Gift #1014: Colorado through the seasons

I’ve blogged so often about my special spots in Denver that I rather fear I say the same things every year I go back to visit.  This is especially a concern with the Denver Museum of Nature and Science.  It is my favorite museum on earth and there are some galleries that I love so much I think I should be well satisfied to live in them.  Most notable among the galleries I love is the Explore Colorado exhibit which has beautiful dioramas of each ecosystem in the state.  I’ve blogged about it several times before and so this time I wanted to share something different.  The dioramas in this museum are incredible in their attention to detail and are the perfect melding of art and science.  I do so wish that I could have lived and worked at the museum when they were being put together.  In addition to the Explore Colorado exhibit, there are several other fine wildlife displays and the one I’m going to share pictures of today is from the North American Wildlife Hall.  They have a series of dioramas featuring deer species in each season of the year.   These are wonderful to admire on their own, but they are especially meaningful to me  to see Colorado in all the seasons.  I only go back in summer now and the beauty of other seasons is consigned to memory alone.  The next best thing to experiencing the year’s progression in person is to at least see them preserved for time in these dioramas.  And so, I give you “the Colorado seasons through the eyes of deer”

It starts with fall, which is my favorite season.  I only see the aspens in their green leaves now, but I clearly remember the glory of their golden robes.   Seeing Aspen trees at any time is a blessing, but especially at autumn they are one of the wonders of the world.

Autumn melts into winter and as the trees go bare the landscape mellows.  A grayish cast overshadows the mountains as they are draped in snow.  While there’s still abundant sunshine, it’s dampened and cold and makes one rejoice in a fire and good book.  Or for the more adventurous, it means ski poles and snowshoes!

Spring brings all the bright joy of returning green to the land.  Unlike the gradual spring of Indy, spring emerges seemingly overnight in Colorado.  Melting snow reveals the emeralds of emerging plants. Green and snow will compete for a while, but winter’s days are numbered.  This scene shows a luscious spring forest warmed with sun and filled with bounty. Oh those aspens!! Be still my heart!

Summer is a glorious season as well.  Wildflowers fill the mountain meadows in June, blossoming and filling the land with riotous joy.  Bright reds, purples, blues, and pale pinks and whites sparkle against the contrast of heavy deep greens of the montane forest.  By late summer the grasses deepen to brown and seed pods replace the flowers.  All is golden in expectation of autumn,  And so we come full circle.  And in a few minutes I’m reminded again of the passage of time through a Colorado year.  Though I can’t be present for the seasonal dance now, it is embedded in my heart and a trip to the museum brings it all back.

Blessings to you,

Sarah