Embracing Winter

The new year started off with a fresh coat of snow and then some more--it pretty much snowed for two days straight this past weekend. So far, I feel pretty good about the new year (when I am not paying attention to the news and aware of the dire straits some people are in still, with the bad economy) and liking these slow-paced "after-holidays" days.

It's been SO relaxing being home a little more (now that the craziness at work is past and with two long weekends in a row).

A little more time to walk the dog.

And to sit and gaze out the window at the bird feeder and the visitors it attracts both on and underneath it.

I am actually enjoying the cold, white world outside.

The winter is still new enough that I am not sick of it and find little things to cheer me up, even if there isn't a spot of anything green and growing out.

*The sky, with the just recently risen sun in the morning, looks like the inside of a fragile seashell, with delicate pinks and blues. That has lifted my mood when I've seen that view when I walked the dog the past few mornings.

* The evening sunsets, too, are spectacular--deeper shades of pink and glowy oranges hues behind the spindly black shapes of the bare tree branches.

*Against the winter white, the breathtaking red color of the male cardinal makes me stop what I am doing every time I see one. One can be perched shyly in a branch of a tree right outside my window(I scatter seeds on the ground for the cardinals, as well as the juncos, mourning doves and sparrows that come to feed on the ground--I even go out and stamp down the new snow if it is getting too deep for the birds, believe it or not!),

or sitting on the green rhododendron bush (well, there's some green, after all!) of a neighbor's house,

or flying past as I drive my car up the hill to work. Gets me every time--something that colorful seems almost out of place in this environment, but I am glad they live here!

*Driving back from the library late this afternoon, I was happy to see Christmas lights still up and lit on most houses, as well as wreaths (I hate to take ours down and it's still up, but sadly, we did take down the tree today and most of the other decos around the house)

*A few snowmen around--one on our street has red Christmas ornaments as eyes(one had melted off and was lying in the snow when I walked past it today, though), and a big one on the main road has green cedar branches that make him look like a rasta reggae snowman(or snow woman?).

* the crisp cold air smell that makes you feel alive when you first step out into it(and then hurts your face by the end of the walk and isn't so appreciated)

* the smell of the woodsmoke coming out of the neighbor's and our chimneys

* getting excited about making (and then eating!) a big pot of lentil soup--good hot stuff on a cold day, and a simple food that seems more appealing after the overdose of rich food I ate during the holidays.