Welcoming Winter

I open my curtains every morning to gauge the weather. I suppose I could look at my phone and the Weather App would tell me but old habits die hard.

If it hadn’t been for the time I lived abroad I probably wouldn’t be so conscious of this part of my daily routine. I opened the curtains one morning after about six weeks in my new home to another day of blue sky.

It had been the same every day since I arrived. It was then I realized that the daily habit of a lifetime was of no more use. It was going to be pretty much sunny with cloudless skies, every day.

Now don’t get me wrong, coming from Scotland I felt there was much to be delighted about by this!

This morning I opened the curtains and a frost covered the ground. It hadn’t been there the morning before.

I knew it would be cold outside and yet, what a beautiful scene lay before me.

Nature’s artist providing a final flourish, the one to give it that wow! factor. The touch to highlight the beauty, clarify the lines, exaggerate every detail. It is a shout out to us all – Look! Look at how stunning Nature is; the delicacy, the intricacy.

My own choice and knowledge of words will never be enough to describe the scene and yet, how does it make me feel?

Like a child. Opening the curtains in the morning brings a dawning in me, winter is here. The time of woolly hats and mittens, boots and heavy coats has arrived. I step out the door to an icy freshness.

Sun, of a light different to the warm glows of Autumn, displays the frosty sparkle. It is a muted, hazy light contrasting with the freshness of the air. The first lulling you into hibernation as the latter wakes you up, demanding your attention.

I think of the bulbs underground. Tucked up for winter. Thinking of them brings me onto spring, but then again, what is the rush? Why not welcome the winter, enjoy the precious light of the days and the evenings, tucked up, almost hibernating myself? Safe in the knowledge the bulbs are waiting.