Reflections: A Winter Eden…
“We cling to our own point of view, as though everything depended on it. Yet our opinions have no permanence; like autumn and winter, they gradually pass away.” Zhuangzi
Reflections: A Winter Eden... Tree meets home and snow...
Reflections: A Winter Eden... The family gathers in the snow...
Reflections: A Winter Eden... They look for bright berries...
A Winter Eden by Robert Frost
A winter garden in an alder swamp,
Where conies now come out to sun and romp,
As near a paradise as it can be
And not melt snow or start a dormant tree.It lifts existence on a plane of snow
One level higher than the earth below,
One level nearer heaven overhead,
And last year’s berries shining scarlet red.It lifts a gaunt luxuriating beast
Where he can stretch and hold his highest feat
On some wild apple tree’s young tender bark,
What well may prove the year’s high girdle mark.So near to paradise all pairing ends:
Here loveless birds now flock as winter friends,
Content with bud-inspecting. They presume
To say which buds are leaf and which are bloom.A feather-hammer gives a double knock.
This Eden day is done at two o’clock.
An hour of winter day might seem too short
To make it worth life’s while to wake and sport.
As Robert Frost aptly said, “You can’t get too much winter in the winter.” In lieu of words, of which I’ve said too much, I offer you pictures and poems on winter… Thank you for your kind and supportive words yesterday. Tomorrow I’ll resume connecting and commenting.
“Even in winter an isolated patch of snow has a special quality.” Andy Goldsworthy
Reflections: A Winter Eden... When ice meets snow...
Reflections: A Winter Eden... More deer do show up when it snows...
Reflections: A Winter Eden... The wind-chimes call us to see the height of accumulated snow
The Snow Storm by Edna St. Vincent Millay
No hawk hangs over in this air:
The urgent snow is everywhere.
The wing adroiter than a sail
Must lean away from such a gale,
Abandoning its straight intent,
Or else expose tough ligament
And tender flesh to what before
Meant dampened feathers, nothing more.
Forceless upon our backs there fall
Infrequent flakes hexagonal,
Devised in many a curious style
To charm our safety for a while,
Where close to earth like mice we go
Under the horizontal snow.
A curious thing happens on the way to meet winter from fall… The snow slows us down, the winds still our minds, and the starkness; the barrenness and the biting cold make us appreciate all that we see… Then we long for the lull to end so we can meet spring. More below… 😉
“In seed time learn, in harvest teach, in winter enjoy.” William Blake
Reflections: A Winter Eden... Snowy heavy leaves ...
Reflections: A Winter Eden... Strolling in the snow...
Reflections: A Winter Eden... Even the birds in the trees can see eden...
Reflections: A Winter Eden... Happy New Year of the Water Dragon! - Gōng Xǐ Fā Cái gōng hè xīn xǐ
In snow thou comest by Emily Dickinson
In snow thou comest —
Thou shalt go with the resuming ground,
The sweet derision of the crow,
And Glee’s advancing sound.In fear thou comest —
Thou shalt go at such a gait of joy
That man anew embark to live
Upon the depth of thee.
The snow invites us to come join in and have some fun. Sometimes we choose to let loose, and, at other times, we pull ourselves together and choose to rest by the open flames of a hearth fire. Especially when it snows… Reflections: A Winter Eden – Happy New Year ! This is the Chinese year of the Water Dragon! – Gōng Xǐ Fā Cái gōng hè xīn xǐ
What are your thoughts? Do you love the snow and winter? What type of winters do you get? What are your winter pastimes? Do share! Thank you. 😉
Positive Motivation Tip: As we slow down in the winter time, our senses become acutely attuned to the sights and sounds around us… enjoy the moments. 😉
Related articles
- Snow!? (thegrumpygerman.wordpress.com)
- Snow on the way as cold snap brings winter weather to UK (dailymail.co.uk)
- Winter returns with a vengeance: Seattle to be hit with biggest snow storm in decades (theextinctionprotocol.wordpress.com)
- 10 o’clock list: The Dos and Don’ts of Eating Snow (thekenyonthrill.com)
- Winters Can Be Difficult (jackiebates.wordpress.com)
- Photographing snow; winters quiet invite (karenmarieimages.wordpress.com)
PHOTO CREDITS/ATTRIBUTIONS: All Photos from my personal collection. Chinese New Year Dragon via Wikipedia
Until Next Time…
Ask. Believe. Receive. ©
Elizabeth Obih-Frank
Mirth and Motivation
Positive Kismet
We are melting – literally. I am staring at your snow in the hope of a psychological cooling effect!
We do not get snow here, despite the children believing they had migrated to the coldest place on the planet. NOW they believe they’ve moved to the hottest place on the planet. Nigeria is never this hot. The girls have strap marks from their bathers from a couple of hours at the pool – they NOW believe me when I say “use sun cream”!
Beautiful snow. I loved the ones with the trees! 🙂
I love snow. Beat rain any day of the week.
Beautiful winter pictures– love your house in the woods. Even though I can thank being brought up in a deer hunting family (I only shot at a deer once and missed) for my close relationship with forest and animals, once I was out on my own the forest and especially deer, for me, became a place to go for spiritual renewal—not the survival of the fittest. Thanks for the pictures and the memories.
Snow? What snow! Hahahaha!!!
Love fresh snow. It’s so pristine, so beautiful.
Andy Goldsworthy makes wonderful land-art sculptures!
Beautiful pics. Having recently moved North from FL, I must admit the gray winter days depress me. Esp. days like yesterday when I saw on the weather channel that my old stomping grounds were enjoying 80 degree weather and sunshine–and we were cold, damp and gray. Snow makes up for it…some!!
Sometimes I love the snow and then I don’t. Shoveling and driving in it can be hard. Your pictures make me remember the beauty I forget to see.
B
I want to enjoy winter the way cardinals do on berry-bearing bushes, fluffing off the snow. I want to enjoy winter the way deer familieis do, showing each other where to paw next for tenderness. I want to enjoy winter the way the air does, so very quietly at sunset.
No one does pictures and poems like you do!
Thank You!
b
Great winter photos!
Your photos of the snow are brilliant, and the poetry takes me back to my childhood in the UK, jogging my memory of what snow felt like!
I would love some snow at the moment, it’s scorching hot in Oz!
thank you for the lovely weave of winter images and winter words.
s
Eliz, I nominated for a blogger’s award! Here is the link: http://amsdaily.net/2012/01/23/blog-awards/
Continue to inspire me more with your blog!
So many wonderful winter reflections, thank you for such a thoughtful collection.
Oh my I so love the picture you shared with your post! God Bless 🙂
It is slowly getting warmer here and I could use some of your winter to cool me down… especially since I am going through the ever so horrible hot flushes!
Beautiful pictures as always. Makes you almost want to like winter.
Absolutely wonderful. Lovely poetry, and I always love Frost’s winter poems. I live in the tropics and it makes me MISS winter! I love to visit England in the winter… Just love it. Thanks.
I don’t care for snow, cold, or wintry weather. I prefer sun, sand, surf, and swaying palms. 😉
I just love the opening quote about clinging to our own perspectives…and that’s what I really enjoy about reading posts from around the country. I don’t have any familiarity with snow. We occasionally travel to the snow, but I don’t live in it! Yet there is something eerily beautiful about the starkness, and what I think I would most enjoy would be looking for those early signs of spring! I love the spirit of challenge in your post! Debra
Thank you for the visual vacation and the poetic additions. Emily D is one of my all time faves 🙂 This was just what I needed, thanks! 🙂
Beautiful!!! I just posted about my love of snow as well and would like to offer it in exchange for your beautiful gift:
http://psychevida.wordpress.com/2012/01/21/flurried-lament/
Currently it is 70 degrees and we are in a warming trend…last year we had ice and snow…It’s Texas!
Great photos! I loved what you said about ‘winter slowing us down, the wind and the biting cold make us appreciate all we see.’ That is lovely, Elizabeth. And there is so much to see, if we just take our time and enjoy that stillness, silence. Thanks for another great post.
Beautiful photos and poetry! Reminds me to look at more than the inconveniences of driving in snow, dealing with lousy plowing, slogging through slush to get to the store, etc. Thanks for reminding of why I really moved to Colorado!
Love the first quote especially. You have a knack for beginning your posts with quotes that really resonate! 🙂
We do not have snow-filled winters like this in Australia (except a little in the Snowy Mountains) so I love to see photos and contemplations on snow-filled days — lovely
Beautiful, peaceful photos of winter. Love the red berries.
I loved the photo of the deer family the best.
Snow days are most enjoyable when you have all the creature comforts in place–electricity, running water and a fireplace. It’s a nightmare if you are stuck without heat!
I LOVE your pictures and the poems. I’m reading them aloud as I read your posts. Winter hasn’t really come to us this year in southern Minnesota. January has been an unseasonably warm month. We’ve had snow only a couple times. Many years there are drifts galore and many words as my husband blows the drifts from here to there. I’m not a fan of winter although I love the diamonds glittering on a cold winter night, the trees covered in hoarfrost, and the gently falling snow when it happens.