Wednesday, November 13, 2013

The un-named season



If you read one of the many illustrated books about Vermont, you are likely to gain the impression that the seasons here move straight from the gold and glory of Fall to the hushed whiteness of snow. Maybe some years that's how it is - but this year there is another step between these seasons, where the leaves are gone and the snow has yet to fall.

Houses that were invisible during the summer and fall suddenly appear in the forest.






The fields are full of seed.

And glorious vistas are opening up.



 






We finally found a beaver house nearby.


We haven't spotted the actual beavers yet, but by their works we recognise them...

We need a name for this season. To suggest that Vermont is only worth photographing, only worth looking at in the colour of fall and the stunning cover of winter is to miss something breath-taking. I love the structure and shape of this season, when the forms of the trees stand against the sky, when forests take on darkness, when the edges of the mountains blur into distant snow cloud. But for now, I'm glad to have seen it, to be paying attention, to have seen the beauty in something unnamed.









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6 comments:

  1. UnknownNovember 14, 2013 at 7:44 PM

    Hi Lisa
    I've been wanting to get in touch to say how immensely I'm enjoying your blog. Thank you for sharing your experiences so eloquently with us.
    And, of course, I'm very interested in the fact you've taken to geocaching as it's an activity George and I enjoy very much. There are plenty of geocaches around about in Plamerston North awaiting your attention one day. However, I suspect that you won't be all that anxious to hurry back!
    Cheers
    Megan

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  2. LisaNovember 14, 2013 at 7:50 PM

    Hi Megan: lovely to hear from you! I remembered that you enjoyed geocaching - we certainly intend to continue when we return to NZ. I'd be interested to hear whether you had hidden any caches yourself, as we'd quite like to do that before we leave. I enjoy leaving a little taste of New Zealand wherever we go :-)

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  3. UnknownNovember 14, 2013 at 8:49 PM

    We have several hides around here - you have to be available to maintain your hides. It's nice that you are leaving a little something of NZ at the caches you find in Vermont. If you are happy to give me your geocaching user name I can look up your geocaching activity on geocaching.com. Ours is geodatum.
    M

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  4. LisaNovember 15, 2013 at 2:04 PM

    Megan, we haven't been recording our finds - just recording our visit in the log book and leaving something in the cache. We really should start recording our finds.....thanks for the reminder....

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  5. Anne-MarieNovember 16, 2013 at 3:40 PM

    I think we call this season WINTER in New Zealand ... no snow, bare trees, vistas opening up...
    I like your pictures of the wood piles, some of them are very creative. But I want to know what Bruce's wood pile looks like!

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  6. LisaNovember 16, 2013 at 6:29 PM

    I know, Anne-Marie, but when you think of winter in Vermont, you think of snow drifts and frozen lakes.This is far more like an NZ winter, except that the vistas are quite different because of all the leafless deciduous trees in the forests - and it is considerably colder!..

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