Blood red on a cold afternoon

Brilliance amid the grey
London, ON
February 2013
Click here for more Thematic leaves

For anyone who says winter is a colorless season, I'll politely beg to differ. Sure, the colors of nature don't pop into your field of view as they do other times of year. There are no gardens bursting forth with blooms, no fields covered in endless sheets of brilliance, no in-your-face examples of brightness.

That doesn't mean it isn't there, though. You just have to look a little bit harder, pause a bit as you take in the broad, dull landscape. After a few minutes, if you let yourself see things just so, you might begin to see bits of life hidden in plain sight. I hope you'll give it a try next time you're out and about.

On this frighteningly cold winter's day, I was at the park with two of our kids. Debbie was in Montreal, doing the things good adult kids need to do when parents get sick. It was a "before" day (see here and here for more), yet I suspect even the kids knew there was far more to it than any of us let on.

See this shot for a closer perspective

While they happily played in the snow-covered playground, I paced a few meters away in a vain effort to stay warm. It wasn't the most comfortable place to be, but I was nevertheless glad we were here, glad we had taken the time to get out of the house and cut loose a bit. It felt good to have winter sting us in the face for a bit. We felt alive. We needed it, and my only regret was Debbie couldn't be here to share it with us.

As it was I had Debbie's camera with me (shh, don't tell her) because it has this really neat, really long zoom lens. I don't often rely on focal length, but given how wide open this place was, I soon found myself using the camera's reach to bring faraway things closer.

In the end, it was the red leaves that grabbed me. I'll never again doubt winter's ability to deliver some unexpected brilliance. And I'll never again assume the color isn't there just because I don't immediately see it. Some things just take a little more time to appreciate.

Your turn: Take a look - around you, at your life, wherever - and let us know where you find unexpected color.