Disappearing Soon

In winter, you can see deeper into the woods here.

It's just that there isn't much to see.

There's seldom any snow, just the grey-brown vertical lines of tree trunks, blending closer and closer together the further you look; and the mottled dappling of brown leaves on the ground make an uneven horizontal carpet. Between earth and sky a few pale stubborn leaves of faded gold cling with tissue-paper tenacity to the branches from which they refuse to fall, and catch the pale light that slants across the view at a chilly angle from the north. Even a bright day can seem fog-shrouded and overexposed at the same time.



But sometimes, when you look closer, those delicate pastel shades move slightly and reveal a life you may not have noticed right away.













There is so much to see that sometimes you look right past them.









I'm always happy to see them when they come up.



















But spring is coming back, the leaves are returning to the trees, and the shades of winter will soon disappear again.