Prairie’s Winter WonderlandPrairie’s Winter Wonderland

A visual presentation of A visual presentation of a magical seasona magical season

Prairie’s Winter WonderlandPrairie’s Winter Wonderland

A visual presentation of A visual presentation of a magical seasona magical season

“Joy in looking and comprehending is

nature’s most beautiful gift.”

-Albert Einstein

““Cardinals” Mary Cardinals” Mary MullenMullen

Ralph Tyksinski, finished Ralph Tyksinski, finished shoveling, for now. shoveling, for now.

There is neither heaven nor earthOnly snow,Falling incessantly - Hashin

Ian (on snow shoes) taller Ian (on snow shoes) taller than Barb, Lake Wisconsin, than Barb, Lake Wisconsin,

by Bob Parkby Bob Park

“It may happen that small differences inthe initial conditions produce very greatones in the final phenomena.”

-Henri Poincare

““Garage House” Garage House” Mary MullenMary Mullen

“Out of the bosom of the air out of the cloud-folds of her garments shaken,over the woodlands brown and bare, over the harvest-fields forsaken,

silent, and soft, and slow descends the snow.”-Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

““Snow Snow Dragon” Dragon” Peter, Lisa, Peter, Lisa, and Iris. Photo and Iris. Photo by by Galen SmithGalen Smith

Green thoughts emerge from some deep source of stillnesswhich the very fact of winter has released.- Mirabel Osler

““Queen Anne’s Queen Anne’s snowed” Mary Mullensnowed” Mary Mullen

“The universe is full of magical things patientlywaiting for our wits to grow sharper.”-Eden Phillpots

““Snow Duck” Snow Duck” Madeline Long-ArnoldMadeline Long-Arnold

The Fish

The fish who lives within the stream has trouble when it snows.

He sinks, resulting from the weightof snowflakes on his nose.While I sit by the fireplace

and warm my little toesFar from the cold, and with a book

contented, I repose.

Rachel Long (written in high school)

““Bright Red Family” Bright Red Family” Mary MullenMary Mullen

Nature chose for a tool, not the earthquake or lightning to rend and split asunder, not the stormy torrent or eroding rain,

but the tender snow-flowers noiselessly falling through unnumbered centuries.

- John Muir

Prairie sledding party at Elver Prairie sledding party at Elver ParkPark

“The question is not what you look at, but what you see.”-Henry David Thoreau

““Kites on Ice Kites on Ice 2005”2005”Galen SmithGalen Smith

If there were no tribulation, there would be no rest;if there were no winter, there would be no summer.

- St. John Chrysostom

““Female Cardinal” Female Cardinal” Mary MullenMary Mullen

Someone painted pictures on my Windowpane last night --

Willow trees with trailing boughs And flowers, frosty white,And lovely crystal butterflies; But when the morning sun

Touched them with its golden beams, They vanished one by one.

- Helen Bayley Davis, Jack Frost

I'm particularly fond of this photo of Emma, Caleb, and Kristin.

I took the photo on our spring break ski trip in

the Northwoods this year.

A wonderful, sunny, warmish day on snow in

the quiet woods near Mercer.

We had a wonderful lunch break at a little log cabin

warming hut overlooking a beautiful stream...

Great family memories.

Photo by Andy SwartzPhoto by Andy Swartz

““Morning Light” Dorothy Morning Light” Dorothy KrauseKrause

If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant.- Anne Bradstreet

““Mail Mail Boxes” Boxes” Mary Mary MullenMullen

There are two seasonal diversions that can ease the bite of any winter.One is the January thaw. The other is the seed catalogues.- Hal Borland

““Winter Swamp” Colin Winter Swamp” Colin BoschBosch

“The subtlety of nature is greater many times overthan the subtlety of the senses and understanding.”

-Sir Francis Bacon

Eskimo Child, Fairbanks Winter Eskimo Child, Fairbanks Winter Carnival, March 1953 Photo by Galen Carnival, March 1953 Photo by Galen SmithSmith

The north wind doth blow,And we shall have snow,

And what will the dormouse do then,Poor thing?

Roll'd up like a ball,In his nest snug and small,

He'll sleep till warm weather comes in,Poor thing.

- Traditional ballad, The North Wind Doth Blow

““Cooper’s Eyes” Cooper’s Eyes” Mary MullenMary Mullen

Keep your faith in beautiful things; in the sun when it is hidden, in the Spring when it is gone.

- Roy R. Gibson

Ian and snow bunny at Ian and snow bunny at Lake Wisconsin, by Bob Lake Wisconsin, by Bob ParkPark

“One cannot fix one’s eyes on the commonest natural production without finding food for a rambling fancy.”

-Jane Austen

““Wren House” Mary Wren House” Mary MullenMullen

“How full of the creative genius is the air in which these are generated! I should hardly admire more if the real stars fell and lodged on my coat. Nature is full of genius, full of the divinity; so that not a snowflake escapes itsfashioning hand.”

-Henry David Thoreau

Ralph, walking on Ralph, walking on waterwater

Life is a series of little deaths out of which life always returns.- Charles Feidelson, Jr.

Rose, Galen, and Peter Rose, Galen, and Peter Smith Smith Fairbanks, Alaska, 1954Fairbanks, Alaska, 1954

The world's great age begins anew, The golden years return,

The earth doth like a snake renew Her winter weeds outworn.- John Davies. 1570-1626

““Ice Window’s Ice Window’s East” Mary East” Mary MullenMullen

“The subtlety of nature is greater many times overthan the subtlety of the senses and understanding.”

-Sir Francis Bacon

““Snow Comp 2” Snow Comp 2” Colin BoschColin Bosch

“This grand show is eternal. It is always sunrise somewhere: the dew is never all dried at once: a shower is forever falling: vapor ever rising. Eternal sunrise, eternal sunset, eternal dawn and gloaming, on seas and continents and islands, each in its turn, as the round earth rolls.” -John Muir

““Snowy Branches” Mary Snowy Branches” Mary MullenMullen

And for the season it was winter, and they that know the winters of that country know them to be sharp and violent, and subject to cruel and fierce storms. . . . For summer being done, all things stand upon them with a weather-beaten face, and the whole country, full of woods and thickets, represented a wild and savage hue. - William Bradford, Of Plymouth Plantation, 1650

Log cabin, Deep River Ontario, by Bob Park’s dad Log cabin, Deep River Ontario, by Bob Park’s dad (194?)(194?)

If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant: if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome.

Anne Bradstreet (1612 - 1672), 'Meditations Divine and Moral,' 1655

““Lake Mendota” Lake Mendota” Mary MullenMary Mullen

“Like a great poet, nature knows how to producethe greatest effects with the most limited means.”-Heinrich Heine

““Squirrel Visitor” Dorothy KrauseSquirrel Visitor” Dorothy Krause

"Hear! hear!" screamed the jay from a neighboring tree, where I had heard a tittering for some time, "winter has a concentrated and nutty kernel, if you know where to look for it."  ~Henry David Thoreau, 1858 journal entry

Snowman at Barb and Bob Snowman at Barb and Bob Park’s housePark’s house

It snowed and snowed, the whole world over, Snow swept the world

from end to end. A candle burned

on the table; A candle burned.

Author: Boris PasternakSource: Doctor Zhivago

Jeff Studdaroot, giving rides Jeff Studdaroot, giving rides at dog races, Fairbanks, at dog races, Fairbanks, March 1953March 1953Galen SmithGalen Smith

The flowers of late winter and early spring occupy places in our hearts

well out of proportion to their size.- Gertrude S. Wister

““Winter Coneflowers” Winter Coneflowers” Mary MullenMary Mullen

I prefer winter and fall, when you feel the bone structure of the landscape - the loneliness of it, the dead feeling of winter.  Something waits beneath it, the whole story doesn't show.  ~Andrew Wyeth

Photo by Ralph Photo by Ralph TyksinskiTyksinski

The trees down the boulevard stand naked in thought,

Their abundant summery wordage silenced, caught

In the grim undertow; naked the trees confront

Implacable winter's long, cross-questioning brunt.

-D. H. Lawrence, -Winter in the Boulevard, 1916

““Swing Swing set” set” Mary Mary MullenMullen

There is a privacy about it which no other season gives you.... In spring, summer and fall people sort of have an open season on each other; only in the winter, in the country, can you have longer, quiet stretches when you can savor belonging to yourself.  ~Ruth Stout

““Early Snowfall” Early Snowfall” Dorothy KrauseDorothy Krause

“There is nothing in the world more beautiful than the forest clothed to its very hollows in snow. It is the still ecstasy of nature, wherein every spray, every blade of grass, every spire of reed, every intricacy of twig, is clad with radiance.”

-Fiona Macleod

“There is a pleasure in the pathless woods,

there is rapture on the lonely shore,

there is a society where none intrudes,

by the deep sea and music in its roar:

I love not man the less, but nature more.”

-Lord Byron

“ “Cold Forest” Colin BoschCold Forest” Colin Bosch

Reindeer Ride, Fairbanks, March 1953 Galen Reindeer Ride, Fairbanks, March 1953 Galen SmithSmith

Every gardener knows that under

the cloak of winter lies a miracle ... a seed waiting

to sprout, a bulb opening to the light,

a bud straining to unfurl.

And the anticipation nurtures our dream.- Barbara Winkler

“If I had influence with the good fairy who is supposed to preside over the christening of all children, I should ask that her gift to each child in the world be a sense of wonder so indestructible that it would last throughout life.”

-Rachel Carson

Jim and Robert Park, Jim and Robert Park, Deep River, OntarioDeep River, Ontario

““Birdbath” Birdbath” Mary MullenMary Mullen

Winter is the time for comfort - it is the time for home. - Edith Sitwell

"Prairie broom hockey "Prairie broom hockey game"game"

The people in the center are Gary Giorgi (who is still listed as a Prairie member though I haven't seen him at Prairie for some time), Katrina Schroeder and Ian Park. I don't know who the photographer was, perhaps Carl Wacker. (photo and info provided by Bob Park)

““Trail” Trail” Mary MullenMary Mullen

The tedious part of the mind, so to speak, is more developed in winter; the fleshy, in summer. I should say winter had given the bone and sinew to literature, summer the tissues and the blood. ~ John Burroughs ~ The Snow-Walkers

Frosted blooms, Frosted blooms, by Bob Parkby Bob Park

In the bleak midwinterFrosty wind made moan,Earth stood hard as iron, Water like a stone;Snow had fallen, snow on snow, Snow on snow,In the bleak midwinter, Long ago.- Christina Rossetti, A Christmas Carol

Winter at Winter at the Tyksinsky’sthe Tyksinsky’s

Shed no tear - O, shed no tear! The flower will bloom another year. Weep no more - O, weep no more!Young buds sleep in the root's white core.- John Keats

““Snow Ridge” Snow Ridge” Mary MullenMary Mullen

“In all things of nature there is something of the marvelous.”-Aristotle

Powderhorn Park, Powderhorn Park,

Minneapolis, Minneapolis, by Bob Parkby Bob Park

In a way Winter is the real Spring - the time when the inner things happen, the resurgence of nature.- Edna O'Brien

““The Sun Came Out” Colin The Sun Came Out” Colin BoschBosch

Announced by all the trumpets of the sky, arrives the snow, and, driving o'er the fields, seems nowhere to alight: the whited air hides hills and woods, the river, and the heaven, and veils the farmhouse at the garden's end. The sled and traveller stopped, the courier's feet delayed, all friends shut out, the housemates sit around the radiant fireplace, enclosed in a tumultuous privacy of storm. Author: Ralph Waldo EmersonSource: The Snow-Storm

““Park Patches” Park Patches” Mary MullenMary Mullen

For the ignorant, old age is as winter; for the learned, it is a harvest.- Jewish Proverb

Dog races, FairbanksDog races, FairbanksMarch 1953March 1953Galen SmithGalen Smith

February is merely as long as is needed to pass the time until March.

- Dr. J. R. Stockton

““Snowy Lilac” Snowy Lilac” Mary MullenMary Mullen

“Nature will bear the closest inspection. She invites us to lay our eye level with her smallest leaf, and take an insect view of its plain.”

-Henry David Thoreau

Front yard snow works, by Bob ParkFront yard snow works, by Bob Park

Let us love winter, for it is the spring of genius.  ~Pietro Aretino

From hot tub From hot tub to snow angel to snow angel

(photo taken the (photo taken the morning after) morning after) Dorothy KrauseDorothy Krause

“The pursuit of truth and beauty is a sphere of activity in which we are permitted to remain children all our lives.”

-Albert Einstein

Original Prairie site Original Prairie site in winter, by Bob Parkin winter, by Bob Park

“To see a world in a grain of sand,and a Heaven in a wild flower,

hold infinity in the palm of your hand,and eternity in an hour.”

-William Blake

““Oak Leaf” Mary Oak Leaf” Mary MullenMullen

One leaf left on a branchand not a sound of sadnessor despair.

One leaf left on a branch and no unhappiness.

One leaf left all by itselfin the air and it does not speakof loneliness or death.

One leaf and it spends itselfin swaying mildly in the breeze.

- David Ignatow

Ralph TyksinskiRalph Tyksinski

The cold was our pride, the snow was our beauty. It fell and fell, lacing day

and night together in a milky haze, making

everything quieter as it fell, so that winter seemed to partake of religion in a

way no other season did, hushed, solemn. - Patricia Hampl

The Ridges Sanctuary, The Ridges Sanctuary, Door County Door County Photo by Galen SmithPhoto by Galen Smith

The woods are lovely, dark and deep.But I have promises to keep, And miles to go before I sleep, And miles to go before I sleep.- Robert Frost

““Wisconsin Valley Wisconsin Valley Pink” Mary MullenPink” Mary Mullen Every mile is two in winter.  ~George Herbert

““Winter Winter Wonderland” Wonderland” Colin BoschColin Bosch

Every winter, When the great sun has turned

his face away, the earth goes down into a vale of grief, and fasts, and weeps, and shrouds

herself in sables, leaving her wedding-garlands to decay–

Then leaps in spring to his returning kisses. - Charles Kingsley

St Elias Range from south of Bear Creek Pass, Yukon St Elias Range from south of Bear Creek Pass, Yukon Territory, Alaska on the Alcan Highway. December 1952 Territory, Alaska on the Alcan Highway. December 1952 Galen SmithGalen Smith

In the sheltered heart of the clumps last year's foliage still clings to the lower branches, tatters of orange that mutter with the passage

of the wind, the talk of old women warning the green generation of what they, too, must come to when the sap runs back.

- Jacquetta Hawkes

““Lace, close” Lace, close” Mary MullenMary Mullen

Turn down the noise. Reduce the speed. Be like the somnolent bears, or those other animals that slow down and almost die in the cold season. Let it be the way it is. The magic is there in its power.- Henry Mitchell

““Yule at Yule at First UU” First UU” Dorothy Dorothy KrauseKrause

Winter, a lingering season, is a time to gather golden moments, embark upon a sentimental journey, and enjoy every idle hour.

- John Boswell

““Tracks” Tracks” Mary MullenMary Mullen

These Winter nights against my window-pane Nature with busy pencil draws designs Of ferns and blossoms and fine spray of pines, Oak-leaf and acorn and fantastic vines, Which she will make when summer comes again-- Quaint arabesques in argent, flat and cold, Like curious Chinese etchings. ~ Thomas Bailey Aldrich

““Birch with Hoarfrost” Birch with Hoarfrost” Fairbanks, Galen SmithFairbanks, Galen Smith

And for the season it was winter, and they that know the winters of that country know them to be sharp and violent, and subject to cruel and fierce storms. . . . For summer being done, all things stand upon them with a weather-beaten face, and the whole country, full of woods and thickets, represented a wild and savage hue. Author: William Bradford

““Yule Tree, with lit Yule Tree, with lit candles” Dorothy Krausecandles” Dorothy Krause

I believe that the beloved St. Nicholas,

old St. Nick - Santa Claus, was the first saint

recognized for the true miracles of generosity

and compassion, rather than

for martyrdom. - unknown

““Cardinal and Suet” Cardinal and Suet” Mary MullenMary Mullen

Sweet bird! thy bow'r is ever green,Thy sky is ever clear;

thou hast no sorrow in thy song,No winter in thy year.

- John Logan, 1748 - 1788

Rose Smith Cookie Rose Smith Cookie HousesHouses

Wishing everyone a blessed and joyous

holiday season,a happy Solstice, and a very magical winter!!