, with long shadows over the clean snow.  As if on cue, the rest of the world began to stir and wake.  I heard a cross-country skier out on the groomed tracks, and I heard cars moving by with their tires scrunching the compact snow on the roads.  The quiet and stillness had changed, but the simplicity of snow and trees and sunlight was still there.