Brambles Wearing Bonnets

December's delightful dormancy.

The trail was pristine this morning, an undifferentiated sweep of rimy white from sky to ground, fresh snow forming stylish bouclé bonnets for the prickly ladies standing alert along the way.

Meandering on snowshoes in the winter woods it’s easy to be happy finding a squirrel’s digging, an abandoned wasp’s nest, the tracks of a clever, hunting fox, thistles wearing warm winter hats.

“I wonder if the snow loves the trees and fields, that it kisses them so gently? And then it covers them up snug, you know, with a white quilt; and perhaps it says, "Go to sleep, darlings, till the summer comes again.”

Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass

Even on a dull afternoon when the woods are a study of black, white and grey, if you pay attention you can take delight in the quiet, monochrome beauty of a simple weed with a bonnet of snow on its head.