Winter's Eve

The arrival of winter is often accompanied by our first hard freeze.  Maybe once a decade we have low temps under 32 degrees for several days at a time, as we did this year. This late blooming Trumpeter rose, covered in frost, reminds me of the old carol...

Lo, how a rose e'er blooming from tender stem hath sprung! Of Jesse's lineage coming as men of old have sung. It came, a flower bright amid the cold of winter, when half-gone was the night. This flower whose fragrance tender with sweetness fills the air, dispels with glorious splendor the darkness everywhere. True man, yet very God, from sin and death He saves us and lightens every load.