If there ever was a summer this year, I think I have forgotten it already.
There was an unforgettable 'monsoon season' though.
And now I can see the horizon thru the trees again, I say...winter bah humbug, or something like that.
Walking in the winter woods on an overcast day is a treasure. The quiet, broken by the wind thru bare trees and chickadee's call, awakens me to the reality that earth is really just sleeping, and amid all of this near silent and slumbering landscape I am awestruck. In the solitude of the forest cathedral, my soul is at the same time mindful of what a mere flicker I am, and a part of infinity.
Each year I try to learn a new skill, well I did until the year I decided to learn how to make phyllo dough, which was a real disaster. And each year, even though I know that it isn't true, the cold winds seem colder, and the snow heavier and deeper. Like the leaf on the tree outside my window I hang on to
the warmth of summer and the colors of fall for as long as possible or longer.
Then the first real snowstorm comes along, and reality sets in.
Time to do winter stuff, like make soup, mend socks, write all of those letters you have been planning to write, read a couple of books. go to the Mall and walk, not run from store to store. Life slows down, I feel mostly because it's difficult to move fast in all of those heavy winter clothes. Time to savor some good coffee, sip tea, watch the snow fall, and rock in the rocker. Before you have to get up and shovel the car out. Plan your garden, even if it is only on a windowsill. Daydream, nap, drink homemade hot chocolate, especially after you shovel the sidewalk.
I find myself humming a song learned long ago, which starts out "Winter and the coming of the cold wind, the restless leaves seek shelter beneath a darkening sky" A song I learned over 50 years ago, hurriedly because I was replacing another singer, and probably I have some of the words wrong. That one night onstage with over 100 other teenagers we were singing not only the melody but the vary words that describe winter. I feel the music still, watching the first early sunsets, and feeling the night's chill when the sun sets earlier and earlier. It's time to fill the skuttle and load more coal in the stoker, then watch the fire for awhile.
I find myself humming a song learned long ago, which starts out "Winter and the coming of the cold wind, the restless leaves seek shelter beneath a darkening sky" A song I learned over 50 years ago, hurriedly because I was replacing another singer, and probably I have some of the words wrong. That one night onstage with over 100 other teenagers we were singing not only the melody but the vary words that describe winter. I feel the music still, watching the first early sunsets, and feeling the night's chill when the sun sets earlier and earlier. It's time to fill the skuttle and load more coal in the stoker, then watch the fire for awhile.
Watching the flames I think some deep, and serious thoughts, and nearly forgotten memories float back to me and I wonder about the wealth of things there are to wonder about, then look up the best ones on Google. Enjoying the pleasure of solitude and the backwoods lifestyle, where it is oh so easy to succumb to the isolation. Every now and then I rise from my rocking chair by the window and check to see that my trusty snow shovel is ready for the next snowfall.
