As Andrew Wyeth said, “I prefer winter and fall, when you feel the structure of the landscape – the loneliness of it, the dead feel of winter. Something waits beneath it, the whole story doesn’t show.”

Wyeth was a well known 20th century American painter whose work is easily recognizable. Empty rooms, a lone man walking, a solitary woman in a field, a cat staring into the distance: this is a man who understood loneliness and the power of being alone. His stark landscapes tell the story of a powerful natural world and what lies beneath the earth and the bare trees.

My photo above is just a snapshot of a place I sometimes walk but I think he would approve of this place and especially that day when it was so cold and barren. Something in the air that day seemed to promise that there is life within, waiting for the right moment to turn outward and prove it isn’t really dead.

I appreciate this time of year for the stark beauty, for the truth in the structure of the landscape, and for the promise of what’s ahead.

If we could hold onto this for a while, I would be quite happy. Seeing the world come to life again as winter gives way to spring is gratifying but that period of rebirth and rejuvenation never lasts long where I live. By the first of June I’ll be sweating, mad because summer clothes are so ugly and marking off the days until October. Still, I’ll choose to find the good and to adapt my activities around the humidity for maximum happiness in that season.

For now though, I celebrate what others deem ugly. I luxuriate in a season many find depressing. I am grateful for this odd thing that allows me to be happy and comfortable with what others find intolerable.

Fellow adventurers, I encourage you to stand outside and allow your eyes to seek out something promising about the landscape which you have been taught is ugly. If you can find beauty and joy in winter, odds are your ability to process other harsh days will be much stronger.

Happy Saturday, friends.