“We move in and out of darkness and light all our lives. Right now I’m pleased to be in the light.”
The sun is intermittent in a cloudy sky. Right now we’re at 27˚. Last night was even colder, in the low teens, but the hope for spring is not yet lost: it may be buried in the snow but a glimmer of it survives. Supposedly Friday and Saturday will be in the 40’s, but I have become skeptical of weather predictions. This one, however, I need to believe for the sake of my psyche. I need a respite from winter. I need a day with the warm sun on my face.
This feels like the longest of winters. The snow falls, covers everything then melts so we can see the grass and the garden then it snows again. The amount of snow doesn’t matter any more. It is the mere act of snowing which has made this an intolerable winter. The 1 and 1/2 inches we got on Sunday aren’t much in the scheme of things, but it covered everything yet again. I have to terms with the cold but not with the snow.
I seem to be wearing an inside the house uniform every day. It is always my slippers with socks, flannel pants and a sweatshirt. Today I switched to my Italia sweatshirt friends brought me from Italy and my Christmas flannel pants covered in wrapped presents. The colors of the presents are bright and I needed some brightness.
All over my house are strands of lights which I plug in most nights. The kitchen has lights inside scallop shells and a swag of red pepper lights hanging from a shelf. The living room has lights in a gourd and around branches in a huge vase. The dining room has a set of lights around a shelf. The bathroom has a snowflake night light which, given my attitude toward snow, is a generous gesture. The den where I spend most of my time just has regular lamps as I need the light. In those other rooms, no lamps are lit. The strings of lights are enough. The rooms feel cozy and the lights reflect on the ceilings. Before I go to bed, I go around and pull out the plugs. It is my last nightly ritual. When Gracie and Fern, the cat, see what I’m doing, they both head to the stairs and wait there for me so we can all go upstairs to bed together.
Explore posts in the same categories: MusingsTags: bright colors, cloudy day, cold nights, flannel pants, lights, slippers, Snow, sweatshirt
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keepthecoffeecoming.blog 
March 4, 2014 at 2:01 pm
47 here today and it will even get warmer. This is my kind of winter. The worst kind is the one You have right now, when the snow melts away and a tiny hope of sopring arrive and then the snow falls again! Like You I can take the cold but not the snow.
I always have one light on in the kitchen and one where I have y tv but the rest of the cottage is more or less black now. Well the aquarium in the livingroom gives the room some light but just enough to see where I’m going.
I should have more light on since it still is so dark outside in the evenings. Bt the days get longer and longer now so I even have daylight when I come home from work. Soon it’ll be light for almost 18 hours a day 🙂
Have a great day!
Christer.
March 4, 2014 at 2:05 pm
Christer,
It used to be my kind of winter too. It is the same every day-cold, more cold and every couple of days snow!
The lights aren’t bright but they keep the darkness at bay. I like them.
Only the house across from me and the one beside me have light. The rest are summer places which stay dark all winter so my street is also dark having no streetlights either.
Enjoy the evening!
March 4, 2014 at 2:21 pm
Hi Kat,
There has been no hope of spring here. The snow falls, compacts a bit but never melts away. I have a tiny bit of something that is not snow showing next to my front steps. There are a few croci peeking up.
Farther down near the sidewalk there is a biggish patch of dirt that showed up recently. It has become part of Rocky’s pee ritual. He runs up the tallest pile of snow in reach of his line, pees on the highest part and comes back down to the dirt patch to scratch it up with his “I’m a big dog” message. I laugh. 🙂
I have battery candles with realistic flicker and timers. They go one at a certain time every night and go off 5 hours later. There are three outside by the doors and the rest are inside in windows or on the floor in the kitchen. They’re amazingly candle-like and make the house feel cozy and warm.
Perhaps you need to invest in some flamingo lights. 🙂
Hang in there. Spring is coming.
March 4, 2014 at 2:42 pm
Hi Caryn,
I have a few green shoots or rather had. They are now buried in snow again.
Gracie followed the same route every time she goes out to pee. She goes between the trunks of two trees, walks a bit and then squats. Her ritual for the other means actually going into the back yard. She doesn’t have the same sense of pride as Rocky.
I have lights outside in the yard which do the same thing. I have to go and adjust the timer as it is lighter early, and they are coming on too soon. I do have candles in the windows which stay on all the time. A lady walking by once asked me why I had candles. It isn’t as if my house is in the historical area where many houses have window lights she told me. I said I liked them and didn’t she know that lights bid angels come unaware.
Have a great evening!!
March 5, 2014 at 9:19 am
Proof positive that this Winter has been too much, even you have had enough. Time to Spring forward this weekend and the buds on my pussywillow tree are sprouting so it will be here soon!
March 5, 2014 at 10:38 am
splendid.
You have buds, and I am jealous. Our trees will be bare until mid-April. We are always later to get spring because of the ocean, but we are rewarded for our patience with a longer fall.
Enough of snow!!
March 5, 2014 at 4:04 pm
It was so good to get to spend time with you, meet Gloria and Fern, and see all your wonderful mementos and souvenirs. I hope we can get together again soon for coffee or dinner. Please keep us in mind if more RPCV activities take place. Enjoy the honey,
Rosemary Dunn Moeller
P.S. I’m doing a poetry reading from my new book on March 7, Friday, at the Dennis Public Library in Dennisport at 11:00 a.m. I’d love it if you could come.
March 5, 2014 at 4:54 pm
Rosemary,
How quickly you found me, and now we have a date for tomorrow.
I am such a honey fan it goes on my toast. That was a perfect gift.
This is my week for medical stuff. Sadly I have my 6 months dental at exactly 11 on Friday so I’m sorry to have to miss your reading. If you have another, I’ll be there. Promise!!