Tag: Gill Henwood

Winterscape : The hidden tree

photo: Gill Henwood

Gill has been reflecting on her photo and what it has revealed about the Conifer/Christmas tree in background.

Revelation of the tree

The ‘Christmas tree’ (see above) has been hidden within the linear wood along the lane for a century or so, quietly growing upwards. Surrounded by vigorous sycamore, oak, beech and lower wych elm, the Christmas tree has gradually, slowly, reached maturity high in the canopy.

Unnoticed by those who walk below while the deciduous trees are in full leaf, for they spread their branches and budding twig tips to catch the sun in every space, the Christmas tree has pierced through to the light, with a trunk straight and strong.

Throughout the decades, lower branches have been left behind – only the top half of the tree has needles now, the ridged bark of the trunk is bare. We have walked past, day by day, or driven up the lane, rushing past. Only now can we stop, look up and realise how our tall our Christmas conifer towers above us. Hiding in plain sight, revealed through the winter beauty of the bare skeletal trees.

We can’t reach up into our Christmas tree to decorate it with baubles and candles. No ladder or steps can scale her height. S/he stands proudly wild, independent of human intervention, glorying in natural majesty. But the frost crystals settle on her needles, and the snow dresses her branches. The little birds flit in her shelter, glimpses of red breast or blue head, flash of white wing bar or red crest – these are our tree’s lively colours, as the flocks flutter up from foraging in the fallen leaf litter below.

S/he may have cones that will catch the snow too. They are secret, only for the seed hunters to find. And if the sun shines while s/he’s decked with crystals, s/he’ll sparkle in refracted rainbow colours.

Our Christmas tree is decorated from above, through frost, snow, light, birds and the many creatures living and moving through her shelter. God’s joyous blessings, given in creation of our natural world – a world we rush through and pass by, often failing to notice until we stop, and let ourselves look up.

This Advent, may each one of us find the gift of stopping somewhere, and receive God’s blessings as our Christmas tree receives – quietly, often hidden, but courageously growing towards the light. Light of the World, revealed in the mystery of Christmas… And as I reflect, the barn owls next door are screeching as they set off in the starlit dusk to hunt through the trees down the lane. Sometimes they perch in the trees, spying movement, watching. They are rarely seen, just a white shadow when flying, but their song – a screech – tells us they’re in the trees every evening. Perhaps one of them will perch in the Christmas tree tonight, waiting for the moon to rise in the clear, freezing sky

[Gill Henwood]

Winterscape

Winterscape is a photograph taken by my friend Gill who lives in the Lake District.
She sent it to me yesterday and I just want to share such a beautiful photo. So often photos can be more meaningful than words.

O ye Frost and Cold, bless ye the Lord :

praise him, and magnify him for ever.

O ye Ice and Snow, bless ye the Lord :

praise him, and magnify him for ever.

(from the Benedicite – a song of creation
‘Benedicite’ means – a blessing)

[Mr G]

photo by Gill Henwood

Winterscape Postscript from Gill

When I took this photo yesterday morning, I was admiring the branches bearing fresh snow in the stillness of the filtered daylight. As I framed the picture, I noticed for the first time, a very tall conifer tree within the bare branches of the ‘linear wood’ of the lane. I realised with Mr G’s posting that I haven’t noticed that tree for the seven and a half years I have been walking down the lane. Only the loss of the thick glorious canopy of mature trees’ leaves has revealed the conifer within, and the holly bushes too.
I am reflecting on loss and revelation, the beauty of the skeletal decidous trees and the quiet, hidden contrast of the lush, hardy evergreens…. [GH]

Buds and Dewdrops

One of the joys of the Lake District is the spectacular landscape and, of course, the changing reflections of the seasons.
My friend Gill lives in the heart of it all which is a privilege she recognises.
Her photography provides me with a lot of inspiration for Blog items.
The theme of these two photographs is dewdrops and buds
They also capture something of the change from Autumn to Winter.
There is also a hint of the Advent theme of Light.

Here’s what Gill has to say:

On birch in Grizedale Forest, misty sunlight shines through the dew.
Nature’s Advent with sparkling jewels.
Light dazzling on bare branches above the russet bracken.
Looking closely, each dewdrop hangs from a bud …
There is more…
There is hope, promise, presence, glory – Advent longing ..
The trees and shiny dewdrops call to mind Christmas tree candles, St Lucy’s crown lights and Advent Carol tea lights,
The Advent ring.

The darkness is pinpricked with moments of light as we move through this season towards the glorious light of the Incarnation – the birth of the Christ-child.
The birth which comes with the renewal of our lives through new hope, joy and expectancy….
In the gloom of our present world we long for the bright presence of God to spring us into a deeper meaning of our humanity.
A meaning of which Nature shows us signs of being almost here in bud and dewdrop and in Advent waiting.

Photographs by Gill Henwood – Autumn in the Lake District

[Mr G and Gill Henwood]

Sheltering, waiting, nurturing

Mid Autumn Reflection
by my friend Gill Henwood who took the photos.

Brambles along the ridge track, Grizedale Forest, are aflame in the pyrrhic victory of autumnal mid-November.

I’m reflecting along the way about glory in the natural world
as leaves fulfil their task of nurturing the trees for this season,
of sheltering wildlife and shading the forest floor.
Trees and their undergrowth are gradually withdrawing their summer lush greens,
through autumn russets to the stark beauty of their varied branches.

The brambles arch and scramble below,
creating spiny sanctuaries for creatures to nestle down out of danger.
Birds and mice have mostly taken the blackberries and carried their seeds
further along the forest edges and field hedgerows.

Creation is readying for the burst of life starting after midwinter in only a few weeks’ time.
Primroses are flowering already in sunny spots, unseasonally warmed.
Bulbs are waiting, biding their time, just below the leaf litter.

Advent is not far from us – our time to get ready,
to prepare for the explosion of new life into the world at Christmas,
the coming of the Christ Child as the new era dawns and continues…

Gill Henwood

Stir up, O Lord,
the wills of your faithful people;
that they, plenteously bringing forth the fruit of good works,
may by you be plenteously rewarded;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.