Touched by Snow

January 31, 2011 by flandrumhill

The art gallery that is The Great Outdoors is featuring a show of hexagonal plate and stellar dentrite crystals by my favorite artist. The contrast of fire and ice was especially stunning at sunrise this morning as the sun rose through snow covered trees in the woods, but there’s still time to take in the show.

Though all snow crystals start out as specs of dust or salt that attract moisture, you’d never suspect such plain and simple origins by looking at the end result. Like us, each snowflake is a unique work of art. But besides being beautiful itself, snow has the marvelous ability to enhance the beauty of whatever it touches. Like love, it is a covering for all imperfection.

All nature is but art unknown to thee.

~ Alexander Pope

It’s easy for Canadians to take snow for granted. Because we are a people forever on the move, we tend to only see it as something that will slow us down unless it’s removed from our roads and pathways. We forget about its insulating properties and how it camouflages certain wild creatures so that they have a better chance of survival during the winter months…

But mostly we forget about how perfectly beautiful it is.

We aren’t here to make things perfect. The snowflakes are perfect. The stars are perfect. Not us. Not us!
~ Ronny Cammareri in Moonstruck

Posted in Nature's Colors and Shapes | Tagged beauty, canada, january, nature, Nova Scotia, perfection, snow, snowflakes, winter | 13 Comments

13 Responses

on January 31, 2011 at 9:37 am | Reply P.j. grath

Another line from “Moonstruck” is appropriate in this context, Amy-Lynn: “EVERYTHING is temporary!” Thanks for the reminder to appreciate the beauty of snow. Does each snowflake really start out with moisture crystallizing on a speck of dust? Like a pearl forming around grit in the oyster? So if air were “pure,” there would be no snow? You’ve given someone in Michigan a lot to think about this morning.
- on January 31, 2011 at 11:14 am | Reply flandrumhill
  
  Pamela, Moonstruck has SO MANY great lines in it.
  
  I didn’t find an answer to your question but in my search did come across an article about dust and snow that you as a bookseller would probably find interesting:
  http://www.library-dust.com/dust.htm
on January 31, 2011 at 11:49 am | Reply Gerry

Well I, for one, am relieved to be told that I am not required to be perfect. I’m happy to leave it to the snowflakes and the stars and get on about the messy business of living my curious human life. I think I would like to know more about lichens. They seem to have an admirable sturdiness.
- on January 31, 2011 at 11:57 am | Reply flandrumhill
  
  Gerry, I’m relieved too. So glad the snowflakes and stars took care of that one 🙂
  
  Could the sturdiness of lichens have something to do with their stable form and color in all seasons? I like to define them as an agreement between algae and fungus. Any two living things that can get along for that time together in one spot bears closer examination.
  - on February 2, 2011 at 12:05 pm Gerry
    
    That is a very useful metaphor. I like the way your mind works, Amy-Lynn.
on February 1, 2011 at 2:42 am | Reply Reggie

Wise words, Amy. Like Gerry, I am most relieved that I do not have to be perfect after all. Living up to one’s own high expectations can be exceedingly challenging and a tad exhausting, so this was a nice reminder to stop taking life so seriously, and to accept one’s imperfections. Thank you.
- on February 3, 2011 at 11:21 am | Reply flandrumhill
  
  Reggie, taking life and ourselves less seriously is probably the key to happiness as we age. I think it’s helpful to lower expectations but also allow ourselves to be surprised by joy when we or others do exceedingly well at the tasks we’ve undertaken.
on February 1, 2011 at 10:16 am | Reply Kathy

I like that we are “perfectly imperfect”! How is that? Loving your snow pictures very much. Fire and ice–so inspiring!
- on February 3, 2011 at 11:26 am | Reply flandrumhill
  
  Kathy, that’s a wonderful way to put it 🙂 Those snow pictures have been a long time coming. We’re on our second snow day in a row today as Mother Nature tries to catch up perhaps.
on February 1, 2011 at 10:20 am | Reply Barbara Rodgers

Lovely pictures, Amy-Lynn, they seem to capture the way snow looked to me when I was a child, playing outside in a wonderland… I like how you compare snow to love, how it covers all imperfection. It’s magical, pretty crystals and a soft white blanket. The chickadee is very sweet!
- on February 3, 2011 at 11:38 am | Reply flandrumhill
  
  Thanks Barbara. Snow really is magical 🙂
on February 5, 2011 at 4:38 am | Reply swaps

Snow!!! When will I see it, feel it …sigh!

As a child, I believed it was nothing but ice cream!! Wiser now, but the fascination and mystery endures 🙂
- on February 6, 2011 at 3:50 am | Reply flandrumhill
  
  Swaps, clean snow can be transformed into ice cream by adding cream and sugar. It tastes so fresh compared to regular ice cream.
  
  I hope you get to experience it some day, as it is very pretty and lots of fun to play with.