The Art of Winter

Today is one of those Alberta winter days that belies the actual temperature. The sun is shining, the sky is the gray blue that often accompanies a cold winters day, fooling us into thinking it will be warm outside. But the temperature is a cool -12, a marked improvement over the -35 we had yesterday, however it is still cold.



Since the back deck had not been shovelled since the blizzard that roared across the prairies on Wednesday, I decided that I would get some exercise and shovel the drifts that had blown across the decks.



On my way out the back door, I was taken by the frost etched onto the window and that got me thinking about the artistic license Mother Nature often takes using the wind and the snow and the cold as her paints.

The beautiful, frosty patterns drawn on glass as cold meets warm made me stop to admire her handiwork.

Once outside, I took note of the snow drifts flowing in undulating curves like a winter ballet dancer moving across the ground using the landscape to mould and model itself around.

The lengthening shadows of the afternoon sun draw patterns on the snow's surface that become a textural addition to the painting.

But Nature's paintings are fleeting. Once the temperature warms and the sun heats up, the once beautiful curves will soften and become tired.

Nature is an everchanging artist - her models and her canvas dependent on how she uses her tools, the wind, the sun, the snow. That is why it is important to take note, to savour each painting as presented. There will never be another like it, but we will always know that everyone will be beautiful in its own right.


I have a saying hung above my sink that says:


"Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away. "


It is often difficult, in our rush to pass through each day, to stop and notice all the little moments before us meant to take our breath away.

I am glad I did today!