A branch from a hazelnut tree holds a perfectly suspended raindrop from its empty shreds of nut husks. This photo's simple hues of brown, gray, and silver remind us of winter and its bleak beauty.
As December rolls in with a sweeping cloak of snow and darkness, life still yet abounds. This is important to remember as we huddle in our homes, that there will yet be a world full of beauty and life to welcome us from our winter hibernation. It doesn’t often feel that way when the wind howls coldly and bare branches hang lifeless from their trunks.
Winters provide a time to reflect and nourish. All life – avian, ungulate, canine, feline, homosapien – is caught in the balance of life and death, creation and destruction, growth and decomposition. I chose this photo because not only does it remind me of winter’s simple elegance, but it also provides a chance to stop and study. The tiny hairs on the branch, texture in the raindrop, muted colours – all of these small details present a time to simply fall back into primal curiousity and inquisitiveness, to rest and notice and be. This is important for many people to understand, that their lifestyle may be too fast for their body to catch up. Taking the time this winter to slow everything down and find an equilibrium in the balance of life is akin to hibernation.
The raindrop also provides reflection in this photo, in a sense literal and metaphorical. What can you reflect on as the nights grow deeper and the stars ever brighter? What is right in front of you – an answer, meaning, realization – that has been suspended on the brink of your mind for you to understand now? As you view this month’s photo, I invite you to welcome these questions, and their answers.
Beautiful photo and blog Hazel.
Thank you, Nancy!
<3
Wow, to me, the photo expresses the importance of water to the existence to all life. Thank you Hazel for nudging me to take a minute to reflect on such a simple aspect I normally take for granted!