The weather is cold here - consistently, steadily, unrelentingly cold. Because I like four definite seasons (and a summer that is not roasting), I relish the cold (as much as one can), but I am unaccustomed to having to wear a sweater (and an undershirt!) every day. Suddenly the pile of sweaters I've lovingly, but seemingly superfluously, collected in Texas over the last few years isn't superfluous at all - it's barely enough!
The Christmas tree and accompanying decorations have finally all been dispensed with - the Christmas tree just this last weekend at the neighborhood Christmas tree burning party - it was the coldest night of the winter so far, bottoming out around 14 degrees. The air was sharp, but the stars shone even sharper in the sky above as we gingerly made our way down the road in the almost pitch black night.
So after a month of travel in November followed by a month of birthday celebrations and holiday gatherings - not to mention a whole year of change, upheaval, loss, gain, excitement and disappointment, the stillness and quietness we find now in the depths of winter make for a bit of a coming-down feeling, a time of sometimes-sobering introspection - the kind common as one year ends and a new one begins: What were the blessings of last year? What were the disappointments? What worked as we'd planned and what could we not have seen coming? And, perhaps most thrilling, most thought-provoking, most anxiety-invoking, where will be this time next year? How will we be answering these questions next year?
The new year has brought new developments in Jeremy's work, nothing that directly affects his work now, but could a couple of years down the road. His immediate work priorities remain unchanged - help bring the plane to, and oversee, as many test flights as possible. While he moved out here on the under-fire Marine STOVL (short take-off, vertical landing) variant of the JSF/F-35, his primary responsibilities have since shifted to the Navy CV (carrier variant), which he helped ferry out here from Fort Worth in early November.
The quiet cold and new year have meant time and energy for new endeavors. Jeremy's met the challenge to lose weight and get in shape head-on by rising early in the mornings to finally make use of the his work-out equipment and room, acquired and set up last summer shortly after moving into the house. He's lost 10 pounds since the beginning of the year.
His commitment has even inspired me to spend ten minutes of a morning on the stair-stepper. This is huge - I've never, never been good at any kind of regular exercise (with the exception of yoga), but I find the stationary kind exceptionally boring and hard to endure. Ten minutes is small, but it feels possible and therefore it gets done, whereas larger chunks of time might get passed over in favor of other household chores. I'm three days into it and eager to see what, if any, change my small commitment makes. I plan to weigh-in after a week; I'll keep you posted.
I'm also knitting - knitting like crazy. OK, I actually don't get to knit as much as I'd like, but I love it when I do get time for it. I've already collected yarn for four projects, three of which are already on needles. I visit the yarn shop weekly, sometimes just to sit and knit with others, but usually to ask for help, direction, correction. The yarn in the shop is gorgeous and alluring - baby llama, alpaca, silk and wool blends. I resist the urge to buy skeins upon skeins without specific projects planned. I feel a bit ADHD as I skip between projects, unable to settle on just one to work through to completion; after a few rows of one pattern, I get bored and want to switch to something different. The shop is hosting a lunch at the end of February for individuals to showcase their favorite finished projects and I hope to have one thing fully finished by then.
Gideon has eagerly jumped right back into school and a couple of weeks ago brought home a worksheet on which he had written his name all by himself, without help or without a tracing guide, for the first time. I initially passed it over as scribble, it was so illegible - the G and d backwards, the letters slanted and spaced awkwardly across the top of the page.
I can almost see him growing, as the sleeves of the 4T shirts he started out wearing last fall no longer reach his wrists. I've had to pull out the 5T shirts I was already squirreling away for next winter and felt I made a huge leap (that took my breath away momentarily) when I crossed the aisle in Target from the infant/toddler section to the big boys section in order to start scoping out the sales racks for size 6 for next fall/winter!
Our days are not exceptional but they are peppered with small moments that get forgotten even before the sun sets. I'm so envious of moms who capture those silly, ridiculous, shocking, startling moments for posterity. I offer now instead just a few photos that seem to capture a few of those small moments that usually get swept away in the current of our daily life before I can even pick them out and see them as part of a bigger picture.
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| We discovered this graceful creature (that I initially mistook for an owl before it turned its head) on the backyard swing set last week. Not two seconds after this photo was snapped, the hawk raised its tail a little further, pooped and "flew the coop", as they say. |
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| The sheet of ice discovered just this morning in one of the sandbox toys. Despite the cold temperatures and several chances for or occasions of snowfall, all of the conditions have not aligned for a proper accumulation of snow since the day after Christmas. |
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| Behold. |
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| The knitting projects. |
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| Which one to finish first? |
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| This tomato has been sitting on my cabinet for a couple (OK, maybe a few) weeks. I kept thinking I would throw it into a soup or something like that - until yesterday, when I noticed it sprouting. As in the seeds inside the tomato are sprouting. The acne-like bumps all over the surface are the sprouts getting ready to break through the skin, like the one at the top in the picture on the right. Has anyone ever seen such a thing?! |
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I love this post - every bit of it: open, middle, close. What has stuck with me, and your tone reflected it, is the low-ness of the winter. I suspect your body reflects what is happening in nature. Life is slowed and all action requires forethought, as if to weigh the value of the subsequent consequence.
ReplyDeleteWhen I read this post (on the road and on my phone from which I don't comment), I wanted to immediately say: Calling from Texas: Temps in '70s. We are outside in the sun and LOVING it. But on Tuesday, we are to get ice and snow, and Wednesday will give us a high of 26 degrees. So. So much for gloating.
And no, I've never seen such a thing as the tomato! It's fascinating to see.
I am really impressed with your knitting skills! These projects don't look like beginner's work. I am just about to begin my first afghan. Other than that, I've made a wardrobe of scarves and a hat.
ReplyDeleteI have to say your knitting prowess bowled me over. Gorgeous. And it made me smile, because I know what a lovely little pleasure yarn brought into my life (in the form of crochet) and it was nice to know that pleasure was blossoming in your life too.
ReplyDeletep.s. It's supposed to snow here today.
I'm still on my first scarf. It look like a dish rag at the moment. My Mexican neighbor helps me. HSe knits sweaters, hats, scarves, anything and everything. She is verrrrrrrrrrrrrry talented.
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