January Stillness

I keep coming down in the morning, turning the oven on and running back upstairs for a sweater. Its cold! Next, I turn on the coffee maker and sternly tell myself to caulk the ancient kitchen window. It really must be done. (I tell myself this every morning and some evenings) Then I stand on the cold tile and try to think of hot things to make for breakfast that aren't bad for us. Putting my fuzzy lined moccasins on helps me think. This morning I decided the answer was to bake sweet potatoes in the microwave and serve a half of a steaming potato onto each plate with mugs of tea as warming back-up.

The boys and I are enjoying quite a lot of sunshine right now, even if it isn't warm. The chickens are out scratching vigorously every morning in the morning rays...completely undeterred by their absurdly timed molting. There are feathers EVERYWHERE in the coop! It looks like a pillow exploded. The silly hens are doing their fall shedding in the middle of the peak cold time! Its a darn good thing they had the good fortune to be Southern Connecticut hens and not Northern Michigan biddies. Teach them to follow their own rhythms!

I am looking deeper and deeper into the freezer and the pantry and find myself thinking strategically about what to plant and harvest and buy and freeze and can this next summer. We could use more frozen veggies, frozen batches of quick breads, dried fruits, canned peaches and canned meats. Note to self....more of everything except bags of frozen zucchini chunks. We have enough of those.

Our hopeful plan to go see the desert of Arizona and visit our friends who have set up house there among the saguaro has melted away. I have learned a real life lesson about the wisdom of jumping on cheap tickets when they are spotted. This year, instead, we'll be flying to Florida and soaking up some rays in the Sunshine State. We found cheap tickets for the whole family to sunny Ft. Lauderdale so I am banking many hours dreaming about tanning in the sand while the boys play, doing almost nothing except letting my skin soak in warmth and my brain take a giant pause. Sounds so good. No theme parks, no marathon crazy plans, no insane amounts of highway to chase down and conqueror in a day. Just us. Just warmth. Just a break. March is coming.

In the meantime, there is tea, and mending with heart shaped patches for little boys jeans, there are friends to drop by and there are paints. .....the paints she had with her always.