“But, where are the snows of yesteryear?” Reading this interrogative refrain from François Villon’s 15th C poem Ballade, my initial response was a cemetery. One place where the past lives is in a cemetery. A blanket of snow generates the opportunity to expand our visual experience—a freedom to wander.
After the first major January snowfall, I wandered though Mount Pleasant, Mount Hope, and Prospect Cemeteries (in Toronto). Walking on fresh snow, I photographed the silent cemeteryscape—civilian and military memorials. Prospect and Mount Hope are Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemeteries. A Cross of Sacrifice stands in the Veterans’ Section (Section 7) at Prospect Cemetery.
Wilson Bentley, first to photomicrograph snow crystals, believed that snowflakes were miracles of beauty; every crystal was a masterpiece of design and no one design was ever repeated. Snowflakes of this year covered masterpieces of design never to be repeated.

Snow is silent but speaks profoundly.
How quickly life passes.