We are all longing

…to shed our winter coats.WinterWraps5

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WinterWraps3Wrapped trees found along a highway. Sometimes you will see the newly planted trees wrapped like this to protect them from the harsh weight of winter. I really don’t know how effective it is.

I documented some smaller and very different looking ones last year. You can see that series here. After the drought that occurred here last summer many of the trees along the highway look as though they are struggling.

© Karen McRae, 2013

Ready for Release

I had a chance to visit with the wrapped trees today. I thought they might be released from their winter trappings, but no. Surely, it must be well past time. The little trees are trying to fight their way out with the aid of the prevailing winds. They are ready to feel the sun and the rain on their restrained boughs. There are bits of green popping out.

I brought a little sun-shower with me but it’s not enough. The earth is cracked and dry.


Some of them are looking rather defeated. Who will come and start the unraveling?









*All these trees are as I have found them, along the highway and wrapped for the harsh winter. I have been documenting them through the seasons and you can find the whole series here.
All images © Karen McRae

Character Development

Caveat lector: More Wrapped Trees

I‘ve come to think of them affectionately as the “Sad Sacks”. It appears there are other emotions at play but I think overall they are finding the winter long. It’s definitely been character building.

It seems these characters are now starting to regard me with a bit suspicion, I wonder what they are thinking…






A young Treeannosaurus Rex perhaps?




Previous wrapped trees can be found here and here.

All images © Karen McRae

Winter Wrapped Trees


For some reason, this image just breaks my heart. The harshness of Winter.

I have been here in the past. It was before the snow fell, before the cold really settled in. If you missed the first visit you can find it here. I’m fascinated by the figurative nature of these wrapped trees and how they can be interpreted in different ways. The way they relate to each other. The changes taking place through the seasons. The conversations.










All images © Karen McRae

It’s A Wrap

Well Christmas is all wrapped up for this year. And it snowed! It snowed most of the day on the 25th and it was beautiful.  Today we managed to even get out for a short ski and more snow is on the way later this week.
It actually feels like Winter now.
A few days before the snow fell I came across these wrapped trees along the highway.  I found them a little haunting in their figure-like resemblance. The way they are mysteriously cloaked and how they gently bend. The way they are lined up in rows like… like what?… an audience for the passing cars?
They are whispering amongst themselves.
All images © Karen McRae