all aglow

Christmas has half heartedly stuck its nose into the house. Yesterday, our little artificial tree, still decorated from last year, was carried triumphantly upstairs by Carm. I eased the dust shroud from its shoulders and plugged in the lights. 'Lights all aglow', a token nod to Christmas. I've been so lethargic these last few weeks that I can't get the house clean, let alone anoint it with baubles that will also have to be dusted and eventually put away. I usually delight in setting the scene, but this year I'm not sure where my energy has gone.

Today the sun is shining strongly and the temperatures have warmed to zero, or possibly just above. Droplets of melting snow can be heard tinkling down the rain spouts like a pied piper calling me outside. My fleece pj bottoms clung to my legs (that's the problem with fleece, it is too darn static), my heavy green farm boots bunching them around my knees as I stepped outside the door, the first of many forays. Coat, hat, boots, coat, hat, boots, every time I stepped outside it was the same thing - precisely the problem with winter.

I wish there was somewhere to walk the dogs, but alas, the field is socked in with snow tall enough to tip into my high boots, and with a crust a few inches down it was too hard for Spike to break through. I guess if he really wanted to he might have put more effort, but since I wasn't forcing the issue we both gave up and stuck to the laneway. Kabira took one look at what we were trying to do and fled to the front steps. Bella was game as always.

On one of my trips out, I took some old peanuts and spread them on the ground for the squirrel. It turns out the crows have a taste for Onion Garlic peanuts from Picard's as well. A battle raged across the dazzling snow. The squirrel was the aggressor: he wasn't for sharing.

The sun shone and even if it was low on the horizon it was a welcome sight. It even graced the walls of my bathroom while I luxuriated in a late afternoon bubble bath. The golden light ignited a few minutes of 'peaceful easy feeling'.

Yesterday we made our first reservations for next years camping. Hurrah, there will be a Titanium Reunion of sorts after all. It will come hot on the heels of our trip to the Mediterranean. Life is rough ;-)

"Nature has many scenes to exhibit, and constantly draws a curtain over this part or that. She is constantly repainting the landscape and all surfaces, dressing up some scene for our entertainment. Lately we had a leafy wilderness; now bare twigs begin to prevail, and soon she will surprise us with a mantle of snow. Some green she thinks so good for our eyes that, like blue, she never banishes it entirely from our eyes, but has created evergreens." ~Henry David Thoreau,