hunkering down

I missed the surprise snow storm in the Northeast last weekend. I was in Dallas where my brother spoiled me for four days (think--REAL Mexican food, lunch on the patio, long walks in the park...). The irony of it is that I LOVE SNOW! Had I been home, I would gladly have shovelled the sidewalk, put on a big pot of soup, and hunkered down for a couple of days. As it happened, I got back to the airport to find my car encrusted with three inches of ice...and I didn't have a scraper with me. So I had to wait for the car to thaw out before I could drive home...alone, in the cold, in the middle of the night.

Yes, that bad.

That little reality check reminded me that it's time to get ready for winter. To put the flower beds to rest, get out the heavy sweaters and jackets, to find the ice scraper, etc., etc.

It also means getting ready for the Winter Prose and Poetry Getaway in January where I am registered for a preconference workshop entitled, "Finishing Your Novel." I must have been feeling exceptionally optimistic the day I signed up for it...because I've barely gotten into my latest WIP and I will never be ready to finish it in January...unless I really get to work. Which is why I'm hoping for SNOW. What better excuse to be stuck at home with nothing to do all day but write!

Besides that, winter brings with it a few other consolations, some of which I'd like to share with you here:

The view from my kitchen window at sunrise.

Ice "anemones".

 

A walk around the block for me.

 

...and you should have seen the roads!

Are you a sun-worshipper or a snowbird? How do the seasons inspire your imagination?

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"I am a book of snow,
a spacious hand, an open meadow,
a circle that waits,
I belong to the earth and its winter.

--Pablo Neruda--

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My next post will be inspired by a busy week.

jan