It has started snowing here where we live and I sit by the window looking outside to a beautiful white blanket spread out on the ground.  It is cold out there and the wind softly rustles the branches on the bare trees.  I watch the birds flick dead leaves up to see what nice fat morsels they can find under the snow.  The kitties, Willow and Kefira sit in the window and watch the snowflakes falling to the ground and every once in a while Kefira will jump at the window trying to catch that one elusive flake of frozen water.  It is quiet outside when it snows, except for the occasional chirp of a lonely bird or the sounds of the breeze.

Winter brings back a lot of memories for me growing up in Utah….lots of nice memories of playing in the snow, sledding, ice skating, but best of all are the memories of coming in from the cold and wet and my mother making us a large cup of hot chocolate with marshmallows floating on the top.  I have always dreamed of living in a house with a white picket fence and a fireplace to stay warm and cozy on a cold winters night.  Part of that dream has come true for me living here in our house.  It don’t have the white picket fence, but it has a fireplace.  Maybe not the burn real wood kind of fireplace but it serves its purpose for me.  All I am lacking is a nice bearskin rug, nice and fluffy laying on the floor in front of said fireplace to sit on or dig my toes into and staying warm while I sit on the floor, legs crossed working puzzles and sipping hot cider.  But aside from the picket fence, not having a “real” fireplace and lacking a bearskin rug I do have with me the most important thing in my life……my husband Roland…. and to me that out weighs all the others things.

Winter brings a new world to your doorstep.  Different smells and sights.  I open my door and can smell the wood burning fireplaces from the neighbor wafting in the air.  The smells of my momma baking gingerbread or cinnamon rolls.  Winter brings memories of times past, the ones you can never get back once they are gone and it makes me excitedly wait for spring to start new memories that will be forgotten with the next winters snow.

Till next time from the duskweald….take care and stay warm!!!!!!