Winter in the Country

I took this from the warmth of my art room, looking out into our field as the snow picked up.

This morning I'm reading Mary Oliver. I'm on my second cup of coffee, although I plan to switch to tea after this, Jasmine Green. After that, I'll mix up some lemon balm and rose petal.

It's cold.

A faint draft creeps through one of the windows by my writing chair, and I get up to grab an old, plaid throw blanket hanging in the closet to drape across my legs.

In all fairness to winter in the country, it's a lot like any other season, everything is still there, but the energy is different.

The trees are in the same places, they just seem sadder without their leaves.

The animals are still out there somewhere, but without their noise it's eerie.

Winter in the country is a void. It lacks feeling, emotion, life. Maybe that is why, after looking out the window, even after breathing in the fresh air, however cold and piercing to the lungs, winter in the country still depresses the mind?

Maybe it would be more accurate to say it lacks positive feeling and emotion?

When the sky is grey and the sun hasn't shown in days it makes one long for a different time. One where color comes back, and with it a smile. One where the sounds of life come back. Some proof, that no matter what your mind tells itself on the darkest, and most negative days, you are not alone.

It isn't all terrible.

There are days when, if you stare out the window long enough, you will see. You will see a lone finch fly quickly past the window into the overgrown grape vines, so thick they still provide shelter from the wind even though they're bare. You will see a blue jay appear, as if from nowhere, suddenly pecking at snow built up in the bird bath.

So, you do get to see, but it's more like seeing life, the natural world, move on around you from the confines of your small cell window.

Even though the harsh winter wind whips against the windows, a small part of your soul still yearns to be outdoors with the finch, with the blue jay, with the rabbit you know must be there because of their recognizable footprints in the snow.

Winter in the country makes you yearn for nature.