Winter park
Winter swirled back with a desperate last bite, and flung snow and ice with unending fury. We are smothered again in her white cloak, colour and life bleached from sight. Most peopled groaned and sighed “not again”, but all I could see was sparkling new beauty, and amazing shadows. This wasn’t a repeat, an old rerun of an often watched show, this was brand new footage.
Daffodils in Snow
Look a little closer and you can see the daffodils, thrusting their green and yellow spears up through the snow. They are making their first appearance of the year on a stage of snow.
Snow trail
Let yourself follow this fresh trail of prints, crushed into the snow, and showing for one day only. They’ll never be seen again, and will soon have been obliterated or melted. We can let the world show us new paths each day, or we can sigh and assume we’ve seen it all before. We can let our mind be filled with assumptions that the snow is a cold, messy inconvenience….or we can open our mind and let the real experience flood in. For a while at least, it paints the familiar landscape with the sparkling magic of ‘now’.
Crab apple blossom in snow
These fragile crab apple blossoms are positively glowing in the new snow, and are yet another reminder that time hasn’t slipped back. Things are still moving forwards towards spring and colour. I think we often let the feeling of something being repeated feel like a negative move backwards, but reality is always growing forwards into something new, backwards is just a trick our mind plays on us. Don’t let yourself be fooled. And if you don’t believe me let the new blossom tell you about the growing strength of the sun.
Red buds in snow
breathofgreenair 
red flowers and snow…wow!
Glad you like it 🙂
its beautiful! 🙂
Thank you, I thought so too 🙂
yes, waiting for spring and warm sunshine …
Still waiting…and it’s still snowing 🙂
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Always such beautiful shots and words to match too. Thank you
Thanks for the encouragement 🙂
gorgeous pictures…and the words resonate for me, too. 🙂 been thinking about the same things. thank you for pointing out that repetition isn’t a backwards move – it’s easy to forget sometimes. 🙂 (although i have to admit i’m keeping my fingers crossed there won’t be more snow, because i don’t want to have to get it off my car AGAIN. 😛 )
Ah but it won’t be the same snow!!! Lol 🙂 I think I often feel stuck, when things repeat…so this snow AGAIN was a great reminder for me
me too. 🙂
(it may not be the same snow, but i bet if it comes it will make me look like i’ve crawled out of a lavine after i’ve cleaned it off just the same. 😛 maybe i should just wait for it to melt. and also not take out my troubles in advance. yes. okay. good.)
So funny…you sound a lot like me 🙂
…great minds think alike, and all that?
This is magic! Last night’s TV news showed us dramatic (as dramatic as possible) footage of inconvenience and dissaray because of this storm cutting across so much of Europe, but of course ignored the beauty. I particularly love your appreciation of the juxtapositions, impatient spring and stubborn winter in perhaps their final dance
Thanks Penny, to me it always feels like a bit of a struggle between the seasons at the Equinoxes….the struggle for balance I suppose. Not long now 🙂
Lovely photos, and i really like your texts … Here in the part of Sweden where i live, we still have winter .. // Maria
Thank you Maria…it’s always great to hear someone enjoys the writing as well as the photos 🙂 I think we are moving into Spring here, but perhaps you are further North than we are in Scotland? Our days are lengthening noticeably now
What a refreshing reminder. I am so ready for spring that I was angry at the snow. I had to cover my blooming hyacinths and other fragile spring plants. But you are right, it is a beauty that is the only one of its kind. Those particular flakes will never blanket the same again. Thank you for the reset, I needed it. Great photos!
Your welcome Janine….it’s so easy to get swept out of the present and into a list of things to do filled with resentment 🙂 I do it all the time, but snow always works its magic on me!
I really enjoyed looking at these photos of your (hopefully) last snow. Your narrative added to my joy also.
Thanks Pat, I’m glad you enjoyed the words.:-) I can never resist a little story to go with the images !
Me, too. Let’s agree to keep the words rolling. I am finding that most of the time I enjoy just a brief story about the images on other blogs so that is what I aim for. I think I really enjoy the human connection.
Yes, I like a little more than just the bare photo…but then I am know to enjoy talking 🙂
Wonderful images–really delicious colors! Excellent processing.
Thanks….the colours were delicious….a little whisper of spring 🙂
Beautiful last bite! I love crab apple blossoms 🙂
Me too! I think it’s the colour that does it for me after the white and grey of winter 🙂
Such beautiful snow shots! Late winter snow is so uplifting and lovely, especially if you already have flowers in bloom.
Thanks, I loved your last winter shots were just stunning…all those lacy ice curtains:-)
Beautiful … I love the crab apple blossom and the tracks 🙂
Thanks Dory….the cheerful red caught my eye. I know that any day now colour is going to come bursting forth, but for now these wee splashes are so cheering 🙂 The snow tracks were left by Molly the youngest dog….I left the others at home because three dogs stirs up the snow too much for peaceful shots 🙂
Beautiful photographs with equally beautiful prose…thanks.
You’re welcome….the snow was a lovely surprise so late in the winter 🙂
Lovely. I was living in Gotemba, Japan, and I woke up one early spring morning to a surprising couple of inches of snow. The orchards and daffodils were already in bloom and I knew the snow wouldn’t last more than a couple of hours, so I grabbed by camera and went out and got shots pretty similar to some of these. A very special circumstance. Thanks for sharing.
Wow Japan in the early Spring sounds magical….a photographers dream 🙂 its great to get out early after snow fall, before it gets too many footprints. These were taken in my local park before the kids had all tramped through to school 🙂
Nice … I especially like the mood provided by the lighting in the first image. Do you mind my asking what you use to process your images? I ask because the images of the crab apple had the background nicely desaturated – and I am wondering you selected it so cleanly from the remainder of the image. D
Thanks, I was really happy with the way that first shot turned out….the sun was low, and bright and golden…giving great atmosphere.
I used my favourite app called Snapseed to adjust colour saturation and texture. It’s one of my favourite processing apps.
The shots of the crab apple blossom were edited using an app called Coloursplash. I’ve only been using this for about a month but I love it….way easier than drawing masks in photoshop 🙂
I process my photos on an iPad so that I can use these great apps, and still have a big enough screen to see what I’m doing! I’m a total covert now…they are so cheap. ……Snapseed was free….and so quick and easy to use.
Wow … and iPad app … I’m impressed. I’ve been using a piece of open access software called GIMP … trying to get used to Adobe Light Room but the learning curve is steep and I don’t have lots of time to ‘play.’ Thanks for the info. D
Yeah, I know Lightroom, but I don’t find it very easy to use or quick! I downloaded Snapseed, back in October last year, after reading that several professional photographers used it, because of its speed and ease. I wouldn’t be without it now 🙂
beautiful photos..the red flowers are so pretty 🙂
Thank you 🙂 I loved that bright pop of red against the white snow and bare branches!