No, thankfully it's not my nose! Despite my cough, body aches and general bleh-ness, the old schnozzle is holding up pretty well. Actually, I'm glowing due to the fact that I managed to be productive today. It wasn't much --- just some washed and folded laundry, a puzzle and a few craft projects started with my youngest (her attention span is shorter than mine even when I'm sick!), and about seventy pages proofread and tweaked - Huzzah, Huzzah! Hopefully my mind was as sharp as it felt then, and not as sharp as I feel now still sitting here in sloppy sweats and stringy hair. We'll see if I'm still glowing tomorrow......
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Here's a test: How coherently can you write when your whole body aches, your head throbs and your nose is alternately an over-stuffed cannoli and fire hose? The answer doesn't matter, but you do get extra credit for effort. Now, where'd I put the couch?
Maybe I should've asked, "Winter Fun?" The answer is........ yes! Despite everyone nearly freezing their chibungas off yesterday, we had a great time at my daughter's "Frozen" birthday party. Only eight degrees Fahrenheit before the sun went down, I'll admit I would have rather been inside by the fire, but a dozen brave kids and some hardy parents toughed it out for two hours on the ice and best sledding hill ever. These are stock photos; no way was I gonna mess around with a camera in those temps! As it was, my gloves were off half the time anyhow tying skates, adjusting mittens, and setting out snacks. The last fifteen minutes was almost torture since convincing a newly-turned seven year old that she should wait to open presents took more energy than my shivering body could muster! But the rosy cheeked children that waved goodbye, goodie bags in hand, seemed happy about time well spent. Many thanks to my good friends for use of their country inn's rink and gorgeous property, and to everyone who braved the elements to give their kids an afternoon of old fashioned winter fun. There's something special about enjoying the world around us just as it is, and since here in the Kingdom it's wicked cold, I think yesterday was perfect. And so is today. Inside. Here by the fire. Thoughts and prayers for everyone who is digging out this morning, but here in the Northeast Kingdom the storm was a bust. Not that I'm complaining. I'm starting to appreciate why so many snowbirds fly south for the winter. As I've developed thicker skin against emotional onslaught, it's gotten proportionately thinner against the insult of cold weather. But we won't be retiring to warmer climes any time soon, what with a crew in various stages of schooling, so I guess I'll just have to keep my woolies mended and ready for the next icy blast................. which, looking out the window now, I see that we may not have dodged after all.
Today is Positive Monday. I'm not sure if it means the same to the folks who started it, but to me it means treating the world and everything in it as if all was exactly as it should be. Then, instead of pining and singing "wouldn't it be lover-ly", it just would be.
It's dark outside as I begin to write this. The wind is howling, blowing in a storm while the family, still tucked in their beds, lies dreaming of the new day. The sounds of a house not yet awake.... I wonder how anyone can sleep through them, punctuated as they are in the stillness with the roaring of the wind. I'm waiting for daybreak to start the coffee. It will take longer to get here this morning, with no pink telltale glow along the eastern mountains to announce its arrival. Slowly, the world comes into focus; first the snow covered deck rail, then the dark silhouette of a lonely conifer against a ridgeline of barren limbs, until finally, a variegated gray quilt lies across the winter landscape. The fold of overcast skies still blankets my mountains from view. The sky is light enough now for morning to officially begin, but for a moment I linger at the keyboard, pretending that the rosy reflection of the walls in the window is actually a sunrise. And then I hear it. Not the wind thundering through the trees, but a child on the stairs. A new day dawneth.
It's 22 degrees, a veritable heat wave compared to recent temps. So why am I still sitting inside on my duff when I should be out taking a walk? My walking buddy/neighbor doesn't seem to be back from her latest jaunt to New York, and my best buddy, Fudge.... well, I'm missing her faithful companionship each and every day. Funny how you take your pets for granted when they're here, and miss them like a phantom limb once they're gone.
I've been writing all morning, and really need to get up & stretch to get the blood and creative juices flowing. Sometimes, even when you know it's gonna be a lonely walk, you just gotta lace up your boots and take it! |
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