Since the leaves began falling I’ve been relishing my long walks in the woods.

I find them to be even more beautiful in winter’s starkness than I do when they’re cloaked in summer’s green finery. Scenes become stark line drawings as opposed to vivid impressionist paintings. Rain, fog, sunlight….each weather condition lends it’s own personality to familiar paths.  In the summer it all tends to look the same.  In winter each day reveals new facets.

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It’s been unseasonably warm this December but on those days when the temperature has dropped a bit and the wind is blowing I can hear winter moving through the tops of these trees.  I’m trying to be patient but I’m anxious to watch these spaces fill up with snow.

In the meantime, while I’m not here, looking and seeing and exploring, I trust that these eyes, which I found watching me just a few days ago, will keep their silent vigil.

I have to admit, I walked away thinking of Ents and Bilbo Baggins and fully expected this wise old man to thank me for stopping by for a visit.

Back in March of 2012 I responded to another photo challenge involving eyes with this post about a friend and the eyes she inherited from her mother.