Friday Ramble - Little Blue

Weary of deep snow and icy cold, I am even a little tired of the color blue at times, no matter how intensely blue the sky, snowdrifts, spruce trees, icicles or the cast iron crane in the garden. The bird's migratory kin have been gone for months, but it is frozen in place, well and truly stuck until springtime rolls around. The figurine has been engulfed by recent deep snows, and now only the tip of its beak can be seen.

There are some lovely words for blue in the English language: azure, beryl, cerulean, cobalt, indigo, lapis lazuli, royal, sapphire, turquoise, ultramarine, to name just a few. I recite them like a litany under my breath as I look out at our sleeping garden with mug in hand or break a trail into the woods.

Just when I am feeling all wintered out and not inclined to capture another photo, another breathtaking composition presents itself to my wandering eyes. Something amazing shows up unannounced (out of the blue?) and pleads for rapt and focused attention. Glossy bubbles dance in the icicles above my frozen creek in the Lanark highlands. On morning walks, ice crystals adorn the evergreens along the trail and they sparkle like diamonds. I peer out the kitchen window, and the snow on the roof of the garden shed is so bright it dazzles the eyes. OK Mama, I get the message.

As we (Beau and I) lurch along, faded and tattered oak leaves flutter down to lie on the trail at our feet. Pine and spruce cones cast vivid blue shadows in pools of early morning sunlight. Is there anything on the planet as fine as the scent of snowy blue spruce boughs in February? Look closely, and every needle is wearing stars.

Small and perfect, complete within themselves, such encounters convey equilibrium, lower the blood pressure and slow one's breathing, return eyes and focus to simplicity and grace and just plain old being here. Hallelujah, the world is full of wonder again. No wait, the world is always full of wonder. It's just that I forget sometimes.

There are worlds great and small everywhere, worlds within and worlds without. Every one is a wonder to behold, to commit to memory, to love with one's eyes and patient recording lens. Surely, we can do this for a little while longer.