Winter Musings

“I wonder if the snow loves the trees and fields, that it kisses them so gently? And then it covers them up snug, you know, with a white quilt; and perhaps it says "Go to sleep, darlings, till the summer comes again.” - Lewis Carroll. 

Well, Happy New Year, everyone!

I’ve read somewhere that this is a tall order: how can you possibly wish someone, in good faith, a whole year of “happy”?! That’s 365 days of “happy”! Anyone who’s lived more than an hour on this planet knows that’s impossible … So – take what you wish from that whole year, and make it a happy one! It’s all different for each one of us, I am sure.

The travel compass is all but missing in our winters. We live winter by a different pace and we measure it by a different clock yet than other seasons. We stay put and lazy during these months. It’s a slow passing, really: we cozy up with books and kittens, cook too much and eat likewise, use the crock-pot a lot and the “magic” fleece blanket almost every day. We pull out the knitting needles and virtually stop having garage woodworking projects. There is not much outdoor activity going on, other than feeding the birdies, or shoveling the driveway, occasionally.

Like lazy hibernating groundhogs, we sometime, with cobweb eyes, peer out from the warmth of our home, through our chilled window portholes, to see lots of drab, less of green and lots of snow in our back yard - when we do bother to peel ourselves from the couches.

We’ve had a white winter so far – cold and gray, for the most part, and the inversion has been crazy and gagging, again, this year. People born and raised here continue to say, every year, that “this is the worst they’ve ever seen it”. I guess the 3 ½ car per family ratio around here, in the narrow valley, won’t help it a bit! One more winter like this and we’re on our way to California – we say, again, for the fourth year in a row.

We’re making travel plans for the year, but so far that’s where the travel ends: in the plans. We’re staying indoors watching the sparrows frisky in the snow and listening to Gypsy mourning the warmer days. I think he himself only believes in happy new summer, really … 

 

They're hungry!

 

There is a bush of mums in the picture on the left, but the rest of them ... are "evergreens" - if this is the color of an evergreen, I give up! 

 

Our back yard: what we see for ... umm ... about 6 months starting every November or so ...

 

"The way a crow / Shook down on me / The dust of snow / From a hemlock tree. ...
(Robert Frost) (replace your own bird and tree in there ...) 

 

The picture of desperation, or calm: Gypsy, waiting for birds, or spring - not sure which ... 

 

The picture of winter, in my mind: Gypsy and Li'l Kitty snoozing on the "magic" fleece blanket. Not sure what they put in that texture, but it's the ultimate downer for my felines. And me.