Winter where I live

I've had this post going for a while and thought I'd better get it finished as spring seems in a hurry this year!

Winter here is a bit different than where we came from. It has taken some getting used to. At first, I found it a bit depressing. Most of the trees lose their leaves and stand stark and naked in the cold damp air. Add some fog as in the above picture and you have the perfect scene for a Hollywood movie of the frightening and mysterious sort.
 Or....you could choose to see the beauty in it. Which is what I have intentionally chosen to do this winter. I took this picture because I did find it beautiful. When I look at it now, I see the dense moisture thick in the air. I feel the chill of the morning, I hear the birds somewhere in the distance. I take a closer look and see the lichens growing on a tree turning it a slight hew of green even in this cold and seemingly lifeless season.

This view of the forest is much different than it is in the summer. I had written in my journal on 1-22-12....
"Deciduous forests are so beautiful in winter. Leafless tree all standing in beds of fallen leaves. You can finally see deep into the forest. In summer the thickness of the green growing vegetation limits your sight and hides the view. I'm finding the Appalachians beautiful in all seasons."
It is true.In the summer these same trees will be full of green leaves. Vines such as Virginia Creeper will have grown up along with many other forest plants and filled these now empty places full to the brim. It might even be hard to walk in this area. So it makes this view something different and unique.

It makes places like this so much easier to access. I do love the forests here. They are so different than the Pine forests I grew up around. These, somehow seem older, wiser and a bit more friendly. The Pine forests of the northwest feel wild and dangerous, stretching out endlessly. A place that you can never quite conquer or let your guard down.  (That is not to be taken as an insult, please.) Just one of my silly poetic observations. This is the way the Appalachians have always felt to me... friendly, like I'd come home, after being away a long time.

We have had a very mild winter and so I have no snow pictures to show you. We usually do and did have a small amount in January. But, my feeling is, that we won't have more this year. Spring seems in a hurry. The daffodils are blooming and the spring peepers are peeping. In case you'd like to hear the sounds of spring....Spring Peepers Soundscape