Winter Garden

 

Before Spring dances in to stay, I offer one more tribute to Winter.

 

The winter garden is skeletal,

stripped to its bark-bones

and skinny stems.

Brown, brittle seed heads

of Black-eyed Susans shiver

at the wind’s cold whisper.

Tattered leaves

of frostbitten Citronella

droop,

dangle,

shudder,

tangle.

A chill gust whips

the dry rust-red cascade

of sleeping Creeping Jenny

into a wide awake, wild dance,

its fronds a frenzy

of airborne ribbons.

Branches of Crape Myrtle sway

like arms with curled fingers

offering pearled brown seed pods

to the winter-blue sky.

If it seems that I’m describing dreariness,

and dearth,

and death,

perhaps I am.

But I mean to paint a graceful picture,

artful wonders formed by frost

and darkness

and biting wind,

paring back the backyard world

to its simple glory,

its skeletal scaffolding,

the elemental beauty

of Nature’s underpainting,

a delicate design

visible only

in this

season.

– kh –

 

Nurture peace, cultivate kindness, and carry the calm.

 

Nature of the week:

Shadow of the Week:

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Text and photos © 2023 Karyn Henley. All rights reserved.

It Seems Backward

 

The morning sun is melting the frost on roofs and lawns except where there are shadows. So instead of the shadows being dark, they’re frosty white. The trunk of one of our elm trees is casting a shadow on the next-door garage roof. Its shadow is a long, rectangular streak of white frost on dark gray shingles. It seems backward for a shadow to be white. But then, nature always has something new up her sleeve, and I always have something to learn. – kh, from Noticing: 365 Days of Calm Reflections

 

Nature of the week:

Shadow of the Week:

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Text and photos © 2022 Karyn Henley. All rights reserved.

Something Whispered

 

Something told the wild geese

– It was time to go;

Though the fields lay golden

– Something whispered, – ‘Snow.’

Leaves were green and stirring,

– Berries luster-glossed,

But beneath warm feathers

– Something cautioned, – ‘Frost.’

– Rachel Field –

 

Enjoy the magical change of seasons. Nurture peace, cultivate kindness, and carry the calm.

Nature of the week:

Shadow of the Week – a lamppost:

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Text and photos © 2020 Karyn Henley. All rights reserved.

Among the Frosts

 

“There is a rumor of total welcome among the frosts of the winter morning.”

– Mary Oliver, Upstream

 

Winter welcomes,

beckons,

invites us to

pause

on the brittle brink of the year,

witness

the shimmer of the season,

listen

for undertones of time passing

on icy tiptoe,

breathe

the crisp air.

Drink all of it.

Deeply.

Deeply grateful.

– kh

 

Nurture peace, cultivate loving kindness, and carry the calm.

Nature of the week – a visitor at my heated birdbath:

Shadow of the Week – spied at church:

 

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For my posts on life, faith, and the mystery we call God, link here.

 

Text and photos © 2018 Karyn Henley. All rights reserved.

Mute Music

 

“[E]very withered stem

and stubble rimed with frost,

contribute something

to the mute music [of winter].”

– Emerson, “Nature” –

 

Pause for a moment this week to enjoy stems and stubble, to listen to the shushing sound they make in the wind – or if the day is still, to discover the season’s mute music.

Nurture peace, cultivate loving kindness, and carry the calm.

Nature of the week:

Shadow of the Week:

 

If you want me to send these thoughts to your email each Sunday, simply sign up on the right.

For my posts on life, faith, and the mystery we call God, link here.

 

Text and photos © 2017 Karyn Henley. All rights reserved.