I took this photograph on a February morning after a stormy night of freezing rain. The wind had come predominantly from one direction, and it was that side of each branch that had most of the ice on it.

During the summertime these trees are so covered in leaves that it is difficult to see the structure of their branches, but as you can see they are much starker in the winter, and their strength and some aspects of their beauty is more apparent.

All of us must, at times, like these trees, endure times when what we need does not come easily to us. Like the trees, we may have to pull in a little and simply endure for a time, waiting for warmer weather. I see a certain beauty in the way that these trees so ably survive our harsh Canadian winters, and I think it is also true that sometimes it is when we humans are facing our toughest challenges that our real beauty becomes visible.

Here's a closer look at this photograph: