Snowflake Girl im Winter

Winter in New England used to be like a big sleep. When it snowed the world stopped, school was cancelled, you stayed in warm and dry, baked cookies, read a book, played board games. Here it snows almost every day. Every morning there is the task of removing another layer of snow. I don't need an alarm because the back up beeps of the snow plow never fail to wake me. The kids (and myself) walk to school no matter the snow or temperature.

Snow is the constant here. Things ramp up. The bus becomes full of snowboarders and skiers in the morning. There is excitement and a magical feel to the town. It fills with tourists walking about, looking at store windows. Overheard conversations entertain me. Late at night, from my upstairs window I hear the laughter of people returning from the bars, strangely magnified in the quiet of the night and the gently falling snow. How I wish to be among them.

I spent the day with the kids and tonight I'm restless. I tried working on my book, but the words aren't coming. Instead I'm writing this and watching the snow fall in the glow of the Christmas lights along the porch roof. Long icicles have formed along all the eaves and they sparkle in the night. I wish I could capture them in pictures, but they look flat instead of translucent and glowing.

The cat is restless and prowling as well. She sat for a bit on the back of the sofa where I sit, just watching the snow. Now she is staring into the fireplace. I wonder what she thinks she sees? A few embers still glow and it's still warm by the vent. She is a huntress at heart, and is no doubt, completely disgusted with this mouse free habitat. Now she has curled up on a chair, waiting for me to make a move.

I've been thinking of my next move as well. Being a few days to the new year, it seems appropriate. I've done a lot of waiting for things to unfold this past year. I wrote the first draft of my book. It's sat a while and it's time to finish the second draft and let someone else read it. That's a frightening thought. As Christopher Robin told Pooh, "You're braver than you believe, stronger than you seem and smarter than you think." Words to live by.