Winter Solace

Snow gracefully floats from a darkened sky...glistening in the moonlight, cold and crisp. Some flakes are merely frozen ice crystals, flat and shiny. Others are puff balls, the ones that make one smile when landing on your tongue. I sit, in a corner that is not yet covered by the beauty, but still dry enough to land with a glass of wine and yet another moment to myself.

If I wander from this spot I will make tracks that are easily followed. I choose to stay and realize that it will be a long season. As my faithful dog rolls on his back, soon shaking off frigid cold upon the rise, he cocks his head towards a familiar sound traveling through the far off distance. A train rolls down a rusty track. With this sound I picture myself as a traveler, staring blankly out a chilly window into a frosty field. Instead I sit in this spot on the deck, catching snowflakes on my tongue.

Winter can do strange things to a person. It will allow me to enjoy a few good novels, spin slowly to music that plays in my head, and give name to each and every snowflake that drops in my backyard.