December has arrived. Throughout much of the United States today, snow drifts are burying cars and blanketing towns.

For us, it’s just cold. Bitter cold. Wind chills blasting through coats and hats and mittens.  

But even on these overcast days, looking out our windows, we see curly leaf remnants and revel in the range of grays. Steely. Soft. Charcoal. Silvery. Stone.  

This image reminds me of the Coleridge poem that begins  

Come, come thou bleak December wind,

And blow the dry leaves from the tree!