Wishing you a Gentle Holiday Season

from the nearly snowless, frosty forest

Hello, my quiet friends. I’m stopping in on the eve of Christmas to send my heartfelt gratitude for your presence here. It’s a joy to wander the woods and share my captured moments with you all so you can bask in the quiet tranquillity of the forest alongside me. I wish you a gentle holiday season and I’m sending all my love.

What little snow we had earlier in December has mostly melted; it has rained and rained and rained this month. Yesterday dawned a rare cloudless blue sky after a cold night — the perfect recipe for a frosty walk. If I can’t have snow, I’ll take frost at this time of year.

A lovely thing about all this rain that I must share — little streams and creeks are flowing with water once again; ones that I haven’t seen filled in several years now. It seems the ground finally has quenched its thirst after some very dry years.

The holidays are always a rather quiet affair over here, though that’s just the way I like it. My sister and her partner will join us at my parents’ house for a few days of card games, pool, and delicious food. I sit here putting this post together before they arrive, wanting to wish you happiness before I head off to immerse myself in family.

If you don’t have family around you, or if you don’t have anything special planned for the holidays, or if you don’t celebrate at all; I hope you still have some nice peaceful moments to relax and take it easy.

I started this Substack in December of last year, and it has been such an interesting year of experimentation and finding my flow here in this space. I love having somewhere to share my photos, and though I have strayed slightly from more written-centric pieces, I am so happy to have others here who appreciate my photography.

This particular walk was a delight after two weeks of feeling very uninspired and unmotivated by the dark grey days; piles of patchy, dirty snow all that adorned the ground.

This one is getting a bit long, so I will end it here. Thank you again for being here, I wish you all the best today and all days to come.

Happy Holidays, my friends.

See you soon,

♡ Whitney

---

If You’d Like to Further Support My Work, Here’s How —

If a photo you like isn’t in my store, I would love to work with you on a custom canvas — reach out to hello@whitneybarkman.ca if that is something you’re interested in. ♡