"Winter"

It is cold now ... very, very cold.  This morning when we woke up the whole world was frozen and stiff.  The old blue Hilux Ute took a long time to start and when it did eventually came to life it sputtered and smoked like an old man suffering from smoke filled lungs.  The front window was frozen stiff.  When we tried to open the window on my side it was solid as a rock ... frozen and locked in place.  It took a long time for Stanley to scrape enough ice from the front window to create a small window through which to see enough of the road in order to drive.  Wow! I have never been so cold in all my life.

There is a strange kind of beauty to winter.  Everything stops growing but at the same time deep underneath the death of winter, there is a kind of life just waiting to burst forth.  Like a thoroughbred racehorse just rearing to go.  When I look at the roses they seem dead and lifeless but at the same time if you look deeply into the eyes of the rose, you can see a kind of force deep within, that will spring to life the moment the weather turns.

My body remembers the summer sun and the aching limbs from long hours of working in the garden.  For now ... at this moment there is nothing for me to do.  The ground is sodden, frozen and wet.  Even if I dare to dig I am not able to.  Winter is holding out a hand and it is saying to me: STOP!  So for now I am not feeling guilty ... I make another hot drink and snuggle up to read one more time!