Winter Beauty

These pictures were taken a couple of weeks ago in mid-December. Our roses had kept blooming due to our warm start to winter. But after an overnight snowfall, I found them still red and pink beneath their coating of wintry white:

These lovely buds were only inches from the ground after their branches were bowed down with the weight of the snow and ice:

But the hardy leaves were still growing and still green:

Rose hips generally persist right through even the coldest of winters, at least if they don't get eaten:

And they sure are pretty:

A few individual flowers just sort of fell apart. Some drooped, and some revived as soon as the snow melted. This has, as of this writing, sure been a mild winter:

My little potted mini-roses also stood right up to the snow and ice. They appear to be every bit as hardy as I'd hoped. I like to think I can move them up to the farm some day when I retire:

And that evening, just a block or so from my house, I caught the sun setting over Albany's skyline across the Hudson River:

It was a lovely and serene landscape, quite different than the wintry beauty one might usually find in mid-December. This world is filled with wonder and glory. We only need to be mindful to see it: