1.11.2015

give in






the days are often misty grey and cold.
as days are, in winter.

I've accepted that.  come to bask in it even.  come to welcome the stillness and the quiet, the dampness and the chill.  the free pass to stay in my pajamas in front of the wood stove, tea in hand, until I simply must get dressed.  the mountain ridges, the naked trees…… there is something so pure and comforting about being able to see the bones of the landscape.  as though it makes it seem as if the world is as vulnerable as I sometimes feel I am.  it's nice, this (perhaps misguided and silly) presumed equal footing.

I didn't always think so.  I used to detest the chill, the damp biting grey that wouldn't end.  I'd fight it.  clearly a pointless effort.  so now I say bring it, winter.  bring your howling winds and your sullen-looking days.  and I will find ways to embrace them.  I will find ways to listen more closely to that wind to hear whispers of your wisdom and hints of grand ideas and inspiration.

bring, too, your unbeatable fairy-colored gloaming, your fresh start.  your relentless insistence that we humans reflect a bit and maybe learn a thing or two about ourselves in your presence.  and do please, at some point, bring us a blanket of beauty, snow white, to last for days and days.


18 comments:

  1. What a beautifully written post, you made me want to give in...

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    1. thank you~
      it feels so good to just let go and accept, even embrace it.

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  2. So well written. A good description of winter around here.

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    1. thanks, Molly!
      I keep checking our ten day forecast crossing fingers for snow….. where is it????

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  3. I just want to say thankyou for your beautiful writing on this blog, which I stumbled across while on the "Grounded Magazine" website. I have a five-month-old daughter and especially enjoy your thoughful and heartfelt pieces on the nature of motherhood. I also love the pictures you post of your lovely surroundings - I would gladly swap one of our hot, humid Sydney (Australia) days for your cold, crisp, pure NC ones!

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    1. Shelley, thank you so much for your kind and thoughtful words~
      It's been a while since I've written much in the 'reflections on motherhood' category. her fifth birthday is just around the corner and as such, I feel some reflecting getting ready to pour out soon!

      I bet when we're in our hot and humid summer days it is fine and crisp down your way….. I find summer to be challenging sometimes, for sure. I can always get warmer in the winter. not always so with cooling down and drying out though, is it? Got any good swimming holes nearby?

      cheers!

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  4. Three things: I am so jealous of your cat, a dreary day feels to me like such a license to relax (sunny days mean you have to be up-an-at-'em), and my favorite walls in my house are painted "gloaming." How nice.

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    1. Amanda!! I just received your very very kind and generous and very very unexpected package today~ THANK YOU SO MUCH! (it also reminded me that I never followed up with you months ago about soap- oops!)

      that cat has it made my friend. though really I think most of them do. I was aiming for that color on my bedroom walls when we painted it years ago and got "Charcoal Heather", which turns out to be much more purple and much less grey/purple/gloamy than I was hoping. Who makes this Gloaming color that you speak of??

      xo and thanks again!

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  5. I said the same thing about the desert. Hating it for not having a proper winter. Then i said, love it, love it because you don't have to shovel snow for day on end, or run the water so pipes don't freeze or heat your bed with bricks at night (did that in my childhood).

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    1. plus the desert gives you a longer gardening season, right? water needs notwithstanding….
      you actually heated your bed with bricks when you were a kid? awesome. just started reading the Little House books with Claire again (she doesn't remember them much from when we did so a couple years ago) and she thought the baked potatoes as pockets warmers were pretty cool.

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  6. I find myself feeling this way more and more, the older I get. I used to dislike winter but now I feel differently. I hope you get your snow.

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  7. Just wanted to say a hello and that your blog is beautiful I always leave inspired! In fact, you're one of the reasons we gave tapping maple trees a go last year! We got 1 pint, and loved every bit of the process!!

    Anyway, I'm super curious what the tool on the wall is in your photo above. I love creative home decor!
    Bobby Jo
    www.wheretheblacktopends.weebly.com

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    1. thanks so much, Bobby Jo!
      so cool to hear we inspired you to tap your trees~ how exciting!

      I'm not sure which item on the wall you are referring to, but the things up there that aren't paintings or photos are a small cardboard ram 'trophy', a wooden fish, the mirror, and the thing to the left of the shadow picture is a 'tree face'. hope that helps!

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thanks for taking the time to read and comment~