Four Small Reminders in Late January

Late January can feel washed out, as if the world has been reduced to a narrow grayscale palette. Add to that the current state of the world and you might even say we are living in near-monochrome. On a winter walk today, everything around us seemed muted: sky, ground, even the air itself.

 

 

And then, along the path, four small interruptions in the monotone: a crocus pushing up early through the brown leaf litter, Liverwort (Hepatica nobilis) in its soft purple, a Primrose (Primula vulgaris) glowing impossibly yellow and teasing spring, and the layered fans of a Trametes versicolor mushroom on a stump in an almost perfect psychedelic display.

Colorful yes, and also reminders. The world isn’t actually colorless, even when it feels that way. Sometimes it just takes a few bright spots to pull you back to your senses and the spectrum that’s still around us.

So here they are—four small flashes of color from a winter walk. A brief reminder that even in late January, something is always stirring.