Snowy Respite
August 3, 2021
I took this image almost six months ago to the day, February 1, 2021. I was still being careful to write 2021 on my checks. It seems like a month ago, yet so much has happened. It can be dizzying if you stay tuned to all of the news and current events. I pretty much stopped my daily consumption immediately following the election. I follow the headlines now on my time, not everybody else’s. I still root for the home team, and I will still be active when it’s called for, but I’m taking a respite.
I think that’s why this scene appealed to me. I had been out while it was snowing, one of my favorite times, as those of you who enjoy my photos know. Commonplace scenes become dramatic, the light is typically soft, but glowing. Everything darkened by winter is outlined in white. For awhile nature is monochrome. It’s quiet. The birds and squirrels will be active again when it stops, but very often it’s just me, my footsteps making a quiet crunch as I move along. I was actually heading back toward the house, when I turned and saw this scene. The bench, unoccupied, was facing a calliope of trees, awaiting only an organist to sit down and play A Hazy Shade of Winter. The larger trees were bowing or already swaying to the music. There was more than a patch of snow on the ground! It didn’t appear cold to me, but inviting, the bench begging someone to sit and rest themselves, to enjoy the reverie. I didn’t sit that time. I left it untouched for another traveler. Someone else who needed a rest.
What are your thoughts as you look at the scene? Do you want to enter and sit on the bench for awhile? Or, is it perhaps a little too chilly and uninviting to you? Could this lie at the end of the road less traveled by? I wonder if Robert would stop for a spell?
Image Information: February 1, 2021. Fuji XT3, 23mm lens, F8, 1/60 sec. ISO 125