Mesmerizing shadows

 I was much rewarded after deciding, in spite of my depression, to get out of the house. I walked to the upper fields in search of anything lovely to counterbalance the trials of daily life.

I was most impressed by the shadows and the deep blues and purples of them. Although it was high noon when I ventured out, the winter sun was low in the south, as usual.

The perfect heart, created by a bent briar stem, was my favorite.

I also marveled at a dried bracken stem with seed bits that cast a very braid-like shadow.

Many goldenrod flowers gave lovely patterns on the sparkling snow.

At one point, I found myself laughing so hard.  There was a perfect shadow from a dried weed but the view of it was interrupted by the dangling over of the plant itself.  With the mindset of someone who cannot find their cellphone and decides to text themselves in order to find it (!) I began to reach out to pull that weed out of the way, only to suddenly understand that the very shadow I wished to photograph would go with it!

The temperature was hovering around zero and I felt my toes going numb, but with each new discovery, it was very easy to become absorbed in the beauty and completely forget my discomfort.

I loved seeing the details of each thorn from a wild rose bush.

As I neared the end of my walk, I realized that I  had focused on only the small shadows and that before my lay a hundred feet of beauty. It was as if I 'could not see the forest for the trees.'

About fifty yards from my home, where my cats awaited my return, looking out the window at Crazy Mama, out in those frigid temps, I took my last picture. A shadow, combined with tiny mouse footprints, proved that I was not the only one to venture out on this lovely winter day.

-GG