The Conservatory Garden in Winter

The young boy played his flute, calling to birds; his companion lifted a snow-laden bowl where they might drink.  While sparrows flitted near in search of seeds, not one came to visit this snowbound pair.

Winter à la Sarasota

I have written before about our looong Floridian summers. About how we try so hard to live the outdoor life, faced with a seemingly endless parade of photo-opportunity days that give the lie to what is really a swamp-like climate. But the truth is that we spend all summer hiding out indoors in a sort of hibernating state. We go about our daily lives, moving sluggishly from air-conditioned homes to cars with matching temperatures and tinted windows - into shops, offices, malls and all manner of buildings with piped-in icy air where we take shelter from the invisible onslaught. Even then, the heat and humidity leave us damp before we can get from car to building. The only difference between night and day here is that the sun disappears. The temperature and humidity levels hardly change - it’s impossible to sleep without the air turned really low. Forget about cracking a window.

South African Elephant

Vusi said Winter was the best time for game viewing. The Bushveld was brittle and dry. The grass was short. As a Game Ranger, and our guide, he should know.

This is New York: Upper Broadway, Valentine's Day 2010

Valentine's Day, and a break in the wintry weather brought everyone out.  Hoshi Coupe's window sported hearts for the occasion, and even the lady in the pocket park was bedecked.

Photographing Birds in Winter

The winter season calls for modifications to how you dress, how you handle your equipment and how you approach the picture-making process itself.  -Tim Fitzharris, National Audubon Society Guide to Nature Photography

In winter, even birds that don’t migrate can be hard to find.  On these cold and snowy days, we see little on our walks:  a junco pecking at frozen ground, a crow settled on a high tree limb.  We thrill to spot what turns out to be a mockingbird, hunkered down in branches to escape the wind.

Winter in Valley Forge

“It is beyond description to conceive what the men suffer . . .”

~Col. Philip Van Cortland,

in a letter to the Governor of NY, 13 Feb. 1778

It is cold. The wind whips down the grand parade of Valley Forge National Park. In winter the tree branches are exposed and bare. The landscape, which had been a spectacular panorama of fiery reds, oranges and yellows in autumn, is a muddle of drab browns and grays now. The ground is frozen, it is certainly no weather to enjoy a picnic, as you might if you came to Valley Forge in the spring. But winter is the time of year to visit Valley Forge.

A World of White and Snowy Scents

Still one would want more, one would need more,
More than a world of white and snowy scents.
-Wallace Stevens

Right now, I can’t imagine beyond snow.  It’s been falling all day again, though this time, not to much effect.  Deer tracks run everywhere:  they veer toward the hemlock, then, foiled by the fencing, veer back to open ground.  The paths break into ragged patches where deer scraped through to get at grass.

December

I have it on good authority that the snowflake has long been up at the crossroads of Fifth Avenue and 57th Street in New York City.  Shop windows are already dressed for the coming holidays, and December 2nd is the date for lighting the Rockefeller Center tree.