Mother Nature

Frozen

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I’ve just come inside from shoveling the two inches of light and fluffy snow that fell overnight. This was an “easy” shovel – I could have almost used a broom to sweep the snow aside. While doing this, I was thinking about all the variances that occur during our winter season. Snow can also be wet and heavy, collecting on the ground like cement and requiring a good back and strong arm muscles to shovel and heave it into a pile. This winter we’ve also had rain – it fell on top of the snow that had already accumulated. Then the temperatures plummeted and the rain turned to ice. The alleys now have ruts in them from the car tracks that melted and then refroze. This last “clipper” of dry fluffy snow has moved through the area and is now allowing the colder Arctic air to flow in; our temperatures have started their descent and will continue into the sub-zeros tonight. Winter – it comes in so many ways.

But last Saturday morning the landscape came to life in another way. The gray day dawned with the color white everywhere, placed on shapes and forms. The cold morning with the moisture in the air caused the fog to freeze, coating the trees and fence wires. In a drab landscape there was an amazing brightness. The lack of a blue and sparkling sky allowed the snow to reflect the gray above, muting the contrast between the black tree trunks and the frozen frosting. Jack Frost had conspired with Mother Nature to give us a beautiful landscape

The end of fall

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And just like that, Mother Nature has flipped a switch and we’re at the end of fall. It’s been a glorious and unusually long season this year in the upper Midwest but like all good things it has come to an end. Five days ago the wind was still, the sun was shining, and the only colors remaining were from the oaks with their remaining rusty leaves. Today the temperatures have fallen, the wind has removed any remaining leaves from the trees, and we have a forecast of snow.

Sometimes the change of seasons can be disconcerting to me, especially the ones where the days become shorter and the darkness becomes longer. But I’m reminded that just like the leaves that have fallen from the trees, it is all temporary. There will still be beauty in the coming season and days but it will be in a different palette – one of white – and the landscape will take on a new cloak of loveliness.

Hiking into the heart of fall

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The colors of fall have deepened as the month has progressed; from hints of color to a landscape flush from a painter’s splash of yellow, gold, orange, red, green, and even some pink.

Earlier this month I was hiking with another photographer friend through the woods. It was a gloriously warm autumn day and the sun had broken through the clouds an hour before. The leaves on the path were noisily crunching under our boots as we followed a winding trail past a lake and into the forest. We both stopped as we looked ahead to see a carpet of pink under the usual fall colors of yellow and orange. We learned that the mapleleaf viburnum can have this pink or rose color in the fall depending on the light exposure and the weather conditions. Neither of us recalled seeing anything like this before and we spent a good amount of time photographing and marveling at the delightful array that Mother Nature had placed before us.

Frost and snow

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With snow and temperatures below freezing our winter seems to be more “winter-like” now. We’ve enjoyed many mornings of freezing fog that coats the trees and vegetation with frost and a layer of white. With this rime ice the landscape seems magical, as if Mother Nature has used a paint brush and coated every branch with white. When the sun has appeared (which hasn’t been often) there’s been a beautiful contrast with the blue sky and the ice giving us that “winter wonderland” sensation.

For me this appreciation of the beauty of nature has been an escape from the sad events and turmoil that have roiled our country. I hope each of you has found a moment of peace, whether in nature, with friends, pets, or in the quiet of your own mind.

Pasque flowers for spring

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Today is Easter – a day filled with promise, hope, and spring.  Yet this year is not like other years.  Many of us are celebrating the day without friends and family and without the many traditions that we have come to associate with Easter.

And usually Mother Nature is on board too, but that’s not the case in Minnesota today.  I’m looking out the window at snow coming down and collecting on the grass and trees.  When the temperature was 60 degrees yesterday I thought the 3-6 inches of predicted snow was wrong, but that just may hold true.  Somewhere there are lovely small pasque flowers that are keeping their blossoms closed to protect themselves from the snow.  They too know what’s necessary for survival.  And yet I know spring will turn the corner, and these flowers will open up again and be thankful for the moisture and the sun.  There is promise and hope.