Winter Weary

I don't do winter well. I'm a summer person. I would much rather try to cool off than try to stay warm. I like the feel of the warm sun on my tanned face and I do not like the bitter winter wind stinging my nose. I would much rather plant flowers in the dirt than shovel the snow off the front steps, and I'd much rather drive around with the windows open than have to use the seat warmer.

But I'm a New Englander born and raised, so I'm supposed to be tough, hardy, able to withstand anything Jack frost can throw at me. I live in New England and I'm stuck with it. 

I suffer from the Winter Wearies. I get just a little bit anxious in the winter, call it what you will, Winter Blues, Cabin Fever, I feel it and I don't like it! I know despite the cold I have to get outside and soak in some sunshine and notice the beauty that is winter in New England. It is out there, it really is. It's all in how you look at things. 

I can focus on the cold, the slush, the ice that needs to be scraped off the windshield each morning, the shoveling, shoveling and more shoveling, or I can find some beauty in it.

Last Sunday we woke up to a beauty of a day. Snow had fallen during the night and it was beautiful. Light and fluffy and it covered every tree branch making the world look peaceful and clean. I had to be in it, so I grabbed my camera and off I went to photograph the beauty around me. In the stillness of an early frosty morning I was able to notice things I might otherwise overlook. 

I noticed the intricate patterns in the tree, secrets revealed that are otherwise hidden by the leaves, an abandoned bird's nest, red berries against the gray and white of a snow covered trunk. Icy patterns that dangle from a lilac bush just waiting  for warmth so it can burst into bloom with fragrant purple flowers.

Fat robins that arrived too early looking for a forgotten holly berry,  flutter in and out of the evergreen shrub.

To the Canada geese looking for food in the salt marsh, this is south, their winter home. 

 

The sun in the morning is big enough to want to reach out and touch and the pink and orange of the sunrise sky, reflected on the white of the snow is take-your-breath-away beautiful. 

I feel better knowing with each passing day I am closer to lounging on the sand listening to the seagulls and the crashing waves, but until then I will be content to notice the beautiful things this season brings.