The Heart of Winter

Winter sure does change the landscape in a hurry, doesn't it? Bare branches, icy ponds and frozen hillsides are softened with a layer of silence.

Every mile is two in winter. ~ George Herbert

A section of the park pathway which circles around the pond.

Winter came down to our home one night
Quietly pirouetting in on silvery-toed slippers of snow,
And we, we were children once again.
~Bill Morgan, Jr.

When the lake freezes over, there always seems to be an interesting pattern of bare patches. I imagine that the trees protected the lake from the snowy breeze in these areas.

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

Look beyond this wintry picnic table, to the pond below. That's where I saw Woodrow and the other ducks which were featured two posts back.

Winter is nature's way of saying, "Up yours." ~Robert Byrne

I couldn't help but notice this feisty oak leaf defiantly flickering in the breeze, refusing to allow winter to bury it.

Of winter’s lifeless world each tree
Now seems a perfect part;
Yet each one holds summer’s secret
Deep down within its heart.
~ Charles G. Stater

This was just meant to be a photo shot more or less into the sun, of a peek at a park bench as seen between the trees. It was only when I uploaded the image that I saw this unusual sunspot (or something) which appeared to be glowing from the lower branches of the nearest tree. If you look at it closely....

... you'll see that it is heart-shaped and red, and it has me wondering what this tree might be telling me. Whatever it is, it's a comfort in the heart of winter.