"See you in the Spring"

... a phrase I have heard many times and one common among people who live in wintery climates, it carries allot of weight. With snow and darkness the mode of the season, without intentional contact between friends, often months go by without a friendly voice. With the age of cell phones and internet connection I know things have changed dramatically in even the far reaches of the globe, but in areas with limited access it is still often only by face to face meetings that people get to truly engage with each other. In these kinds of places, this phrase is a way of saying I hope to see you again soon, but it might be a long time....spring...until everything opens up and blooms and has life started again until we can spend time together.

With this seemingly endless winter we appear to be experiencing here in the S.E. corner of Pa, the frequent snowfalls, although very pretty, have in a way in spirit, cut off contact even as they blanket the earth with layer after layer of beauty. People stay inside and quiet down. There are not many folks out walking unless out of  necessity. All of the photos today were taken during the very latest snowstorm (not counting today!), which really varied in nature and intensity many times over it's course, my favorite being when it all got really silent and the golf ball sized falling flakes seemed to float about for a while, ever so slowly finding the gravity and a spot on ground to rest. In a day off from work, I slept in and was really taken by the beauty outside of the window when I first sat up in bed. I immediately grabbed my camera and opening a window or two, peeking my lens out and took these shots while still inside. I was pleased to see such things right from within my home and blessed to once again see this kind of beauty in the place where I live. The top image, taken outside my front picture window of the field we enjoy living in, just captures for me the feeling I had that day... of the comfort of being sheltered inside in peace and warmth. The ones below are of one of my favorite trees (an arching Cherry) in our back field, the bamboo grove I planted  being bent under the pressure of the season and a detail from the boughs of a stately cedar tree found there along the hedge row. The last is a detail of bamboo that reminds me of the delicacy found in nature and in our own relationships.

Even in this quiet time though on this wintery day, my sincere want for connection with the outside world is there. Electronic devices, no matter how convenient in their offerings within the myriad of ways to engage, will never replace a face to face talk.. of being able to look someone in the eyes and see the person behind the face...to feel the expression of friendship in the flesh. As a popular song I just heard now expresses, "say something, I'm giving up on you". A sorrowful statement indeed for the quiet, without the perseverance of friendship over time and hope of 'spring' again.

"See you in the Spring" is both a hopeful and sad phrase for it not only sets up this distance of both space and time ahead, but also a potential joy... a 'Vorfruede' so to speak (to borrow a word from my German friends), to once again share time together. In both emotions though. there is always the stark realization for me of perhaps never once again being able to unite in fellowship as is so important to my inward being. The world is always in change and we change with it. Relationships ebb and flow in a ever flexible dynamic and the realities of the limitations of physical life are ever present. I learned this with my Mothers death, as after her long winter hiatus in Florida, she passed two days before I was to see her again. With this and other experiences behind me, I am always aware of how fragile life really is, even my own. In the mean time, I am waiting patiently for spring, for a winter of isolation is too much to bear alone.