Winter Wonderland

Nature is filled with a limitless number of wonderful things which have causes and reasons like anything else but nonetheless cannot be foreseen but must be discovered, for their subtlety and complexity transcend the present state of science.


Robert Laughlin

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Hello Bruce

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Yesterday, Saturday, I went for a long necessary walk to the market. It was a cold and cloudy day with the devil's own wind blowing. It was very hard and on the way back I was wondering how often and how long do I have to prove my grit before life says "OK, Dana, you've passed the test and have earned the right to have a 7/11 open up across the street."? (New York City spoiled me with its conveniences.) Late in the afternoon the sunlight came bravely out but did nothing to temper the temperature or unwind the wind.



To add to my discomfort all the police cars, ambulances and fire trucks went reeling through all the main streets with horns blasting and sirens blaring. One would have thought the whole town was on fire. But it was just a traditional sound off celebration. I guess they were honoring the solstice or expressing their gratitude that the world didn't end.



Now I am glad to be out of the winter adventure and inside with my needs as I listen to the howling wind and rattling windows; As a final gesture of nose thumbing at the cold and nasty day, on the way home I bought a tub of ice cream.



Last Winter was such a surprise to us living in the Northeast. There were Springlike days even in January. I am wondering what life will be next month: snow. sleet. freezing rain, winds that blow the trash around and knock over anything not bolted to the ground? The Farmers Almanac, in its terse and mystic manner, says "temperatures below average" and you know what that means. It promises to be an ear muff, snow shovel, anti freeze, sidewalk salted winter wonderland. Those of you who live in the tropics, eat your hearts out.



But winter is my favorite season. No two winters are alike and they each open a year in a special way that somehow transforms the year to come in a design and character unforeseeable which can only be understood by the winter that gave it birth. I cherish the challenges of winter and face them with a sense of humor and a realization of promise. During the two and a half months from the end of New Years Eve until my birthday I ponder the wisdom in the sleeping trees, I hear a spirit in the wind and the percussive music of the crunching snow under my feet. I see memories written in the icicles. Winter is the new year. It's a time for humility and patience. It's the time for rediscovering ourselves, and it's the time to prepare for that rediscovery to blossom into life when the Spring comes at last. Winter is a wonder time.

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Dana Bate - Vagabond Journeys

Happy Holidays

Never Give Up

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