A Walk in the Woods: Snow

This morning was a first chance of the season to get out into snowy woods; because it was so mild and the snow was wet, snowshoes were my means of conveyance. The world outside has been reduced to a subtle rendering of line against white, of simple form in limited color. On my way to the woodland path, I passed the naked raspberry canes, a reddish brown against a milky haze.




The trees, of greenish browns, gray browns, warm browns, or tarnished silver, are spotted with lichens and mosses, adding a bit of pattern to their stark volumes.




There are weeds and grasses whose graceful lines we're now able to see, drawn on the snow.




I was able to find a wonderful grouping of mosses and lichens (and is the red possibly a liverwort?) on the north side of a tree, looking like an abstract painting using close and compatible hues, and bright green for sparkling emphasis.




Surprisingly, there are still green ferns popping up here and there; here they provide a counterpoint to the bright blue plastic hose, used to carry maple sap in spring. The barbed wire is from old fencing; it's hard to imagine that the crowded woods may have been pasture years ago. There is nature and manufacture and history, different yet connected, telling their stories in the woods around us.