Winter Beauty

Winter is beautiful. In these parts, winter weather can last for 7 or 8 months, and there are days where it can seem oppressive. But then there are these frosty and clear kind of days, when it is beautiful.

We've had a lot of fog lately, which turns to hoarfrost on the trees, and then we've had a couple days of very fine snow, which adds to the frost and gives us these lace-covered trees. The wind is still for a change, and the lace has stayed on the trees for several days now. Occasionally a chickadee or a redpoll will land on a branch and send the frost crystals shimmering downwards, sparking in the sun as they descend. On days like this, when all is bright and still, I can feel the peace of the earth resting. And I can rest, too.

From Chapter 16 of the Tao Te Ching:

Attain the ultimate emptiness
Hold on to the truest tranquility
The myriad things are all active
I therefore watch their return

Everything flourishes; each returns to its root
Returning to the root is called tranquility
Tranquility is called returning to one's nature
Returning to one's nature is called constancy
Knowing constancy is called clarity