Living Sculpture
Wednesday, February 13th, 2008
Today is one of those iconic caricature days of a Saskatchewan winter. The temperature is any thing but warm. The snow is falling and a brisk wind is whipping the snow around in a mesmerizing dance. The snow drifts are carved into ever changing shapes, like a living sculpture. It is beautiful.
Perhaps you need to have grown up in winter to see the beauty through the numbing cold. Perhaps it helps when you drive a four wheel drive that effortlessly cuts through the powdery drifts. Perhaps it helps to know that spring is not too far away. That time of year when snow gives way to prairie storms, the crack of lightening, the thunder and the threat of tornadoes…winter isn’t that bad.
The prairies are a harsh yet beautiful land. People often speak of the open skies and the bountiful sunshine. The beauty is deeper than that. I love mountains and forests. I hope to move back to them one of these days. The beauty of the prairies is a different kind of beauty. The mountains speak of ageless grandeur. The prairies speak of constant change, like the snow drifts I see out my window.
In time the snow will melt, the fields will be seeded. In the summer heat the crops will grow, harvest, winter, spring… The sky is always an ever changing canvas of sun and clouds, stars and moonlight. The landscape is always changing. The ever present wind shaping the snow, bringing in the storms and pushing them on. Yes, this is a beautiful land, even in winter. I hope to return to the mountains, forests, lakes and rivers of B.C., but I will miss the prairies when I do.