If we were having coffee: Winter wonderland edition

In the woods this morning.

Love is misunderstood to be an emotion; actually, it is a state of awareness, a way of being in the world, a way of seeing oneself and others.

~David R. Hawkins

Kind words can be short and easy to be speak, but their echoes are truly endless.

~Mother Theresa

Snow in the juniper.

If we were having coffee, I would be thrilled to see you again.  Hugs if you’re amenable to hugs.  Come on in out of the cold and snow!  Brrrrrrr!  It is wicked cold outside today.  But beautiful, don’t you think?  I don’t know how you made it up to the house.  They don’t do much to clear the roads around here when it snows and even if they did, it’s been coming down heavily all morning.  Our weather prognosticators said 3-5 inches of snow, but there is well over a foot of snow out there now and it’s not expected to stop until this evening.

Heading into the woods in hopes the wind won’t be as bad.

Let’s go out to the kitchen to get our beverages and snacks, and then have a seat in the living room by the wood stove where we can watch the snow coming down from the sky or cascading from the loblolly pines.  It’s a fairly heavy snow, or at least I thought so when I was out there shoveling earlier.  I wouldn’t have bothered to shovel, but I wanted to take a short walk and it’s best to clear the boardwalk before walking on it so that ice doesn’t form where the snow gets packed down by my boots.

Animal tracks here and there.

As for beverages, you have a choice of coffee, a wide variety of teas, hot cider, or hot cocoa.  There are cookies (freshly baked snickerdoodles and M&M cookies), and for those of you who prefer something on the savory side, the usual hummus, pita, and veggies.

A little sheltered.

How are you?  What have you been up to lately?  Is it hot, cold, or somewhere in between in your part of the world?  Do you like snow?  Have you traveled anywhere recently?  Or seen anything new?  Have you recovered from the holidaze?  Watched any good films or read any good books?

It’s quiet in the woods on snowy days.

I’ve finished a couple of books since our last coffee chat. Sycamore Row by John Grisham and Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed.  The Grisham book was as expected.  Entertaining and a fast read.  I loved Wild.  Absolutely loved it.  This was one of those rare occasions in which I’d seen the movie first and after seeing the movie, I really didn’t have much of an urge to read the book.  However.  A good friend said I should read the book because (of course) it was much better than the movie.  He was right.  I think the reason I liked it so much is because of my persistent dream of wanting to do a long distance walk or hike or pilgrimage of some kind.  I really should get off my arse and do it someday.

Shaking off the snow.

I am currently reading The Girls which Santa brought me for Christmas.  I did well in the book and music departments this Christmas, having received several books and a couple of CD’s.  M received a couple of books too, and I just might nick one or two of them from him when I finish my own.  I’ll probably get them read before he finishes whatever book he’s currently moving through at a snail’s pace.  I tease him about his slow reading, but it’s not that he’s a slow reader.  Not at all.  He could probably gobble up books faster than I do if he had the time to read.  Plus he does so much reading at work that he often doesn’t feel like reading much when he gets home.

Where the woods and marsh meet.

If we were having coffee, tea, cider, or some other beverage, I would tell you that it has been a quiet week here on the Wabi-Sabi Ranch.  M and I have been recovering from all the recent travel, and getting over a bout of something.  We’re not sure if it was food poisoning or some strange version of a stomach flu.  Either way, it took us a couple of days to get through it and start feeling normal (or close to normal) again.  On our mad dash home from Ohio we stopped to eat at a restaurant in Breezewood, Pennsylvania, and at first thought maybe we’d eaten something we shouldn’t have.  But there were muscle aches and headaches and this strange need to sleep, sleep, sleep, and sleep some more, that resembled the flu more than it did food poisoning.  No fever, no congestion.  Just queasiness after the initial uproar of the first evening.  Local word has it that there is a stomach bug going around, and our contact with Little Wookie over the holidays pretty much guaranteed that we’d catch something.  That poor baby has been sick a lot, something that tends to happen with children in daycare or in school.  He seems to be on the mend now and we’re hoping all the colds and other viruses have built up his immune system.

Grasses and trees.

If we were having coffee, I would ask if you have any plans to attend the Women’s March on Washington this month?  I signed up, but I’m not sure I’ll get there.  There are several things in play right now,  and I’ll have to wait and see.  I might be Elsewhere and if that’s the case, it’s possible I could attend a sister march.  I’ve also been looking around for some local volunteer work that will be a good fit for me.  It’s time for me to start giving back to the community I live in.

Snow on cedars and pines.

If we were having coffee or some other beverage, I would turn this over to you now.  I really haven’t much news this week although if you stick around long enough, I’m sure I’ll find something to babble on about.  Thank you so much for stopping by for another coffee chat.  I always enjoy your company.  You’re welcome to stay a while.  I doubt we’ll see a sunset this evening, but if we did, it would be at 4:59 PM.  I’ll be going out for another walk if the snow lightens up a little, and then I think I’ll make a big pot of some kind of soup to warm us all up from the inside out.

Time to head back to the house. My fingers are numb! (Even with gloves and a pair of mittens on top of the gloves.)

Be good, be kind, be loving.  Just Be.  🙂

For those of you already tired of snow and winter, here’s a little reminder of spring. (Taken March 2015.)

This post is in response to Part Time Monster’s #WeekendCoffeeShare.  Thank you to Diana for hosting it. Put the kettle on, start the coffee maker, open a bottle of wine, or whatever your preference is, and join us.  I’d love to hear all about what you were up to this week.

A sunset for color.