Keeping warm

Winter is the time for comfort, for good food and warmth, for the touch of a friendly hand and for a talk beside the fire: it is the time for home.
          ~Edith Sitwell

  
Last year we didn't have a winter. It never snowed and rarely did the temperature get below freezing. I am a winter person-- I really don't mind the cold (extremely cold weather is an exception...) and I love snow. I enjoy the changing seasons. After a cold winter, it is a joy to see the first signs of spring. Spring blooms and flourishes into summer, the summer heat finally gives way to the cool, briskness of autumn, and the colors in the woods explode. Then the winter wind comes, the leaves fall, and here in Indiana we often only have just gray, cold weather. Snow is a rarity any more. 

This winter, only a few weeks old, has given us 4 major snows with another one predicted for tonight. And I am loving it!  There is nothing quite like being outside in a heavy snowfall... the world is hushed, travel stops and everyone is forced to slow down. Trips outside must be planned, as it requires special clothing. Out come the winter hats, gloves, scarves, boots, and heavy jackets. We keep our house cool, requiring heavy sweaters and at bedtime we bundle up into flannel pj's and turn on the electric blanket. I find I consume lots of hot tea (or this year, I am making Italian cappucino with my new milk frother!). And we have fires in our fireplace. My knitting gets done, books are read, food is slow-cooked and consumed with gusto. 

Last night we both found ourselves tucked in bed before 8 pm. Lanny has a bad cold and he felt miserable, but managed to prop himself on pillows and get out the book he is reading. I was snug in my flannel pj's with my knitting, and we sat there, just the two of us, barely talking, each in our own worlds, but together and happy. 

I remember the hassle of winter when I was working-- the dark mornings, dark evenings, cold weather, bad roads to get to work on... I find some kind of justice in the fact that as I face the winter of my life, I can finally stay home and enjoy the winter outside. I have plenty of knitting to do, a full pantry, firewood for the fireplace. And I have my companion to enjoy it with.

I hope, sometime this winter, each of you can slow down a little and enjoy the season. Make a pot of chili or wrap up in your favorite comforter and read a book. Soon, spring will burst upon us and we will have to "get busy" . But for now, winter provides us with a great excuse to rest our bodies, our brains, our spirits. 

The view off our back porch of our woods

The view out our kitchen window-- that's a climbing rosebush that is covered in snow. The birds perch in here as protection from the wind.