winter

Hawk Medicine

Hawk Medicine

Welcome! I knew you could do it. 

This is what I heard a hawk convey to me, just as I entered the small woods near my home yesterday. I saw him high in a tree, and then as he gracefully lifted off taking flight. After hearing this message, I said out loud, ” Oh yes! This was so worth it. So worth it!”

As I wrote yesterday, I was in a funk. The voice inside that knows what is best for me had been nudging me for quite a few weeks to get outside. But we’ve been having below zero temps made even colder with bite-to-the bone wind chills so that voice was being drowned out by the wee little nagging voice that complained it was too cold out.

This isn’t the actual hawk I saw but a photo I found online. It was zero degrees yesterday and I was bundled up in many layers so I could have never gotten my two pair of gloves off fast enough to get a picture.

But it does not matter because seeing that hawk and hearing his message made my heart soar! I have no doubt what-so-ever he was just waiting for me to confirm that I was right where I needed to be, taking that walk on such a chilly day.

The sun was brilliant, the skies an icy blue, and the winds calm, along with Hawk, it was just the medicine I needed to adjust my attitude which I sorely needed.

There is truly nothing like nature to remind you of how grand life is if we can take our focus off our silly little worries for a time being. And you know what? Just that half hour in nature had me feeling as if I could fly, just like Hawk!

After sharing this post, I heard from my 80 something year old friend, Jerry who wrote, “It’s true that I can’t tolerate the cold outside as well as I did even ten years ago, I have goose down, and I have my old-fart’s hat with the insulation and ear flaps. We went out for an early dinner on New Year’s Eve, and it’s the first time I’ve sat in an upscale restaurant with thermal longjohns under my good clothes, but old age brings many firsts. So try to enjoy it.” 

Point taken my friend, point taken. And a lovely quote he shared with me from T.S. Elliot, in “The Wasteland.” 

Winter kept us warm, covering

Earth in forgetful snow, feeding

A little life with dried tubers.

Pays to have wise old friends to keep us in check and I take this advice, tuck it under my fuzzy hood on my coat, and will carry with me.

And since my dear friend, Jerry isn’t on Facebook (of which I think is very wise of him at times, too) I share some pictures from my walk yesterday and today… and I hope it will inspire you, along with Jerry’s sage advice, to partake in the magic of nature…

Made it up the first hill after seeing Hawk and the cold was no longer a factor!
Hello trees! Oh, how I’ve missed you!
So pretty!
Interesting art in nature!
Right before heading out of the woods I came across the very busy bunny trail crossing!
Me and my shadow plus a walking stick friend I picked up along the way. The stick now awaits me for next time as I left at the edge of the woods. Can’t wait to see him and maybe Hawk again!

Sunday morning walk photos below.

I decided to walk earlier today with the intention that I hoped I’d see some deer. Lucky me, but also proof for me that we are truly connected and one with nature, the animals, and the universe…because as I walked down one part of the trail that is steep, I looked up just in time to see four deer run across the path about fifteen feet in front of me! Oh yes, so dang worth it. So worth it!!

First on the trail this morning!
What was and the promise of what will be again.
There’s a trio of trees like this, all with wooden fences around them, as we live in a part of the Kettle Moraine area. Fascinating how the landscape is, I think.
My walking stick friend which I leave to rest here after my walk. See you again soon!

Even in the Winter Chill – there is Beauty.

Even in the Winter Chill - there is Beauty.

It’s bitterly cold here today. Winds that cut right through to the bone. The twelve steps it takes me to get from my house to my writing cottage are more like quick leaps to reach the warmth as soon as possible inside my writing cottage door.

But I was stopped in my shivering tracks when I noticed the sun glistening off what looks like a snowflake – between the panes of glass of my cottage door, next to my doxie decal.

There is beauty in winter – this is what I am reminded of – and as I was reminded, I also noted that the sun is already shifting in the sky. The dark days, getting lighter each and every day now – the light flooding my writing cottage in such a beautiful way in the afternoon – taking just a bit of chill along with it.

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The Whisper of Winter that Fell in the Night

The Whisper of Winter that Fell in the Night

Winter came in again like a soft whisper overnight and we woke to a fresh blanket of white powder.

A hush of stillness fell over the neighborhood for just a time being before snowblowers broke the silence.

But in my writing cottage, I lit a candle, stepped my bare feet onto my yoga mat and drank in the view outside my window, sinking gently into the stillness within me.

Just like the snowflakes that fall so gracefully in the silence of the night weaving their creative beauty for all to see in the first morning light.

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