BETTER THAN HEARSAY Winter Walking

The light from a full moon is ripply on the Hudson River near the Rip Van Winkle Bridge on a late December afternoon. Some days later, at pretty much the same spot, the lunar ripples are replaced by patches of blue sky.  

Wisps of field grasses leave their geometrical mark, moved by the whipping winter wind. 

Photos and Script by Michael Ryan

OUT IN IT - Being out in cold weather has never been one of my favorite places to be although I’ve taught myself to find the beauty of it.

It doesn’t make much sense to love some things in life and not other things since all things blossom from the same thing, I reckon.

So I venture out into the nippiest, nastiest stuff and, without fail, come across things that make it worthwhile, even rememberable.

The sunshine was bright, late one recent December morning, making the snow glitter like warm, toasty solar crystals.

In my dreams, I know, but on another day the snow was sparkly red and blue which also happens walking with a flashlight at night.

Snowy cold quiet is quieter than regular quiet, not busy with birds (except the ones eating me out of house and home at the bird feeder) and bees.

Nothing is better than green grass in my bare toes and, as the song goes, the summer wind blowing in from across the sea.

But with the daffodils waiting in frozen stillness for their spring moment to rise, it seems only right to relish the time they are unseen too.