winter – Page 2 – Carlo Centeno

Tanglewood

I have been to this place many times before, but not in winter. It’s called Tanglewood, the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. To walk the grounds void of flora, visitors and the orchestral sounds of a storied symphony is not only cathartic, but prone to nostalgia.

When you’ve visited a place numerous times, memories can fill many empty spaces. On a summer Sunday afternoon during the season, it’s not an uncommon quest to find a suitable open space on the lawns. But, you do find a spot, spread out your blanket, set-up your food and beverages and soak up the sun and air, all while music literally spans the grounds.

Reverie

Dragon’s Breath-Winter

Beautiful Cold

It’s not difficult to dislike the brutal cold [7F with -10 windchill]. In spite of that, I find a quality that transcends visual beauty.

The cold makes things hold fast. It’s a natural form of “stop-motion” for inanimate objects. And a few animated ones as well vis-a-vis, birds stoically perched in a tangle of shrubs enduring both the cold and the wind.

For a brief instance—and I mean brief—I’m part of the landscape with camera in hand. The cold forces me to hunker down, to pull tighter the collar of my jacket, the hat on my head, the gloves that now feel powerless to the temperature as my fingers start to numb.

Winter is a beautiful time of year for me.

Winter Coats

“Unable to perceive the shape of You,

I find You all around me.

It humbles my heart,

For You are everywhere.”

Excerpt from Guillermo del Toro’s film, The Shape of Water.

Space

Time and space—time to be alone, space to move about—these may well become the great scarcities of tomorrow.

Edwin Way Teale, Pulizter prize-winning American writer, photographer and environmentalist

Sunrise

Holiday Light: a child’s POV

I know that some holiday light displays can be over the top, but the child in me still finds fascination into what is clearly a labor of love.

Holiday Light

There are many reasons to celebrate the season, and I don’t intend to go into the “real meaning” of the holidays. To each his own, live and let live…

Juxtapositions: Color

Life is full of juxtapositions. My favorites tend toward the contrarian ends of range or spectrum. This particular example is not only one of color, but that of seasons as well. Warm versus cold, color versus monochromatic, wet versus dry, autumn into winter.

Winter Colors [sort of…..]

“Nobody knows the trouble I’ve seen….” and so goes the opening chorus of a popular spiritual song, which, in light of this year’s winter snow, feels appropo. I can’t remember a time when so much cold and snow visited our fair states. Substitute “winter” for “trouble” in the opening line and you can get a good sense of what burdens the lot of us. The quantity of snow has wreaked havoc on just about everything, and I mean everything.

But, all is not lost. This past weekend, scores of winter-weary New Englanders flocked to Smith College to soak in the colors, aromas and textures of the annual flower show. To wit:

This year’s theme, “Monet’s Garden,” contains relevance. The artist had a fondness for working the earth as well as the paint brush. Monet had indicated that aside from painting and gardening, “he wasn’t good at anything.”

It seems that both gardening and painting were a very good fit for him.

15 Smith College Flower Show-1004799 — Details from a Monet watercolor served as back drops along the display

In Tandem

For all the complaints and whining about winter, well, others prefer to do something other than wish for warmer days or no snow. Why waste the days feeling grumpy? This is a simple study of warmth found in the cold of winter.