THE OTHER SIDE OF COLD

When I awoke, I saw the morning trees etched with the fine white patina of something we call hoar frost; the type of frost that sometimes comes as the result of something we call ice fog.
Ice fog was responsible for one of my rarest and most memorable views of nature a decade ago, during an early-morning ride with my husband through the rural roads of nearby Geauga County, Ohio. The frosty mist, rising hand-and-hand with the morning sun, was steadily delineating everything...trees, shrubs, barns, Amish buggies, field grasses, rocks, twigs... even the manes and tails of the horses in the pastures. We slowed our vehicular pace, Bob and I,leisurely wandering through that beauty until, at last, it disappeared in the morning sun.
In my favorite coffee shop this morning, we discussed the artwork Mother Nature creates during her coldest season, and a woman sipping coffee at a nearby table observed, "Yes, it's been an exceptionally beautiful winter... Too cold to walk in, to be sure, but an outstanding feast for the eyes."
Perhaps, we all decided, it takes the bitter cold to make us really SEE the season. A milder winter of freezing rain and slush just doesn't do it for us.
Feeling less like a winter R.A.T. (Rose About Town) this morning, I'm wishing you could see Ohio seasons through my eyes and my heart.