Essence:

I’m having trouble with my writings and photographs which attempt to capture the essence of Nature. She is such a temporal and fleeting spirit words and pictures scarcely do her any justice. There have been ice storms leaving trees covered in glass like leotards stretched tightly over their limbs. Shining and glowing in the sunlight sending a beacon of light and glow far over the woodlands. There have been snow storms shedding several feet of the white substance creating a virgin coverlet over the landscape. Leaving everything pristine and untouched for a brief time. Looking around one can see occasional tracks from deer or other woodland creatures which scurry between trees leaving their footprints upon the freshly fallen snows. Water gurgles up in open areas on streams as if surfacing for air having traveled so far from deep down beneath the ice then dipping back down under another mass of ice and logs only to surface a little farther downstream bobbling up and down up and down.

There have been thaws and deep freezes, morning sun and afternoon sun all creating pockets of shadows and shades of dark and light that appear to sneak and peer from behind trees and snow covered branches and pine boughs drooping heavy from the weight of the snow. Presenting life’s immeasurable beauty and demonstrating her glow with shimmering icicles and snowflakes where each step upon the path offers a new scene and new sights.

But only for a moment does Nature reveal herself, her light and love always present yet fleeting and changing and only seen when one stops and becomes one with her essence. Let the words and pictures attempt to capture what only a moment in silence can truly grasp. The melting of Nature’s essence into each cell of one’s body and soul. She speaks and touches and the present soul is healed in that brief moment.