Some refer to the ''dead'' of winter as if the cold has stopped life, removed the life-force from within nature. Some view the frozen midwestern farmfield as devoid of life in mid winter

.Spring brings the intense, vividness of (aptly named) spring green sprouts of new life emerging from  the black earth. and new life vigorously pushes forth into the world



 

 Summer glows verdant with growth and hot pulsing life..

 Autumn crescendos with the glory of ripened flora and the harvest warms hearth and heart.

 In winter the chilled air, the blanket of snow, the sparkling crystals of ice may harden the ground and stop apparent growth but it does not mean that life is gone. All life needs life, even that from which life springs needs it's restorative rest. The soil is  recouping, regenerating itself and the nutrients needed for next season's growth.The stubble of last years crops still provides feed for grazing and it also protects and holds the soil to in place for future use. In each and every season the agricultural places are at the heart of the land and people.Found the farm buildings, sometimes sheltering animals, sometimes storing food, sometimes just watching over the land, year after year, season after season to be absolutely beautiful in a homey way and and definitive statements of ongoing life upon the agri-lands as meandered through the countryside.

In the bleak midwinter frosty winds made moan
earth stood hard as iron 
water like a stone
snow had fallen snow on snow
snow on snow (Christina Rosetti)

Solstice has flipped the balance and the days grow longer and we celebrate. In ancient times throughout a great number of cultures from Europe through Asia and Africa cultures celebrated eternal life and rebirth and hope with the  boughs and garlands of ''evergreen'' trees. Renaissance Europe adopted the green of fir or evergreen trees to  add to Christian  Christmas celebrations. 

 There are references that Martin Luther, Protestant reformer, was the first to add lights to the Christmas tree

Green is my favorite color, it is  new life, it is the ground cover, it is the  color of the leaves on trees that help oxygenate the atmosphere, it is a color of hope and promise

As the calendar year ends and a new year is just ahead, as we pause and gather to celebrate
                                  holidays ~ holy days
 to all I wish the light of love and the green of hope and promise

          Merry Christmas ~ God Jul ~ Feliz Navidad

The Winter Solstice 2013 has come and gone and a major snow storm is about to hit the central states of the United States
                                                                   SNOW on OBJECTS
There are many quotes about water being so soft, so free form yet so strong and powerful, powerful enough in persistence to carve a grand canyon and to shape the sides of continents.
Snow is  beautiful crystallized water. Soft, intricate, delicate beautiful flakes that can softly blanket  the earth...and create havoc, delay, destruction and even death. Humans are tiny little beings upon this globe and the forces of nature can still set our best laid plans asunder. Nature and her winds, water droplets and snow flakes all need to be respected in both their beauty and their potential power