We are
chilly whilly.....
today the high was still negative negative negative ------25 below zero,
We are moving slow in the frozen tundra...
It is sooooo cold that I haven't been able to enter a thing, it's like a brain freeze....
Our day was so cold that even the schools were closed.....for us that is cold.
Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
Like everyone in life I too, have a routine--throughout my day things happen. I love to stay on schedule, have rhythm have a goal for the day in mind and I love to keep things moving along.
I'm a ten year planner, kinda. A least I use to be until I started a family.
For starters when it's cold, and the winter comes...the routine moves very slow and changes slowly.
I love to be outside, it is one of my first things I love to do each morning, but with the icy snow I have a few doors that don't even open!! Getting outside is sometimes impossible, so to live where we do can challenge the entire being outside thing. Some days it even defeats it. Because I am a baby when it comes to cold..
Alot of it is that I just don't have enough cute coats and scarves to match the days mood... ( oh you know a girls got to accessorize!!)
Two things I love to do is, to shovel snow and to mow (until it gets to cold or frankly to hot) then the fun is gone and the man in our house has to be the one.
During the winter months I love to be the first out the door to shovel the drive, really! I am the neighbor with a big snow blower ( it' cute too, a man thing) but I choose to shovel instead. I am the neighbor that shovels early in the morning in the dark (before 6 am), daylight hasn't even made to my side of the earth yet.
I can only think about the neighbors, who roll over and grumble the mornings they hear the shovel going, giving them all the wake up call that says " hey dude, guess what it snowed, she's out the again obsessing over every inch of the snow and your looking bad laying in the warm bed of yours."
I am sure they wonder, how come it is the the hubby is often still in bed when I get started. A few guys in the neighborhood have question him about it and the women raise their eyebrows. One neighbor gal told me once that I should know, "mowing is mans work and my doing it is crazy and looks bad". Men have tried to find out how he gets me to do this, but little do they know that he has little to say about it. It's just my thing.
Fact is I am a born and raised farm girl.
Now, I am in Mayberry with a driveway that I can actually see the end of , real grass not hay to mow, and neighbors I can see ( which still drives me crazy) The largest creature I have now is the dog, which I often to refer to him as a cow. I still feel the need to get the chores done, and like with most farmers the animals and chores came first before you anything. So, I guess I like to get to the driveway before any tires cross its path.. I like my driveway clean!!!
Clear and Clean... its a good thing, not a scrap of snow on a clean clean driveway!! I case your wondering I do sweep it when no one is looking ( just don't tell the neighbors). I have washed it in the summer months too, earth friendly dish soap works great!.....( that just sounds crazy to say out loud, but there could be worse).
However, back to the plan- this cold ain't part of it....
Each morning the drapes and blinds all come open and our windows go to work for me. The day rushes in to make itself part of our world. It's a wonderful feeling to be able to greet the day with a beautiful sunshine or even if it is a gloomy start it is still a new day . It is one of my silly favorite little things in my life to do each day.
Opening the windows makes our home part of the world, in alot of ways it gives me a chance to take a moment to be grateful. It's a moment to share the world without any interruptions, our spot, it is inspiration.
So on this day I have opened my big window the world which is cold and hard. Nothing is moving-- not a branch, a creature, or even a human. Among it all I am grateful for the warmth and safety that our home provides. Grateful for fun slippers and a hot cup of fresh ground coffee. I am grateful for the ability to breathe the cold air and be able to get out and shovel. Even when I choose not to. :)
I am inspired by the sun that shines across the drifts of snow and the shadows cast upon our snow family, as they soak up every moment of warmth they can get..Crazy to think they are cold too.
As I stood in the window I also noticed the beauty of the hard cold --our trees are a beautiful white, there are few big old icicles enjoying this world, and there is a solitude and peace.
Today it will be another cold day that I am grateful for, I give thanks for a special day, to spend with my daughter to read, snack, knit and play, whatever we wanted......thank you for a day out of the ordinary to enjoy the slow pace and quiet of the earth.
Be Warm and Safe.....
-L.
