Tag Archives: Winter

It’s going to be a long winter…

…”and what will the birdies do then, the poor things…” an old camp song goes through my mind… be sure to drag out loooong. Yesterday with everything covered in ice, they foraged at the feeders, sought shelter under the shrubbery or just sat on ice covered branches thinking bird thoughts.

We were grateful to have shelter, cold sandwiches and a warm fire.fire placeCold, hard beauty could be found.

icy trees  icy trees  icy trees

Late in the afternoon, the temperature rose above freezing, the sun came out, and it rained a thick layer of “ice cubes”.   ice          ice

Melt will come and the work will begin to clean up all the cold, hard sad.

ice damageThe birds were happy this was not the branch that holds their feeder; we are happy it did not fall on the house itself although it certainly woke us up when it hit.ice damageThat mound of icy greenery totally hides the shed. From every window and door we see piles of winter storm prunings to be gathered up.

ice damageThe pine tree that welcomed us home all these years and weathered many a hurricane and winter storm has fallen. I shall miss this old friend.

 

 

Weather repeat

I don’t really collect stats on weather or seasons in my life. I do remember cold winters and snow and ice winters but this one does seem relentless. Heavy rain in the night turned to rain and snow and sleet and left a coat of the heaviest kind to be pushed and shoveled.

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But it was very beautiful and perhaps it was that beauty and the slightly perceptible lengthening of daylight that was energizing. I enjoyed creative time in the kitchen and we were delighted to share our muffins with the man who plowed and then helped to shovel, too! God bless Joe!

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January energizing

When Bonnie, the Faith Barista, announced the prompt for this week – photo journaling – she linked back to a post on Whitespace: a photo journal. I need this getting away, this time in nature, in quiet. But it has been so very cold. This past Tuesday, it was “warm” so I drove to the reservoir. A few minutes in the roaring wind and I retreated.IMG_2302

I sat a while and watched the gulls and geese and enjoyed the beauty. IMG_2301 The wind seemed to keep the gulls huddled on the snow.  In “the one that got away”- I didn’t have my camera ready –  all the gulls rose but could not fly into the wind and were forced back and down onto the snow. IMG_2316  This time they kept low to the water and made a turn back to the road. Someone had stopped and was feeding the geese and gulls from their car.

And then I went home, feeling like I had not accomplished what my soul needed.

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Thursday:   IMG_2337 But it did warm a bit and I wanted to go away and I wanted to stay at home. So I pulled on my boots, coat and mittens and walked out the door to my own back yard. IMG_2340The focus of the day in the devotional I am following was peace and the verse I was thinking about was from Luke 19.

Jesus was weeping over Jerusalem when He said, “…if you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace…”

I stop on the step as a goldfinch lands on the feeder just a few feet away. He seems at peace with my presence as I pull the camera from my pocket and snap away while he busily feeds from his provision.

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I walk slowly listening to the crunch of snow as I walk through the field. I stop to look at tree bark and seed stalks and the beauty of light and shadow and think of things that make for peace in life. IMG_2352

And the things that steal peace till I wander around in confusion.

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I keep crunching along among deer tracks and rabbit trails and other critters trails too, caught up in the beauty of glittering snow and grateful for whitespace in my own back yard!

January

January snow

Hibernation sounds like a good thing. I’m grateful for down comforters and cozy quilts, crocks of soup and stews and the warmth of home. Simple things like watching birds and light and shadow, reading and coffee seem to fill the days while chores sit and the list of things I planned to do on snowy days is long forgotten in what seems like a never ending winter – and it is only January <sigh>.

red amamryllis

The amaryllis has been such a joy and I will miss its cheerful greeting as the blooms begin to fade.

A few years ago we left our winter snow and went south. Far south.  Where it is cold in summer. I decided to share a few photos from that January when I didn’t mind wearing my winter coat.

port of call - Punta Arenas

And yes, the birds in the background are penguins!  Port of call - Punta Arenas

    Port of call - Punta Arenas These are Magellanic Penguins. They nest in burrows. January is summertime in Punta Arenas, Chile but the season is short; the chicks grow fast and the parents take them down to play in the water’s edge.

Port of call - Punta Arenas

Port of call - Punta Arenas

The most wonderful thing was that we walked on a simple path marked out with sticks and twine right along the edge of their mounds and they didn’t seem to pay the slightest bit of attention to us as they went about. They, however, had our full attention!

Port of call - Punta Arenas

Such amazing creatures hidden away in a remote part of the world waiting for eons for people to even know of their existence, delighting their Creator.

A Cheery New Year to You!

Happy snowguy

Snow came and went; cold came and stayed a while and on New Year’s Day, I began a long winter’s nap punctuated by great coughing fits. Eventually and gratefully, I did wake up and began the tasks of life again, packing away Christmas decor, sprucing up a bit for this winter season, engaging in everyday chores and being quite happy to do so!

One of the joys of the moment is the grand opening of a red amaryllis on my window sill to share with you.                  red amaryllis

5th Day of Christmas

Christmas bloom

My mom grew one of these for many, many years. She always called it Christmas Cactus*. I took cuttings from her plant about 15 years ago. It is not the most beautiful plant – until it blooms each winter. It usually is a bit neglected and then I go into care mode and it rewards my feeble efforts with flower love.

* Schlumbergera truncata – I think!

A snow story to tell

It’s early and I feel alert and refreshed – just back from a carefree run down the quiet street of Brownstones under magnificent trees full of emerging bloom. I am staying in a magnificent house on this street and one of the house dogs, a magnificent Bouvier, is running with me. Everything seems magnificent in this dream of mine and then I wake in our cottage on the edge of a wood where goats graze on the nearby hills and horses in winter blankets stand across the street. Dreams are funny things and this one has left me feeling quite exhilarated. I’ll take that as a gift!

It is below freezing and the grey dawn makes me impatient now for spring. I feel a little cheated this winter here of mostly dull. No deep snows enthuse my winter project list. I wait for the coffee and contemplate winters past and  those stories.

I remember a snow adventure when I was brave and brilliant and all of about 11 or 12. Those were the days when schools did not close early much less think of not opening because a little snow was forecast.

At the end of the school day, I gathered my younger sister and another little girl who traveled with us and we waited outside for the transit bus. Buses came and went but there was never enough room for three; so many downtown businesses had closed early. It was very cold waiting in the swirling snow. One might ask why we didn’t go back into the school to wait. Well one, I soon realized that you couldn’t get to the bus stop quickly enough on the slippery sidewalk when a bus would come and two – somehow being at the mercy of The Nuns seemed far worse than standing and waiting and maybe even freezing to death. The drama of an adolescent mind!

And then the flash of brilliance – I decided we would walk to my Grandparents home. I had no idea how far it was, but it had to be walking distance. My parents had grown up in the neighborhood and had walked to the church next to our school; I had heard all their stories of really deep snows…

I’m sure I was counting on the warmth of the old coal stove in the kitchen and cookies at the end of the hike. I’m also sure the little girls protested but I was certain of my plan and off we trudged through our deepening snow and dark through a neighborhood we only knew from the windows of the bus. I still remember the look of great surprise on the face of my Grandmother as she opened the door to us.

I no longer remember the eventual trip home, but I still remember feeling very proud that I had done the right thing and all was well. We were warm and drying and safe from the storm.

Home

Home

 

A sweetness in late winter

Yesterday rain and fog gave way to wind and sun. I wandered out to make an insignificant start on yard cleanup. Pick-up-sticks. On the wind came such a sweet fragrance and took me by surprise. I looked around at bare branches, brown fallen leaves and faded grass and searched my mind for what was teasing me. I had forgotten. Really not surprising, this time of year my favorite garden activity is spent on catalogues and magazines, books and notepads and not rummaging around in small shaded corners. But there against a small wall was the heady fragrance – sweetbox.

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Sarcococca hookeriana humilis is the proper name, if I recall correctly. Insignificant bloom tucked down in evergreen leaves giving off its prayer of sweet smelling fragrance.

That’s how I think of people of prayer, off in quiet, almost hidden places – at least in soul – giving of themselves in a sweet fragrance to God on behalf of others. And unlike me, He is always out and about so He turns and bends and looks for them and inhales deeply. (2 Chron 16:9)