Another Christmas past, and as we settle into the in-between days before the New Year arrives, I confess it’s one of my favourite parts of the holiday season. This is the time when a semblance of normal returns to our daily routines, we have time to exhale, appreciate our good fortune, and enjoy quiet reflection without resolution. (If only it were that easy.)
In the warmer months, I’m centered by the meditation of my morning stroll, camera in hand, inspired by the nature that surrounds me. Once winter sets in, I have to prod myself with the reminder that the outdoors is still there to be enjoyed, simply by donning the proper clothing.
It was sub-zero chilly this morning, cold for bare fingers on the camera, but there’s always a chance of catching a cheery chickadee or a pair of mallards on the still-open water. No luck with that today, no signs of life at all, and of course gone are all the seasonal birds, bees and blooms…disappointing.
My hands were freezing and it was spitting snow, I started to walk back inside when I noticed a milkweed pod, stiff in the cold, and beside it, the natural-dried blossoms of meadowsweet. I’ve photographed both of those native plants many times, usually adorned with butterflies or bumblebees. And then in that moment, I saw them as still beautiful, not dead but asleep… in heavenly peace perhaps? (It’s a slow departure, Christmas.)
With renewed interest, I blew on my hands to warm them just enough, and started to explore the winter garden. Other blossoms and buds in their seasonal state, the pearly everlasting and the golden rod, the witch hazel and sheep’s laurel, holly and hydrangea; the empty nests revealed by leafless branches, memories of feathered families raised and flown…
When all the joys of the holiday season and the hopes for peace on earth feel too elusive or daunting to sustain, that’s when I return to the thought of letting peace begin with me. We all find our own paths to that place, sometimes it can be as simple as connecting to nature in the stillness of a winter’s morning. So that’s what I’m sharing with you today, with best wishes for the new year. My hope is that with these words and photographs you may also find a moment of peace and enjoyment in winter's garden.
