Part of a “sun dog” rainbow in the afternoon sky over College Creek on New Year’s Day.
Winter’s palette turns to shades of grey, blue, green, brown and white; a much quieter, more restful world of color than what surrounds us the rest of the year.
The view from our deck this morning. The temperature was up to about 15 degrees by the time we ventured out of doors.
When the sun is shining from a brilliantly clear winter sky, everything is touched with gold and silver sparkles of light. It is almost blinding reflected from ice and water.
Our Violas are solidly frozen this morning, but will bounce back once they thaw out sometime tomorrow.
Although some areas remain blanketed in snow for much of winter, we never see it for more than a few days here and there- if at all. “Snow day” is still synonymous with “holiday” in my mind, as it has meant an unexpected day off to enjoy as I pleased for much of my life.
We wait for it, hope for it, and celebrate the snow if it comes. Many winters we never see anything more than flurries. And so color remains with us throughout winter. Beauty is everywhere.
Birds, berries, and the occasional Camellia blossom add pops of red in our winter gardens.
The Swiss chard looked good enough to eat on New Year’s Eve.
Violas, Mahonia, Helleborus, and Crocus offer blossoms in purples, oranges, yellows, pinks, white and red through the coldest winter days. We can enjoy something blooming in the garden every single day of the year.
What delicious luxury. We only have to look for it, and we are still surrounded by all of the colors of the rainbow. The shades, tints, and hues have shifted subtly, winter paints in a different palette, but color never leaves us entirely.
American holly berries glow red in the winter sunshine. They will all be enjoyed by hungry birds and squirrels over the next few weeks.
So here is our winter rainbow from Williamsburg, Virginia. I’ve stretched the rules a bit for Tuesday Snapshots today. One photo was taken inside to capture the beautiful red of a bowl, and a few photos are a little more than a week old now, though they would look nearly the same if taken today.
I hope you are warm, and well, and able to enjoy this beautiful day. It looks like a fine day to finish off the fruitcake left from Christmas, if there is any, and to settle in with a wonderful new novel penned by a friend.
All photos by Woodland Gnome 2014
ROY G. BIV (Forestgarden)
Tuesday Snapshots:
Forest Garden 
I love your first picture, the sky is so blue! 😉
Just an amazing sky to photography that day. That intense blue is supposed to be the “indigo” for this post. So many amazing shades of blue in winter… I’d never really noticed before working with all of these winter photos. Thank you, Michael
Lovely post, WG. 🙂
Thank you, Robin 😉