Saturday, January 3, 2009

Picture Perfect Saturday


One of my great loves in life is being outside in nature. I've been trying to consciously do more things that mean something to me and less of the routine things that are just that...routine. Of course, once I had decided to try to spend a bit more time outdoors, walking on the beach or jogging on the canal instead of inside on a treadmill, it snowed 8 inches and the temperature plummeted to under 10 degrees. There is no way I'm walking on the beach in this weather!
Today, I stopped on the way to the gym at one of my favorite walking spots. The wind was whipping and the air was frigid and everything was frozen. And I took a picture. (If I can't be out there walking, I may as well look at a picture of it)
When we think "nature", we generally think of a glorious spring day or a summer morning. We think of the trees heavy with leaves and flowers all in bloom. We generally don't think of a frozen marsh overlooking ice chunks in the ocean. It really struck me today that nature can be harsh and cold and vicious and violent. It can make us wet and cold and uncomfortable. But still, it's all so beautiful! A stark winter landscape can evoke that same flutter of emotion that a summer sunset can.
And even though right now I'd rather be hibernating, even though I'm super jealous of Nerd who is now lying on a beach in Florida, even though I wear a minimum of three layers any time I venture outside, I'm still enjoying nature. I'm still so thankful that its there.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

so beautiful! Where was this taken?

Diane said...

I love winter nature. I sat outside on New Year's Eve, in 2 degree weather, at the firepit... OK, so I wasn't loving it so much THAT night, but most days... :)

PS... are you doing your morning pages? Have you scheduled your artist's date? Hmmmm...?

Heidi said...

"A stark winter landscape can evoke that same flutter of emotion that a summer sunset can."
I like this. Even though the snow is making me a little crazy these days when it is stretched out in front of you untouched it is pretty amazing.
Thanks for coming on by. :)

Heather said...

I'm so jealous. It's 65 degrees here today. Woo-hoo, gotta love that Spring-like weather in January. BLAH.

Live More Now said...

I love your description of nature. I crave it, too, and then at times it does seem violent and powerful beyond words and scary. And then so serene and calming it takes your breath away .. again.