The Snow Seemed To Have Stopped

It's a Monday here in our neck of the woods & very snowy. The trees grace our woodlands with those fluffy delicate branches that break at times due to the weight of it all.  Already several  of the younger ones have been naturally pruned away by this process.  It's always interesting come spring to check out what has been sculpted away, in my garden & in those of my friends. Sometimes the effects are lovely and other times not so.  When a preciously delicate dogwood stands with the scars from one of our winter's storms--- it can be quite painful to view. Other than those episodes the gardens here tend to benefit from the quietness of winter's natural blankets and take care of themselves very well, for there is a break from the insects and any other unwarranted growths. Though now I'm a Nana, I am still quite new to this gardening venture-perhaps 14 years in the process of gardening now.  I have always been a rather patient person so this process suits my temperament very well. Like everything in life, learning is ongoing....  Gardening has given me that hands on sort of metaphor, of looking at life through natures prism.  Knowing that each of us contributes a certain color, texture and form to the landscape of the world at large. 

Today our corner of the world is white, light and feathery. By tonight it will be colder, harder, icy, and slippery-- yet still hold a beauty- a crispness in the night air, with perhaps a display of stars.  I so love the night sky & it's stars.  For me it is always--- time will tell...  Is it not for everyone? 

In all honesty though I love this beauty of winter & the excitement of her storms, I do not like the anxiety that traveling brings to us here.  We have a vine in our woods that grows wild, it has radiant red berries with a residual yellow husk.  I saw this striking vine for the first time some 30+ years ago, we were a new family then, the three of us, & were up in New Hampshire one late autumn.  The Bittersweet Restaurant was charming--  It was an old converted barn with odd fixed windows and that interesting feel that only those old barn interiors give. Now decades later that interesting vine-- the bittersweet is one of our most notorious  invasive species, no less pretty, but a bit out of control in it's growing habits. It is very well know for single handily taking down some of our finest trees, the power and strength of this humble vine--  out of control, yet balance-- all in the same forest.  Yet I will often have fond memories of the bittersweet, a reoccurring topic of nature--  chaos & control, our universe at large.

With that in mind I wish every single one of us-- a beautiful and safe winter's journey-- with great care on the ice for all modes of travel--be it on wheels, on the waves, on wings or on foot. Which ever the mode? May we all be blessed with health and safety this winter's season to enjoy the journey.