Brief Thoughts on Winter
It's January 24th, 2021. We are in Portland, Maine. There is no snow on the ground.* I am a lover of winter, a "winter person". I love bitterly cold mornings, looking out a window at a frozen landscape. I love going outside in the cold, bundled up, experiencing the crunch of snow underfoot. I love to ski, cross-country, where the whoosh of the ski sliding over the snow is an undertone for rhythmic pinch of the poles biting the surface. There is quite like going out the day after a snow storm. The world has changed into something alien. Somehow, it's comforting, like being under a blanket. The trees and mountains are transformed. The Mother changes. From green to white. Then to brown, and green again. Picture this: It's 7:30 in the morning. You're sipping steaming coffee looking at the gold-kissed snow covered trees glistening in the morning sun. This takes 15 minutes. You pour yourself another cup of coffee and then lose track of it seven times while rumm...