January may bring a new year on the calendar, but the calendar change doesn’t mandate that I be ready to hit the ground running. While there is importance in marking and celebrating the new year, I also find importance in staying in my slow, dark, cozy, hibernation space for a bit longer. It’s still a time of reflection. It’s not time to emerge from hibernation yet. Its dark, cold, and icy outside - 7 degrees F today. There’s still work to do in the darkness.
I know that soon I’ll need to get moving more but I’m not rushing it. Don’t get me wrong, I’m still doing my three mile daily walk, morning yoga, and kettlebells, just at a slower, more thoughtful pace. There’s lots of tea, cacao lattes, bowls of popcorn, reading, knitting, journaling, dreaming, resting. I’m savoring every moment of January.
Snow has come and everything is blanketed in white. An Arctic blast has moved in and brought with it bitter cold, two snow storms, and ice. Schools have had delayed starts this week because of temperatures in the single digits and wind chills in the negatives. Warmer temperatures aren’t expected for a few more days. Mother Earth seems to want us to slow down and pay attention right now, too.
As I mentioned in the last newsletter, this year I am sharing where I find the extraordinary in everyday life in my effort to ensure that magic lives on and thrives beyond the holiday season for me. This View from My Writing Table is an effort to do just that. Magic is all around. It’s in the everyday; it’s in our hearts. Its in the moments that can be missed if not paying close attention. Capturing glimpses from my desk is my way of paying close attention. For January, extraordinary in everyday life really comes down to the details: the way light hits the snow, the ways colors shift, the contrasts of colors and textures, the many shades of snow, wood, and rock, the crispness of the air, the footprints of bunnies throughout the garden contrasted with the giant dog paw prints.
Once last picture for you. This is what happens when I walk away from my writing desk for too long.
Take good care and stay warm as we linger a bit longer in the dark and cold of winter.
Your cat is too cute!