Ten things I'll miss when winter's gone

Winter is not my favorite month. In fact, it's my least favorite month. Still, in sticky, sweaty, sweltering August, I'll be pining for snow and ice. So here are some things that I love about winter, and that I'll miss when it's gone:

1. Seeing Orion 

2. Reading or working on a puzzle with J in front of the pellet stove

3. The absence of mosquitoes, ticks, and fruit flies

4. Having a tiny bit more time than in summer when everything is in full swing and the garden and clients clamor for attention

5. The quality of the light - long, blue shadows on vivid white snow - and the soft, muted tones of dormant nature

6. Hot cooking in the kitchen: Baking desserts, roasting vegetables, making soup (and then eating it all)

8. Dinner and bed early, then getting up early the next day - never seems quite as easy when it gets dark so late

9. The way the landscape opens up here in the Hudson Valley

10. Seeing my witch hazel (above) begin to bloom, and feeling hopeful for spring's arrival

Winter Time

The Hudson in winter/my soul on ice

Can you tell that I write this blog in my spare time? Not much of it these days. 

We spend most of it walking the dogs, which is wonderful, especially in the winter when there's enough snow to cover all the nasty Lyme-disease bearing ticks that are a year-round threat. Little Stony Point, where this picture was taken, is our favorite spot these days because we can let the dogs off-leash to run. They love it, we love it, everyone loves it. Oh happy joy! 

But today J and I spent our spare time going to the mall, something we assiduously avoid for as long as possible. Nevertheless, we needed socks and underwear and a flash drive and a new battery for my old calculator and a new screw for J's sunglasses; we try to "keep it local" as much as possible, but sometimes we do have to brave the ravages of Route 9 for those quotidian needs. 

The mall. I feel like my soul has been held up to a fluorescent lightbulb until it shriveled up and died. Retail therapy around here is hard to find, even in the best of economic times, which this certainly ain't. 

At least it's book club night, which means getting together with 9 very smart, funny, talented Beaconite women and talking about a good book that Oprah probably hasn't even heard of and eating good food and drinking wine. The best antidote to the mall, if there is one.