i am currently making a christmas gift. or, i was, until i decided to light my candy cane candle. (it smells like a candy cane! it is quite possibly the best candle ever.) the flame and the smoke distracted me and i pulled out my camera.

when i went to the bathroom to douse the matches, i glanced out the window and saw a solitary brown oak leaf scampering across the snow-covered road. the leaf paused for a second when it got to the snowbank on the other side, but then it jumped over the snowbank and into the swamp.

a storm blew in on wednesday afternoon. fortunately, atlas and i went for a hike on tuesday and another hike on wednesday morning, because the gusty blustery biting wind is hard on atlas’s ears so we are now lying low. it is a little quieter today, but it is no less cold. i took atlas for a morning walk and when i glanced at him a short while after breakfast, i noticed that he was shivering. i settled him on the bed underneath two warm blankets and he is catching up on his sleep.

i will confess that i wondered how i’d survive winter. though i grew up here, i’ve been gone a long time, and i thought it might be too cold. but the cold must be in my blood, because i am here and it is less cold than i remember (by which i mean, my body has adjusted so now 30 here feels rather like 50 in portland) and i love it. also, i had forgotten one thing about this kind of winter, which is that the cold and the wind and the snow make me feel so alive.

wherever you are, i wish you warmth.