it’s one of the snowshoe trails at swedetown, a cross-country ski area about five minutes from my house. isn’t it lovely!

“I wonder if the snow loves the trees and fields, that it kisses them so gently? And then it covers them up snug, you know, with a white quilt; and perhaps it says ‘Go to sleep, darlings, till the summer comes again.’”

~ Lewis Carroll, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass

once a snowflake fell
on my brow and i loved it so much and i kissed
it and it was happy and called its cousins
and brothers and a web
of snow engulfed me then
i reached to love them all
and i squeezed them and they became
a spring rain and i stood perfectly
still and was a flower

~ nikki giovanni, winter poem

(i saw this poem on facebook and fell in love. isn’t it delightful! just like winter snowflakes.)

i grew up in the land of winter. in many ways, it is during winter that i feel most alive.

there are moments when i am on my snowshoes or my cross-country skis and the world around me is nothing but blue & grey & white & green – that i think winter just might be my new favorite season.

the snow is falling in my little corner of the world.

in truth, this is the fourth first snow, because the snow has come & gone and come & gone and come & gone three times now.

i suspect this snow will leave us too. i can’t say i mind. the first snow – whether it’s the first time or the fourth time – feels fresh & new & magical.

i have some time to myself today, but the sky gods must be washing their laundry in very chilly water so i am hibernating in my bedroom with sleepy pup & books & journal.

my mind is reflecting on vulnerability & loss & perceived safety nets & the ways we put other people first in the hope that they will then love & approve of us.

my heart just wants to see sweet sweet sunshine.

i love the night sky: the northern lights that dance along the horizon, the harvest moon, the big dipper, the star-studded milky way.

i love birch trees – the way their white bark is equally at home in winter whites, spring greens, or autumn splendor.

i love how lake superior stones change color when they are kissed by the water.

i love listening to the wind through the pines, the yip-yip-yip of coyotes, the chirp of crickets in the swamp, the prehistoric cry of sandhill cranes.

i love the pink rose petal carpet beneath my mom’s rose bush, browned butter ferns and squirrel tracks in the snow.

i love how blueberry bushes turn crimson in autumn & a single drop of rain sends ripples across a pond.

i love that gnarly apple trees produce a sweet sweet fruit.

i love the yellow larvae in the fallen wasp nest, translucent winged dragonflies, the tiny pink & white cosmos in my grandparents’ back yard, dew on a spider web.

i love the blue jays at the bird feeder, the polka-dotted ladybug on the screen door and the delicate-limbed hornet on the lip of my mug of vinegar & honey water.

i love how the woods down the road are carpeted in yellow every spring.

i love watching autumn leaves dance in the wind, fox cubs playing like puppies, geese flying overhead, waves crashing on the shore.

i love how purple thistles remain long after the first frost, leaves float lazily to the ground in autumn and grains of sand look like miniature jewels as they fall from my hand.

i love feathery cirrus clouds & puffy cirrocumulus clouds.

i love the tiny brown bird wading in the green algae at the edge of the lake who had a thin beak that was longer than his head.

i love the crunch of dry leaves, the plop of a turtle as it drops into the lake, the roar of the waves, the rain on the roof.

i love when blue sky meets blue water, when the world is silent & white after a heavy snowfall and when clumsy yellow bumblebees sip nectar from wildflowers.

i love purple lilacs in my blue mason jar.

to me, nature is magic.

it’s no wonder i believe in magic.

magic is all around me.

it is so beautiful in the woods right now that all i can say is “look! look! look!!!”

fortunately, there are people who can express themselves much better than i can.

“Is not this a true autumn day? Just the still melancholy that I love – that makes life and nature harmonise. The birds are consulting about their migrations, the trees are putting on the hectic or the pallid hues of decay, and begin to strew the ground, that one’s very footsteps may not disturb the repose of earth and air, while they give us a scent that is a perfect anodyne to the restless spirit. Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns.”

~ George Eliot, Letters to Miss Eliot

“my very soul is wedded to [autumn]”. is that not the most delightful sentiment? i echo it wholeheartedly.

“Autumn … the year’s last, loveliest smile.”

~ William Cullen Bryant

i have an app that forecasts the northern lights on my ipod but i never remember to look at it. instead, i rely on atlas. he can always be counted on to drag me out of bed for one (or two) (or three) middle-of-the-night potty runs. if the northern lights are visible at all, i will probably be outside at some point to see them. unfortunately, i am too sleepy in those moments to drive to the lake for prime viewing.

on monday, the show started at 10 (!!!) so i put a jacket on over my pajamas & grabbed my camera & drove to the lake. thanks to a kindly person who told me what shutter speed to use and then shared their flashlight with me so i could adjust my camera settings, i was able to capture some memories. (next time, i need to bring a tripod. i can tell when people were walking down the stairs – i was using the railing as a tripod – by the look of the stars.)

if you’ve never seen the northern lights, i hope you get to see them someday. i’ve seen them many many times over the years (all here, in michigan’s upper peninsula) and they never grow old. they remind me of magic & wonder & all good things. and as my dad would say, “now here’s something that deserves the adjective awesome.”