The Depths of Winter

This year is beginning to seem like a repeat of the previous one. We've had a number of snowfalls so far but we probably have a way to go before we approach last year's records. Most of these photos were taken shortly after the most recent accumulation. A couple are from last winter. Please remember to click on each photo to enlarge it.

“There is still vitality under the winter snow, even though to the casual eye it seems to be dead” ~ Agnes Sligh Turnbull

I'm not sure how this plant looked in the warmth of summer, but you can still see where its flowers bloomed. (please click to enlarge)

"It's snowing still. And freezing. However, we haven't had an earthquake lately." ~ A. A. Milne from Winnie the Pooh

Most of the pond is frozen over, but the ducks work hard at keeping a small portion of it open throughout the winter. (please click to enlarge)

"Nature is full of genius...so that not a snowflake escapes its fashioning hand." ~ Henry David Thoreau

Just some snow on the bark of a tree - up close and personal. (please click to enlarge)

“Advice is like snow; the softer it falls, the longer it dwells upon, and the deeper it sinks into, the mind.” ~ Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Usually a welcoming site, this park bench was just a tad inhospitable after the snowfall. (please click to enlarge)





"The first fall of snow is not only an event, it is a magical event. You go to bed in one kind of a world and wake up in another quite different, and if this is not enchantment then where is it to be found?" ~ J. B. Priestley
I've posted photos of this spot before. The tree branch which extends over the pond catches my eye in all seasons. (please click to enlarge)

"The snow itself is lonely or, if you prefer, self-sufficient. There is no other time when the whole world seems composed of one thing and one thing only." ~ Joseph Wood Krutch

Here's the same tree as seen from its pond shore, further along the path. (please click to enlarge)

"Silently, like thoughts that come and go, the snowflakes fall, each one a gem." ~ William Hamilton Gibson

A small sprig of needles which fell from a nearby evergreen, partly buried in the snow. (please click to enlarge)

“Sunshine cannot bleach the snow, Nor time unmake what poets know” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

This Downy Woodpecker was partially obscured by a small branch. Photoshop is my friend. (please click to enlarge)

“There is nothing in the world more beautiful than the forest clothed to its very hollows in snow. It is the still ecstasy of nature, wherein every spray, every blade of grass, every spire of reed, every intricacy of twig, is clad with radiance.” ~ William Sharp

This one was actually taken last year, immediately following one of our many snowfalls. (please click to enlarge)

"When they looked out into the whiteness of the world the wind flung it sharply at their narrowed eyes and foreshortened their view of everything." ~ David Guterson from Snow Falling on Cedars.

Another one from last winter. (please click to enlarge)

“It snowed last year too. I made a snowman and my brother knocked it down and I knocked my brother down and then we had tea” ~ Dylan Thomas

I snapped this shot this morning from inside my kitchen. The little boy next door built this snowman a couple of weeks ago. It's still standing, clothed in hat and scarf, ready to greet passersby. (please click to enlarge)