On these frigid, snowy days, house plants add a welcome spot of color. They also bring surprises. I looked down beside a tray of succulents one day in December and thought a big bug had met its demise. I looked again and realized it was a leaf from one of the succulents, already putting out tentative roots and a pair of tiny leaves. So I tucked it into the dirt alongside the other succulents. It took hold and has been merrily growing. After two months, it is about an inch and a half high and has three sets of leaves. Hurrah for new growth, despite blizzards and an occasional polar vortex just a few feet away! 
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It's snowing again. It seems a good time to look back and contemplate some of the green moments from last year. There were those first young shoots of leaves poking up through forest floor debris, full of bright green-ness. There was the green of barely opened flowers and the greens of the frog pond at the Calendar Garden. And many moments of light-filled green leaves at full growth. The seasons turn, and before long, there will be another round of bright young ginger leaves to be found. It's good to remember, in the midst of fresh snowfall! 
 Last Saturday we were at Camp Friedenswald, for Open Table Mennonite Fellowship's first retreat. I was able to get out to the fen in the early afternoon and enjoy its winter garb. By evening the snow had started and it continued to fall through the night. Back in Elkhart county, many churches canceled their services. Ours went ahead as planned, with a beautiful view of snow falling in the peaceful woods, seen through the windows of the Nature Center (a memory picture rather than a photo, since I was leading worship). By the time we got home mid-afternoon, there was at least a foot of snow in the drive, and we had to shovel before we could pull into the garage. By Monday the sun was shining brightly over thick caps of snow on trees, bushes, and lamp posts. In other spots, the wind created contours. And yesterday I looked out at our backyard hemlocks, and found them full of glinting icicles, like a Christmas tree covered with tinsel -- but much colder! While some hung as straight as the icicles dangling from the neighbor's eaves, others had more intriguing shapes.       |
My approach to contemplative photography --
"Pay attention. Be astonished. Tell about it." Mary Oliver in "Sometimes" Archives
August 2020
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