the day before travel

It's beautiful out there, on this sparkling blue skied morning! There is such irony in having November exit on a high note. We've had weeks of a deeply brooding winter. Reconciled to the worst end of Fall in memory, here we are, waking up now to something quite brilliant.






I'm up to let the cheepers out of the coop. It's just at freezing, but of course, everything around the entrance to the barn is hard as rock: slippery, with a thin coating of snow. It's not their thing.






They peek out. They retreat.






But the sunshine is promising and I know that we'll be able to clear a path for them later in the day. In the meantime, we have our sun-splattered breakfast...






...and we take a walk, too. All the way down to the Nature Conservancy, where we want to release yet another trapped mouse. (I've stopped counting.)






And the afternoon just flies!



(the turkeys that survived Thanksgiving)


We go back to the barn and cajole the cheepers to step out for a bit -- to the sheep shed and back.



(can you see all four? can you see Ed?)


And finally, to cap this day of beautiful sunshine,  I get up on the porch roof and sweep the remaining snow off of it. It's like starting December with a clean slate.


I'm leaving tomorrow and so my focus is a little on that, though truthfully, on these solo trips, I'm not that concerned about packing. You can't go wrong. No one will know if you don't change your shirt the next day. No one will care if your earrings don't really match your outfit. Or if you've even bothered to put them on. So I pack just a few things for this 12 day trip of mine and I'm good to go.

One of you asked me -- where to this time? For me, December is not a month to be adventurous. I look for some place that offers a high likelihood of sunshine and decent temps and there aren't many places in Europe that will give you both. So, a few days in the south, followed by a few days in Paris -- which is always beautiful in December, weather notwithstanding -- and home again by the end of the second week. The time for adventure is in spring and summer. Now, I just want a chance to take good walks outdoors without slipping on solid frozen ground.

I always insert a caveat that my writing may be disrupted in the days of travel. I don't know why I do it -- I haven't skipped a day all year, but honestly, when you're on the road, you just never know.

So, from elsewhere next time! Surely with wishes for a calmer, brighter December for all of us!