TINTING WINTER...

" Hear! hear!" screamed the jay from a neighboring tree, where I had heard a tittering for some time, "winter has a concentrated and nutty kernel, if you know where to look for it."

-Henry David Thoreau, 28 November 1858 journal entry-

First thing every morning upon entering the kitchen I lean across the sink and peer at the east wood to see what kind of day it is going to be. Gray, I sigh while thinking, another gray day. The first snow dusting of the season, a mere three inches, is crooking its icy fingers at me, beckoning me to step outside into its magical frosty goodness. I respond. Bundling up, I step across the door frame into what appears to be a black and white photo of a winter scene, quite barren and bleak...Casting a glance at the wishing well... And tossing in a wish for a less monochromatic day, a touch more of color than that of black, white, and gray. A bridge of branches intertwined over head invites the eye to look deeper, past the tangle, to the horizon beyond their reach... A small shiver, that has nothing to do with the teen temperatures, slides over me. Beyond the furthest branches the photographer began to hand tint the black and white winter scene. The barest of blush and lightest hue of blue was painstakingly brushed between each limb and twig...Standing in the black and white snapshot, I watched breathlessly as a bold brush of color was applied, a liquid molten orange... That began to spill itself right at the tips of my booted feet, touching them, turning them into a bright splash of color, cutting off the oppression or the suggestion of a gray dawning day... I stood still as the chill north wind swirled and buffeted my back, listening to the rattle of the dry leaves quaking in the wind, watching my wish unfold while the black and white photo faded under the photographers skilled hand as he colored in the morning hues...Soft green moss became visible against stripped gray bark...Cotton bolls of snow pillowed themselves on branches of gray-green lichen, striking against a brilliant blue backdrop...Teasing little evergreen tips reached beyond their fluffy blanket to have their fingers kissed by the morning sun... A blue bird...Some blue berries... And blue tinted shadowed snow...Further highlight and brighten the blustery scene to the perfect tint of winter...BLUE! Not the kind of blue that makes you feel down but the kind of blue that lifts you up. The blue of the heavens where berry ripe bird winged wishes are free to fly out of the shadows into the horizon of possibility.

I hope there is not a hint of gray in your day but the brilliant blue of winters tint that will keep you looking upward towards the horizon and reaching for those longed for dreams and wishes. May they be within your grasp!