As Martin Luther is reported to have said . . .
Here I stand,
I can do no other.
Actually, Luther spoke at the Diet of Worms (And where was the corporate-communications team when that name was being chosen?) in German and Latin, not English, so technically he said . . .
Hier stehe Ich,
Ich kann nicht anders.Hic sto,
non possum aliter.
Apparently he used both languages to be sure his position was understood. All right, then. Two can play that game. Just in case the Holy Roman Emperor or any possums are reading this, let’s be clear.
Winter ist blecch.
Hiems est blecch.
Winter is blecch.
Here I stand. I could do other, but I don’t want to.
As the fabulous fall winds down into, well, the blecchy winter, with six inches of snow already covering our patio-table-and-chair set, it sometimes seems the great outdoors will never be lovely again. That’s what I was thinking this morning as I stuck my nose (nase, nasus) out the door to see/feel how cold it was. Wait. What’s this I see/see at the corner of the porch?
My nose is soon followed by the rest of me and by my camera (kamera, camera).
A red-leafed bush that might be a potentilla (Whose yard is it, anyway?) has definitely been transformed by snow-ice in the early-morning light.
But this is what really catches my eye: the brown, wizened-up leaves on my Pinky-Winky Hydrangea®, aka The Flowering Bush with the Most Humiliating Name.
Okay, maybe there’s still hope for loveliness.
The cranberry-and-ice concoction is festive and uplifting. The frosted, wrinkled, shrinking leaves of the hydrangea held to the unflinching eye of the camera is something I can identify with now that surgically induced 20/20 vision confirms everything my mirrors can reveal. Yet, here, too, is undeniable beauty. Most touching, is that crystal tear at the leaf’s tip distilling an existential sorrow or reflecting back the wonders of its surroundings. Hope for a mature loveliness, indeed.
Laurna – 🙂 Indeed. Wizened leaves are a good reminder that our wrinkled faces aren’t so bad, darn it.
Those pictures are stunning! Julia says “Wow!”
Tom
Tom – 🙂 Isabel says “thank you” to Julia. And you.
Nice seeing and nice photography
Jim R – Thank you. I still haven’t quite figured out how to provoke that dark background, but I’m usually happy when it appears. 🙂
A camera makes everything better! Your photos show wonderous beauty on a day I understand was indeed blecch!
Judith – 🙂 It’s true (cameras *do* make everything better), but I hadn’t thought of it that way. We should issue cameras to everyone from 5 up, likely. (I remember a baby-congrats card from 53 years ago that suggested issuing a banjo to every child. Our way is quieter.)