Solstice Tree

To Welcome Winter

Recently I was reading about mandalas, and the ephemeral nature of creating something with the knowledge that it won’t last. Sand Mandalas are intricately made with painstaking beauty for beauty’s sake and then swept away. On purpose. 

The making of a sand castle is the same kind of creation. However simple or fancy, you know the tide will come in and it will be turned back into just sand. 

It was suggested that nature makes an interesting partner in creating art. The idea of creating something with all natural materials and knowing it will fall apart and be carried off by the wind and weather was really appealing to me.

And so, today I celebrated the first day of winter with a piece of natural art. I gathered fallen branches from my dear Ash Tree and the seedy heads and stalks of coneflower. The remnants of the butterfly bush were clipped and I noticed how beautiful the silver underside of the tiny leaves are. The frost blackened leaves and seed pods of the false indigo bush came into the mix for texture and interest. The light yellow of wildflower stalks and grasses came together to add light.  And last of all came the pine cones.

Instead of a Mandala, I chose to make a tree in the spirit of the season. The ash branches became the trunk and branches, and the buddleia branches stood in for the downward sloping evergreen limbs. Coneflower became a garland, and false indigo gave fullness at the bottom of the tree. Pine cones plopped in and on the stalks and dead leaves served as Ornaments. And at the top the yellow of the grasses and wispy wildflower remnants created some lightness where a star would be.  The very late afternoon sun cast light and shadow across the grass as I worked. 

Here she is, my Solstice Tree. Nothing fancy and nothing that will last, but making her made me so happy. The last thing I did was stand out on our deck to look down at the tree from above. With a half-moon hanging in the blue sky, two skeins of Canada Geese flew over with their “Here I Am” honks announcing their flight.