 It isn't just because it's time to go in and get warm, either. There
is always that. Winter makes us glad people invented insulation and
gravy. The nights are the sweeter for knowing that we did without a
significant measure of sunshine today and were still able to forgo
turning postal on some idiot the state blessed with a driver's
license. We know the days are getting longer now, and little by
little the sun is returning to bless us and our homes and dogs and
families.We've once again sharpened our skills by getting to know
each other by sight just by the color of the parka we wear. The
smoke from the wood fires is like incense to us, and the smell of
coffee takes on that special deep-down meaning. This is when coffee
smells the way it used to early in the mornings at our grandparents'
house,
We don't seem to do winter mornings as splendidly as warmer days.
There's just something about having that quilt over us for that
extra 10 minutes that is a delicious morsel of self-pampering to
take with us throughout the day to remind us that we are truly
special.
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But when the sun goes down, that's when the magic happens. Off in
the west, the sky sends its burnt orange sky to us. To get the full
effect, we need to stand so that a deciduous tree is between us and
the sky. And then, there it is, the jewel of a winter day.
With the bare-branched tree against the last fall of light, we
see the branches give us a filigree of Spanish lace against a
magical sky. For a moment -- one bare moment -- we are back in our
memories to paintings of pirate ships on the sea, to blue and white
plates our grandmothers had from Japan, to some beautiful snippets
of our past.
It is our daily pay for tolerating the cold.
[Text from file received from Slim Randles]
Brought to you by 3Rivers Archery, the home of traditional
shooting. Visit them at
www.3riversarchery.com.
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