I’m dreamin’ of a white Christmas…

Do you remember wanting to go out into the cold dampness of a December morning, The wake up! wake up, look outside it’s snowing!!! days…before the times of having to…having to shovel a path to get to your car, having to clean off the car, having to bundle up little ones til all you could see was the color of there precious eyes, having to re-scrape the windshield, because as you were bundling it was covered again in ice or snow.

Well, yesterday was one of those ~ want to ~ mornings. I wanted to trudge happily through the crackly snow to feed and water animals. It was such a pretty morning…all sparkly and white. The sun had just made it’s way over the side hill…and lit the pastures in a golden glow. so, with the dogs in tow,I headed up around the pastures with my camera. I wanted to try to snap as many photos as I could before the morning light melted it all away…

It feels like the holidays…It’s such a cozy feeling to wake up, grab a hot cup of coffee, and head out into the frosty morn, llamas breath suspended in the air as I give them a quick back rub or head scratch…they are a source of constant entertainment…Each morning I wake them up with fresh water, beet shreds and a sweet mix of grains..and they wiggle, and they gather ’round like children, and make me smile. I muck there stall, and fluff fresh bedding for them as they settle in to the morning’s selection sweet fresh hay…all is well.

Beautiful feathery flakes of snow Over the woodland and field they go Making a blanket so warm and deep Over the flowers that lie asleep

First Snow by Mary Louise Allen Snow makes whiteness where it falls The bushes look like popcorn balls And places where I always play Look like somewhere else today

Winter Morning Poem by Ogden Nash Winter is the king of showmen Turning tree stumps into snow men And houses into birthday cakes And spreading sugar over lakes Smooth and clean and frosty white The world looks good enough to bite That's the season to be young Catching snowflakes on your tongue Snow is snowy when it's snowing I'm sorry it's slushy when it's going

Jackets and sweaters, Stockings and boots Snug hats and mittens, Warm woolen suits All bundled up and ready to go Out of the house to play in the snow Although I feel clumsy in all of these clothes I am so happy whenever it snows!

"Someone painted pictures on my Windowpane last night -- Willow trees with trailing boughs And flowers, frosty white, And lovely crystal butterflies; But when the morning sun Touched them with its golden beams, They vanished one by one." - Helen Bayley Davis, Jack Frost

"So with the stretch of the white road before me, Shining snow crystals rainbowed by the sun, Fields that are white, stained with long, cool, blue shadows, Strong with the strength of my horse as we run. Joy in the touch of the wind and the sunlight! Joy! With the vigorous earth I am one." - Amy Lowell, A Winter Ride

"My little horse must think it queer To stop without a farmhouse near Between the woods and frozen lake The darkest evening of the year. He gives his harness bells a shake To ask if there is some mistake. The only other sound's the sweep Of easy wind and downy flake. The woods are lovely, dark and deep. But I have promises to keep, And miles to go before I sleep, And miles to go before I sleep. - Robert Frost, Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

Even in the warmest glow...snow

"Have you ever noticed a tree standing naked against the sky, How beautiful it is? All its branches are outlined, and in its nakedness There is a poem, there is a song. Every leaf is gone and it is waiting for the spring. When the spring comes, it again fills the tree with The music of many leaves, Which in due season fall and are blown away. And this is the way of life." - Krishnamurti

As I write, snow is falling outside my kitchen window, and indoors all around me half a hundred garden catalogues are in bloom.

Be well,
Jess