Last week with the cold temperatures, and fresh snow several days in a row, I felt like I was

Hibernating

While part of me wanted to go out for a walk, most of me said, “Forget it. I’m staying in where it’s warm.”

I read a lot, made photographs inside the house and through the windows of our house, and rested. The old Lutheran Protestant part of my brain was saying that I should get busy and do something.

But then I remembered that I don’t do shoulds. And I do listen to my body and what it says. Clearly it was saying that I needed to rest. So I  rested.

Sometimes resting and hibernating are just what a body needs. Soon I hope to walk outside again. But for now I am content to read books, cuddle with Gracie my cat, hug my sweet and ever loving Jon, and hibernate. (Though today I plan to do some Soma Yoga which feels like resting, and a few physical therapy exercises aimed at reducing some pain issues I’ve been having.)

Here is a Mary Oliver poem that I found today that expresses the recent snowfalls beautifully.

White-Eyes

In winter
    all the singing is in
         the tops of the trees
             where the wind-bird
with its white eyes
    shoves and pushes
         among the branches.
             Like any of us
he wants to go to sleep,
    but he’s restless—
         he has an idea,
             and slowly it unfolds
from under his beating wings
    as long as he stays awake.
         But his big, round music, after all,
             is too breathy to last.
So, it’s over.
    In the pine-crown
         he makes his nest,
             he’s done all he can.
I don’t know the name of this bird,
    I only imagine his glittering beak
         tucked in a white wing
             while the clouds—
which he has summoned
    from the north—
         which he has taught
             to be mild, and silent—
thicken, and begin to fall
    into the world below
         like stars, or the feathers
               of some unimaginable bird
that loves us,
    that is asleep now, and silent—
         that has turned itself
             into snow.
   — Mary Oliver

Are you hibernating too, during these cold January days?

May you walk in beauty.


Marilyn

Photographer sharing beauty, grace & joy in photographs and blog posts. I live in the Twin Cites in Minnesota, the land of lakes, trees, and wonderful nature.

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