The Winter Cabin - third entry

The colour palette of the winter landscape was medicine for me.

Journal entry, January 1, 2011

The wind has picked up after two days of still. It just started a few hours ago. There is a low continual but fluctuating howl that it makes which mingles with the the sound of the tree canopies rubbing together. I admit it makes me feel uneasy. It sounds ominous. But I should be reasonable. I have had a lovely day. Tending to the cows was beautiful and methodical - I can't get over how magical these early winter mornings int he countryside are. Everything glistens with frost, including the whiskers on the noses of the cows.

* * * *

I encouraged Genie the dog to come back to the cabin with me and she watched while I hung my clothes to dry but she looked like she would have preferred that we were outdoors, so I grabbed my skates and the shovel and we walked down the trail to the lake. Genie put her nose into every second or third deer footprint that we passed (there were a lot of tracks) and when she found deer poo she rolled around in it with delight. I wondered if I would be able to smell a difference between snow and snow that a deer had stepped in. We arrived at the lake and I started to plough the snow. When it seemed like enough for a start, I put my skates on and began. It was great! I started to shovel in my skates but then I thought of trying to skate directly on the snow since it was so soft and light and not at all attached to the ice. I tried and it was MAGICAL!!!! I skated all around that end of the lake with abandon, making beautiful line patterns in the snow with each foot's glide. I skated fast and did clumsy twirls while Genie ran, full of excitement beside me. Our hearts raced and I'm quite certain that we were both filled with joy and renewal. To skate with only the shore of the lake as a border, completely alone in the silence of winter in such a beautiful place was a dream. After a half hour or so of this I dropped Genie off at her house and went back to the cabin. I read and cooked and wrote and ate and now it is bedtime.