Snow Day

 

It is now well and truly winter here.  This is the sight that greeted me when I went into the kitchen to grab my juice and pills.  It had been snowing lightly all night, a wet snow from the looks of the depth on the branches of the plum trees.

And my first thought was - who needs to drag a tree indoors and decorate it when Mother Nature will do it for free?

And with all the school strike for climate posts on Twitter this morning I thought back to Christmas when I was a child.  With a simple string of lights, paper chains, a few ceramic or glass ornaments.  One year mom splurged on tinsel, which we then carefully removed and draped over the cardboard, saved for the following year.  And many years thereafter.

As an adult, by the time Christmas arrived, I was too exhausted from the effort it took to get textiles designed, woven, and to the craft fairs to care about having an indoor tree.  We tried, though.  We went from a real tree to an artificial one, and then even that became too much effort.  I finally compromised and bought an artisan made metal tree that sits year round on the mantle with hand woven decorations hung on it.  

I suppose that because we didn't have kids, the shine wore off Christmas pretty quickly.  All the race to buy this, that and the other, which - don't get me wrong - I used to sell my textiles, became wearying.

As I get older, I appreciate nature more.  I look out my window and see the seasons change.  The snow decorating the plum trees in our back yard, dusting the trees on the hill behind us.  Spring brings the new growth and sometimes the migration of songbirds - although not nearly so many these days.  Evidence of the Great Bird Disappearance.  Summer with the lush greens, then the slow slide into autumn and back into winter.

During this time of self-isolation, I appreciate the display Mother Nature provides, in part because I don't have to go out in it.  

Always a silver lining, even if you do have to dig deep to find it...