After a night of rain, the sun rose above fog-shrouded hills and shadowy valleys. 
Illumined paths of sunlight stream through the forest, 
and
bejeweled branches, bright with raindrops, adorn my way.
Long tree shadows stripe the snow as I take the snowshoed trail to the river.
The first rays touch the trees, dispelling the mist. The day is warmer than it has been for a long while and the river ice is being worn away by the flowing water. 
Some time ago a creature crossed the river, leaving meandering foot prints, eroded by the weather and now shadowed by the rising sun. Snowflakes glitter beneath bare branches.
Delicate, papery Beech leaves whisper as I pass by.
Heading home, I wonder how much longer it will be before winter loosens its grip and spring finally arrives.
Eliza Waters 
Gorgeous photographs! 🙂
Thank you Georgetteann!
Oh, I loved coming with you on this walk!! Beautiful photos and lovely descriptions! How wonderful!! I want to jump into that snow now!! 🙂 ❤
Thanks, Trini – come jump in anytime! 😉
Yaaaay!! 🙂 I will! 🙂
What a lovely walk! Beautiful and serene! 🙂
Thank you for your kind comment and for stopping by, Angie. Enjoy your day!
Oh, oh, oh!!! That river shot is great. The water is flowing again, Eliza, surely a good sign!
Indeed, halfway there! 😉 Thanks, Barbara!
You have captured your morning walk so well with your words and photographs. It is so serene & beautiful. A lovely experience for me. I couldn’t help but consider your endless winter compared to our endless summer. Over 90F here yesterday. A little more winter here would be so appreciated, as a shorter winter there would also. And as I continue searching for a new house, the same search for that “just right” Goldilocks home eludes me. Too much of this, too little of that, not a good fit, too snug. Holding pattern. Longing for the break that signals the cusp of the next change.
Thanks, Micheal. It is quiet and lovely here for which I am always grateful. Been thinking of you and your search. Something wonderful is just around the corner! 😉
90 is about my heat limit, probably like 20 is your cold limit. Such different climates! I’ll send cooling thoughts your way!
We slept with the air conditioning running last night. That’s unusual even in the summer time.
I think that yesterday we may have found our new home. It is everything we have been looking for. Built in 1923, lots of land, lots of house, orange & figs & avocado & pomegranate & several massively tall pines. It is indeed something wonderful. Our offer has been sent out into the Universe.
It was a very long & difficult day. I returned here to your beautiful pictures, and found it to be so soothing and healing. I am especially enjoying the golden light spreading from beyond the trees onto the snow. In fact, I just finished looking at a short Abraham Hicks youtube about “things you must do every day”. Of course it made me think of you – getting outside every single day and acknowledging with gratitude the gifts pouring in.
Thanks for your kind words and I will envision your offer being accepted! It sounds wonderful, esp. the fruit trees! 🙂
May spring come soon!
Amen to that!
I love the river and the last shot the most! Lovely~
Thank you Cindy. You like my clothesline? 🙂 Can’t until I can start using it again! A few weeks more to go.
These are lovely….
Thanks, Julie. Hope you are having a beautiful weekend. 🙂
Beautiful words and images. Love your bejeweled branches!
Thank you very much!
Soon! Soon!
I hope so – the sap is running!
Beautiful – so strange still to see the snow when all is getting so green here. I bet the spring will come all in a rush!
Thanks! Everyday we get a little closer. 🙂
Just beautiful. Our snow is all but gone. Hope yours melts soon.
Thank you, Gigi. Yeah, it’ll be a few more weeks. We’re in the home stretch!
My that looks cold – like the melted snow/ice by the bank
Thank you, Diana. It’s not so cold as it was a month ago. Spring is coming!
I can feel the crispness in the air … and the promise of Spring in the light.
A beautiful capture Eliza!
Thanks so much, Val. I appreciate you! ❤
Eiza, your “eye” is wonderful and your photographs even more so!!! What a glorious post. At a time so many are tired of snow, you made snow look gorgeous. What a talented woman you are. (((HUGS))) Amy
Oh, gosh, Amy how you flatter me. Thank you very much! 🙂
You deserve what I said, Eliza. Your work is so good!!!!
Thank you many times over, Amy! 🙂
nice set – it makes me yearn for those crisp wintery days at my NH home…
Thanks so much! This was definitely the winter to be abroad, as I’m sure you know. Spring is slowly arriving here.
I also am very fond of your river photo. And the morning mist. We haven’t had any of that, though we are expecting some rain, so I think it might be on the way. Oh how we await each detail of spring as it arrives. It’s like Christmas morning with millions of perfect gifts 🙂
Oh, what a great analogy! It is like Christmas, particularly when things start popping out of the ground – everyday a new surprise! Thanks, Heather. Have a great week.
Beautiful descriptions and lovely photos. Thank you for sharing the beautiful part of your world.
Thanks so much!
Such beautiful photos! You have really captured moments. I almost feel like I was there — crisp air and snow crunches underfoot. Wow.
Thank You, Debra. It’s the beauty that gets me past the cold! 🙂
What a gorgeous walk. I really love that last shot.
Thank you, Fi. Can’t wait to start using the clothesline again – fresh sheets! 🙂
I so love being brought into your world!
🙂 Thanks so much for saying that, it is my pleasure to present it!
Spring is whispering, “Soon…soon…” (Although maybe not too soon. We have snow in the forecast for Friday.)
What a beautiful, wonderful walk, Eliza. I loved every moment of it. 🙂
Thank you, Robin. Yes, “soon, soon” spring will come. It is Nature’s joke on us to snow on the first day of spring. 🙂 It was 14 this a.m. and probably another day of that before the snow comes to ‘warm’ things up. The sun will prevail eventually. Thanks for stopping by!
Beautiful photography as usual. I seems the climate is getting better.
Thank you, Maria. The overall trend is warming, but this morning was very cold @ 14F. Light snow is in the forecast, so we still yet have a way to go. 🙂
What pure poetry, Eliza 😉 Such beautiful photos, and I’m thrilled to see a bit of a thaw- especially in your lovely creek. You’ve caught the sunlight so beautifully here 😉 May I re-blog your post? WG
Of course! I am honored! Thank you!
My pleasure 😉
Reblogged this on Forest Garden and commented:
Please join my blogging friend Eliza, from Massachusetts, for her “Dawn Walk.” Eliza describes her wintery walk in pure poetry, and illustrates it with exquisite photos. Let us keep our friends whose gardens remain frozen under snow and ice in our hearts. Spring has reached many of us, but in winter hangs on in New England. Eliza shows us its beauty. -WG
Thank you so much, I’m blushing! 😉
I want all of my readers to find your site as well 😉
XXOO!
enjoyed going on this dawn walk with you, a pleasure . . . thanks 🙂
Thank you so much for stopping by and commenting. Much appreciated! 🙂
just lovely, you live in a beautiful place that you share through all it’s seasons to remind us…..peaceful:-)
Thanks, Robbie, it is a pleasure to share. So much better than keeping it to myself! 😉
Eliza, such gorgeous photos. I have been away (camping again!) and have just also caught up on all your black and white photos, too, which are so lovely. Thank you for your blog posts, which always light up my day.
Thanks so much Rebecca! You are kind. 🙂 Camping sounds like fun, it’s nice to get away from the day to day routine.
Absolutely beautiful photos!! I literally feel like I am there just by looking at them. I don’t feel that way about every picture I see. I feel some pull inside me, a very inspiring feeling they provoke! I love how there’s a gentle touch of sunlight that seems to be caressing the snow in the second picture. Winter truly is beautiful and you do an amazing job capturing that beauty! Your passion for life just oozes through your photos. Thanks so much for sharing and inviting your readers along on your journey! 😀
Thank you so much for your glowing and heartfelt praise – I am honored! Blessings to you! ❤
Thank You & you are very welcome! ❤
I really like your beautiful photos here. It is so hard to hang on through the last days of winter, isn’t it? But I like it when there has been a rain and then mist rises from the snowy ground.
Thank you Melissa! Do you still have snow? Ours is still out there, but there is less of it each day. Two days above 50 has helped melt a lot!
We still have strips of snow where shadows linger, but the birds are here to lift our spirits. Have they arrived there yet?
The birds are late this year (how do they know?) I’ve only heard two redwing blackbirds, but no northern peewees yet, which are often the first to arrive. I’ve seen turkey vultures migrating all week. I heard a song sparrow yesterday along the river, a happy song!
Oh, indeed!