Snow Coverings

A fresh covering of white clothes the woods in perfection.  Snow drifts in the forest have created hiding places for snowshoe hares.  Low balsam fir branches  even provide nutritious snacks to be enjoyed while they’re snuggling.  Snow is an excellent insulator, as air is trapped between the snowflakes.

Higher up, even the rough contours of dead branches are decorated with filigree.  The drifts on branches make it difficult to spot the well camouflaged black-capped chickadees. 

The layers of snow are so thick on some branches that it’s a wonder they don’t break under the weight.

Even the delicate lichens don’t escape an icing of snow.  These are home to tiny arthropods, eaten year-round by the chickadees.

The old man’s beard lichens look especially ethereal.  It’s all beautiful.

I’ve always regarded nature as the clothing of God.
~ Alan Hovhaness

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Impressions of White

What does white bring to mind?  If you live in Nova Scotia, and it happens to be January, it will most likely be snow.  We watch it fall, shovel it, plow it, use it to make snowballs, snow forts and snowmen.  It’s pretty versatile.  Impressions in the snow are also useful in allowing us to track the movement of elusive creatures in our surroundings.

This past week, Scott at Views Infinitum asked his readers to use *white* as a starting point for a photography post.  My images of white all show tracks in snow that I was able to find in my yard:  Snowshoe Hare tracks at top; Bobcat tracks above; and below, some as yet unidentified five-toed tracks.

This last image is the most beautiful impression I was able to find.  It looked especially glorious as it sparkled in the sunshine.   

If it wasn’t for the tracks they leave in the snow, how else would we know that Seraphim had visited?

The golden moments in the stream of life rush past us and we see nothing but sand; the angels come to visit us, and we only know them when they are gone.
~ George Eliot

If you’re interested in accepting Scott’s invitation to post on the subject of white, you have until February 3rd to do so.  All are welcome to participate.

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The Magic of First Snows

Waking up to the first snow of the season is a magical event.  Suddenly seeing white when the day before, the landscape was covered with fading autumn hues, is always a surprise to the senses.  Children are especially excited and full of wonder at the arrival of nature’s most versatile plaything. 

But, not everyone smiles at the sight of the season’s first snow.   It means more work for parents getting children ready to go outside, more time scraping the vehicle in the morning, more potential danger on the roads and worst of all, more shoveling.

Nevertheless, snow is beautiful, especially when it’s still in mid-air, falling softly from the heavens or swirling in the wind.  It covers the landscape, making the most of November’s stark silhouettes.  The colored leaves of autumn quickly pass from memory.  Winter’s on its way.

Soon it will be time to put out sunflower seeds for the squirrels and birds who have decided to stay for the winter.  There will be more activity at the birdbath as the ground freezes and it becomes more difficult for wildlife to find food and fresh water. 

As warmer weather is forecast over the next few days, this snow will probably melt as do most first snows here in Nova Scotia.  Which leaves one to wonder… when the snow melts… where does the white go?

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Precious Metals

Strong, solid, brilliant, inflexible and reflective are all words used to describe metal as an element.  Its mood is melancholic and serious.  Metal is also a conductor and can represent bright ideas and  communication.  In nature, metal is associated with white, grey, silver and gold.

Although green in the daylight, the leaves on the trees at left shimmer silver in the moonlight.  Their eerie look was made even more so by the presence of bats flying above me as I took photos along the Salt Marsh Trail in the minutes before dawn.

The metal images from our scavenger hunt reflect the greatest diversity of interpretations of an element yet.  Despite metal’s quality of rigidity, two animals, a frog and donkey,  and a human scalp were featured as subjects in our set.

An iron buoy, wrought metal, bone and flowers add to the mix.  These images left me with such questions as… Which is more important, shape or color, in helping us determine what something is?  At what point does yellow become gold or grey become silver?  What role does white play in revealing a subject’s reflective quality?

An excellent man, like precious metal, is in every way invariable;  a villain like the beams of a balance, is always varying, upwards and downwards.

~ John Locke

This montage is the last of our five elements.  Tomorrow, I’ll offer a summary of our scavenger hunt.

Images in the montage were taken from submissions to a Midsummer’s Scavenger Hunt.

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