Life-It’s What You Make It

I didn’t ask for this today,plan for this today or want this today, but this is what I got. Snow, more snow and even more snow. This is the snow I wanted all winter but never received and now that’s it’s the 1st of March, I really am not very interested. Besides that, we still have no heat in the house except for the wood stoves. We also don’t have hot water. No showers or laundry today. The tap water is so cold I had to warm some up to brush my teeth! I’d much prefer Daffodils poking their little heads up, but……it is what it is and I set out to make the most of this gift of today. A gift that is denied many people. And here’s what happened.

I could have stayed home snuggled in a blanket in front of the wood stove with Gracie at my feet.

Lovely as ever 😉

But then I would have missed this……

The quiet, still old beauty of this ancient half timbered house and barn who has witnessed untold numbers of winters.

“I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel’s sake. The great affair is just to move.”

Robert Louis Stevenson

I could have stayed in, but then I would have missed the simple beauty of snow laden branches and the sign that says “Home.”

I would have missed speaking to Gabby who lives up the road. She walks to town every day, no matter the weather simply  because she can.

“Out of the bosom of the Air, Out of the woodlands brown and bare, Over the harvest fields forsaken, Silent, and soft, and slow, Descends the snow.”

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Instead, I was blessed to witness the pure silent beauty of fresh fallen snow before a single footstep marred it.

And I saw the tall Larch so barren in winter, but today dressed in a coat of white cotton.

New fallen snow paints its own designs. A simple wire fence is transformed into pearly velvet ropes.

“Two roads diverged in a wood and I- I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.”

Robert Frost

It’s good to share your Journey with a friend.

I could have stayed inside, but I wanted to see the horses. Last week their pasture was pure mud. They’re always happy for a head scratch.

And I would have missed the horses home which never looked better than today.

There is something so enchanting about narrow twisting lanes. You just never know what’s around the corner or at the end of the rainbow…..unless you look.

I know I could have sat inside and read a book, but I chose to wander and write my own.

But….I was not alone in my meanderings. I met fellow travelers on their journey. Hooves muffled by the deep snow. Soundless.

“Nature never did betray the heart that loved her.”

William Wordsworth

Andrea’s beloved sheep. The peaceable Kingdom.

“In solitude where we are least alone.”

Lord Byron

From faith as small as a mustard seed, grew this mighty Oak that today oversees my Chapel on the Hill.

Oh, I suppose I could have stayed at home today but I choose to go where my journey leads me. All too soon that journey ends and I hope to leave this earth with few regrets and full of memories, like wandering the Bavarian countryside on a snow filled winter morn.

Journey on, my friends. Journey on.

Karen, TJG