Beautiful embrace

In the above photo, I was driving on a mountain pass through northern Idaho on the way to Oregon and ended up pulling over on a switchback to stare up at the peak in reverence for a good while…

What I saw was the long hand of winter finally reaching down to swaddle the trees in her coldness. The trees awaited that gentle embrace because it meant they could at long last rest into deep slumber and it would be the first step towards that time of renewal ahead in spring.

Bit by bit, tree by tree she consumed all until there was nothing left but vast whiteness and coldness. That was my first glimpse of winter that day and it was one of the most beautiful embraces I’d ever witnessed.