The nearly colorless landscape of southwestern Minnesota in late December.
MY EYES, MY SPIRIT, my very being craves color this time of year.
I need pops of color to break the white monotony of a Minnesota winter landscape. Without color, the bleakness of setting presses down the spirit. Not that winter can’t be beautiful. It’s just that I prefer a world beyond black and white.
So when I’m out and about, I find myself drawn to hues that flash. Like red, especially red. Set against a backdrop of white, red appears even bolder, stronger.
Parked in a Morristown, Minnesota, driveway.
A red pick-up truck.
Red barns, like this one in southwestern Minnesota, really stand out in a winterscape.
A red barn, tractor, outbuildings.
Right next to the I-90 in the Wisconsin Dells, a colorful waterslide breaks the grey of a foggy late December morning.
Even, while driving through the Wisconsin Dells recently, red spiraling on an outdoor waterslide.
Taillights are welcome along a foggy I-90 in Wisconsin.
And, on that same trip, the welcome red of taillights beaconing through thick fog pressed upon Interstate 90.
During a Midwest winter, red equals the visual equivalent of happiness.
TELL ME: Do you involuntarily gravitate toward color this time of year? If yes, I’d like to hear more.
© Copyright 2020 Audrey Kletscher Helbling
Minnesota Prairie Roots 
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