Quote du jour/Frances Theodora Parsons

For all practical purposes nature is at a standstill... there is a wonderful joy in leaving behind the noisy city streets and starting out along the white road that leads across the hills. With each breath of the sharp, reviving air one seems to inhale new life. A peace as evident as the sunshine on the fields takes possession of one's inner being. The trivial cares which fretted like a swarm of mosquitoes are driven away by the first sweep of wind that comes straight from the mountains. ... The intense silence that broods over the snow-bound land is a conscious blessing. The deep blue of the sky and the purple shadows cast by the trees and plants are a feast to the eye. The crunch of the snow-rind beneath our feet and the varied hum of the telegraph wires overhead are music to our ears.

- Frances Theodora Parsons (née Smith, 1861–1952), usually writing as Mrs. William Starr Dana, was an American botanist and author active in the United States during the late 19th and early 20th centuries