Simple Pleasures on a Winter Day

When winter comes, I still find beauty in the country sights and sounds. Horses stand in the sunshine to soak the warmth in. Bare trees show their gnarled selfs with no leaves to interfere. Fog swaddles them in the early hours until the sun comes and sips it silently for breakfast. Those fallen dry leaves blanket the ground and enrich it for the next spring. Pines are some of the only greens. I love pinecones. Birds fly overhead. Their calls seem to echo in cold white skies. Dried morning glory, trumpet vine, and honeysuckle cling for support to older but stable fences. Snow piles up then melts away. Late afternoon sun warms sidewalk bricks. Flowerbeds of iris and roses hibernate.