In the middle of Winter, when the world outside is frosty and covered in mountains of snow (which holds it’s own beauty), but is starting to feel a little bleak and won’t see growing things for months….it’s nice to get a bouquet of flowers. They don’t last very long, and yet they manage to bring so much cheer in the short time they’re here.
These cream roses with a tint of blush pink on the tips were so beautiful and elegant, and they coordinated very nicely with my room too!
Do you like to get a bouquet of flowers in the winter? What are your favourite flowers to get?
While many people find winter to be the worst season of the year, I can’t despise it. Yes, the cold and dark can be dreary, and yet there is so much beauty God gives to us at this time of year, if we would see it. Last Thursday was one such day, as we woke up to a beautiful foggy, frosty day, as is common in this part of the world, but never commonplace. The world was a glistening winter wonderland, with every surface coated in thick heavy frost, while fog clouds hung low, obscuring the horizon, or at least bringing it in close. There is something unique about a heavy fog, because not only is the sightline hidden and the light diffused and dimmed, but the world becomes quiet, muffled even. Things seem to still and slow down and when you walk outside in a winter fog, you truly feel solitary.
These first photos were taken at 11:00 am when I hurried out to quickly take some photographs, wrapped in a wool coat and scarf, with the cold air nipping at my fingers.
A couple of hours later, around 1:00, the sun had started to burn through the fog, and the quality of light had changed. Again I wrapped up warmly and went out to capture those light changes, feeling an affinity with those Impressionist painters who would begin painting a scene, quickly grabbing a new canvas every time the light changed in order to capture an accurate depiction of the scene before them. While, of course, a photograph is quicker than a brush and canvas, it was interesting to see how strikingly different the world looked just a few hours later. I then continued to watch throughout the day, going out again at 4:00, 4:30 and then the next morning at 11:00. Each time I went out the qualities of light had changed, sometimes with high contrast and blue skies, sometimes with golden light and then finally a light pink glow across the sky. There was no wind, so the frost stayed on the trees for an entire 24 hour period. It was truly a beautiful day, and made me so thankful that I get to live in such a lovely part of the world.
I hope that wherever you live, you enjoy this first day of Winter (or the first day of Summer for those in the southern hemisphere) and are able to appreciate a bit of that changing quality of light and change of the seasons.
It’s October now and it feels like it; the leaves are golden against a sky that alternates between crystal clear blue and stormy greys. When the wind blows, it often has a chill in it, and colourful leaves crunch underfoot as you walk.
The season is short, but it’s my favourite time of year!
Every corner you turn has another spectacular view. This is a small ravine close to where we live. It’s gorgeous at this time of year.
Even abandoned buildings have a romantic look to them.
And despite the signs of decay, there is beauty to be seen in the blooms and seedheads.
The trees are dropping their leaves…and their seeds! We will plant some and see if they grow.
We’ve been so busy harvesting the garden and have a pantry stuffed full of bounty from our tomatoes, cucumbers, plums, choke-cherries and apples. There are delicious treats ahead this winter!
In the meantime, it’s still the perfect time to go outside and explore; soon we will be spending most of our time indoors!
I can’t believe that it’s already the last day of August..where did the summer go? I had so many projects I wanted to complete over the warm months, but between the humidity and the heat waves, that didn’t go exactly as planned. (I am working on a furniture refinishing project and have been getting up early in the morning to go and work on it outside before the sun heats up too much!)
We’re currently in one last, well, I hope it’s the last, burst of high temperatures. I am hopeful that when we turn the page to September, the weather will cool off a bit. It’s already starting to feel like the end of summer though; the sun sets earlier, the nights are chilly, the flowers are fading and we’re harvesting vegetables from the garden. There truly is a change in the air and the sunlight that signals the changing of the seasons…and I love it!
Here are some of the flowers from the month of August before it’s time to enjoy the fall leaves.
There were so many bumblebees on the hollyhock blooms, but as soon as I tried to take a picture of them, they all left, so this is the best I got. They must be camera shy!
My mom grew so many lilies and they all had such abundant blooms this year!
And some more flowers today…the garden is in gorgeous colour right now. This is the first year that the plants are really starting to fill in and my mom has done a lovely job of staggered bloom times, so we’ve got even more flowers coming soon. We’ve also had a lovely summer so far with rain and sun, but not too hot, so the plants (and me!) are very happy.
And… that’s all I have to share for today, I hope you have a lovely weekend!