Pinfeathered: January

It's January here. (What? It's January there too? What a coincidence.) Not January-with-snow, because I don't live in the right kind of mountains for snow. North Carolina is too far south, and when white flakes brush the bare branches of the Smoky Mountain National Forest -- they generally melt by noon.

Not that I mind so much. I love snow when I have no place to be, but my little car doesn't get along with snow. Especially since the only kind of road they make out here is steep and curving and shoulderless. Bad things happen to geriatric Fords.

In any case, what we have right now is worse. Today we are iced in! The upside? I did not, in fact, have anywhere else to be today. So I'm putting on my favorite chunky sweater, enjoying the fire in the grate (and the brother whose wood-hauling efforts make this a no-effort delight), and cooking up a vat of French Onion Soup for the family. (My family is large enough that all food must be prepared in vat-sized quantities.)

{photo credit: Sacramento Street}

Lest this post sound complaintive, I must confess: I generally enjoy winter! I love the clothes, for one thing: scarves, sweaters, boots. My activities keep me indoors most days, so I don't miss running around outside so much. I like hot beverages, and reading books, and listening to the little siblings and the cats go stir-crazy.

In Watership Down (one of my favorite books), Richard Adams describes the difference between the way men and animals perceive winter. When men talk of enjoying winter, he says, they don't really mean they enjoy cold air and barren fields and frozen water. Rather, they enjoy being impervious to all of the above! We have built our warm houses and heated them, sewn our quilts, knitted our sweaters, laid up our stores, and bound our books. Let winter have its day, and we shall sit in our warmly lit caves and smile!