To my friends in the southern climes, feel yourselves to be lucky! Our local paper headline this morning reads: Arctic front will bring snow, high winds, bitter cold to Wisconsin on Wednesday. And the next line? After a storm system delivers high winds and snow to Wisconsin on Wednesday, two waves of below-zero cold will follow. And they mean below 0F, so for you Celsius speaking people, that would be below -18C.
Ahhh, winter!
(On my walk to the barn, I spot a bunch of Snowbirds, aka dark-eyed Juncos. Am I right on the identification?)
(Breakfast? Still stuck on the panettone!)
You'd think I'd shudder at the idea of spending much time outside? Well, maybe a little, but firmly imprinted in my head is a February trip Ed and I took to Quebec. It was cold, icy cold. A snowstorm came and went, another one followed. You'd hardly notice the difference, everything was covered with snow before and after. The St Lawrence river had ice bricks clogging the waterway and when we took the ferry across, the sound of ice crushing and crunching to make room for the boat was mesmerizing. We drove through a blizzard and we rejoiced when a piercing sun came out the next day (melting nothing). I would repeat that trip ten times over if Ed were a traveler still. It was magnificent!
It's a little less magnificent to go out on the trails today (windy!), and besides, I have a cake to bake. THis one:
It is my oldest granddaughter's seventh birthday. She and Juniper are the flag bearers -- the oldest and the youngest. We love our middle guys to pieces, but we look with extra surprise when the oldest reaches a milestone (today, Snowdrop picked up a letter from my sister, written in hasty cursive, and read it quickly and effortlessly to us), and we look with extra tenderness as the youngest gives us one of those sleepy newborn smiles -- "did you catch that? So beautiful!"
The young family came for an evening celebration at the farmhouse.
Snowdrop wore the t-shirt decorated for her by her classmates (it's a thing in this particular 1st grade room) and was absolutely giddy over everything and anything having to do with this day.
(I'm winter sports oriented this year, aren't I...)
(Sandpiper takes it all in...)
(There's a lot to take in!)
Snowdrop got to choose the dinner menu and she insisted on both her favorites -- spaghetti and crunchy chicken. I could do that blindfolded by now.
(Pause before dessert)
Little ones have a real talent for effortlessly finding joy in the most trivial details of their day. Giggles spread like crazy bees let loose in a flower field. And we laugh with them, and it is suddenly very easy to remember what it was like to be.... well, seven!
Happy birthday Snowdrop. Happy happy birthday.
With so much love...
