141: Patience

(Icy flow.)

Winter is once again trying to teach me patience.  I hesitate to say so but, this might be the year it succeeds.

When I posted yesterday, I had not yet gone out for my walk.  I wasn’t sure I would.  I’d been in and out for brief periods of time, not enough to add up to to my 30 minute commitment.  It was one of those days when the wind and cold conspire to deliver frostnip (or worse yet, frostbite) to unsuspecting and uncovered bits of skin.  But I had to get out there to feed the birds so I layered up, covered everything I could, and made my way across the frozen lands of winter in the Bogs.

I fed the birds and then, before I could give it too much thought, started down the hill and along the northeast side of the pond.  If I had thought about it, I would not have gone.  The wind was harsh and relentless.  The cold seeped inside my coat and my mittens.  My face went numb.  The sun, a milky light above the trees, was trying to fight its way through the cloud cover.

(Yesterday’s view of the creek.)

I made it to the woods and down to the creek.  I marveled at the patterns in the ice.  I felt myself warming up, the woods and the lower level sheltering me from the wind. I was torn between sitting down and waiting for spring, and making the trek back out to where the wind and cold would beat at me.

It’s not easy to be patient with winter.  That thought kept running through my head as I climbed up the hill and out of the woods, my legs already tired.  The snow pack is some weird conglomeration of snow, ice, sleet, and more snow.  It’s difficult to walk on it or in it.  I started watching the ground, looking for footprints from the past as those have iced over and very often I can stay on top of the snow crust when I walk in previous footprints, making it easier to keep going.

(Lines in the ice.)

It’s not easy to be patient with winter.  February, to me, is the longest shortest month of the year.  It stretches on into infinity.  The month of February is why people up north head south.  The month of February is when I start to feel restless and oh-so-ready for spring.  Bring on the sunshine. Bring on the warmer temperatures.  Bring on the thaw and the crocuses and the daffodils and the greening of the land.

That will come.  With time.  With patience.  Even with impatience, it will get here eventually.  It’s just easier if I’m patient about it.

(Trees swaying in the wind.  The movement is from the wind and trees, not the camera.  Video taken yesterday.)

Today is prettier than yesterday, but colder.  The sky is an intense shade of blue and the sun is incredibly bright.  I kept my walk close to home.  It will be nice when some of the snow along the road thaws so I can take a walk around the neighborhood.  As it is now, I’d have to walk in the road and that’s something I don’t care to do.

The 10-Day challenge starts tomorrow.  Marianne will be doing Qigong.  Bo (who has escaped winter by going on an adventure in a warmer, sunny climate) will be doing T’ai Chi.  I will be doing yoga. Feel free to join us with whatever meditative process you prefer, at any time of the day you prefer.  I’ll be up at 6am.

Today’s CD

Adele,  19.

I love, love, love this CD.  Adele is an English singer-songwriter.  She describes her music as “heartbroken soul.”  Her voice is rich, voluptuous, and bluesy.  Adele’s new album, 21, is on my wish list.  You can listen to her here and here.