152: Mesmerized

Usually I attempt to title my photos.  I won’t be doing that today.  I just don’t want to put a name to anything I saw today.

Usually I place the photos in such a way as to tell a story or to at least correspond with my babbling what I’m writing.  I won’t be doing that, either.  I will put them up as I took them on my walk today.

It was so beautiful when we woke up this morning, a beauty way beyond any words I can think of to try to describe it.  The sky was clear and blue.  The sun hitting the ice and snow was a magical sight that the camera just couldn’t capture at all.  You had to be there.

I hadn’t planned to stay outside beyond the minimum thirty minutes.  I started the day with a pretty long to-do list so it seemed important to go out, take a few photos, and get on with the rest of the day.  Of course that was wrong.  Being outside was the important part of the day, not the to-do list.

It wasn’t until the freshly-charged batteries in my camera died that I realized I’d been out there well beyond my planned time.  As it turned out, I was out and about for two hours, completely mesmerized by Mother Nature’s display.  I believe this is what people must have been trying to achieve when they first started decorating trees for the Winter Solstice or for Christmas.

I also believe this may well be the first winter in which I have truly appreciated the season.  I have always enjoyed frost, snow and ice, and how beautiful they can be under certain circumstances, but I don’t think I appreciated the season as a whole in the way I do now.  Each day of stepping outside to meet my outdoor commitment has brought something new, even those days when I had a case of the blahs and thought it was dull to be photographing the same things over and over.

Winter is a season in which things can change drastically overnight.  One day everything is dull and brown, wet and slushy, and the next day you wake up to find the world sparkling with ice and snow.

Best of all, things you couldn’t quite capture before are suddenly handed to you.  But you have to be in the moment, paying attention to the now, or you might miss the gifts you’re being given.

I think I fell in love with winter today.

I’ll have to go back and look but I’m pretty sure I had a similar moment during the autumn months, my first season of this commitment.  Wouldn’t it be wonderful to come away from this year-long commitment with a love, or at least an appreciation, for all of the seasons?

I think that just might happen.