the return of color

It’s fine and well to sing praises for a cloudy sky, but truly, it cannot be that all photos from this month are not too far from being almost completely black and white. What happened to the bright Midwestern sky? The stunningly clear expanse of sky that casts long blue shadows on fresh snow?

Today, the clouds went off somewhere to the sidelines (gathering momentum for the snows that are heading our way) and the world became a place of color again.

True, I had the usual work and Sunday cleaning to keep me housebound early in the day, but even at home, things looked a lot brighter. Helped by the tardy Christmas cactus that decided to explode in color just now. Like leaping  swans, only in red.





In the afternoon, I go down to the farmette to inspect the first stage of farmhouse improvement: the replacement of ten windows. I know you can’t tell from the outside, but oh my, what a difference a good window can make to a home! (We still have to stain the wood, but that’s a project for a warmer month.)





It is a good day to admire windows. Looking out at a blue sky from windows that are delightfully fresh and solid gives hope – as if all other issues that the house has (and there are many) can, too, be someday a thing of the past.


Since the county park is a mere five minutes from the farmette, we take our skis for a quick spin by Lake Waubesa.






It wont be long before this will be virtually in my back yard. Slowly, step by step, I am getting used to the idea.