looking

In the morning, crackle of birch bark in the wood stove.
In the evening, Venus & Mercury shining together high in the western sky.
In the morning, walking at dawn, the sound of a train.

One can travel the world and see nothing. To achieve understanding, it is not necessary to see many things, but to look hard at what you see.
Giorgio Morandi
Zen page-a-day calendar

covered

I have to say that at this time of year it's hard not to think about when the snow will disappear. I have two longstanding snow pack barometers. One is the picnic table at work, and the other is the water pump casing in the back yard. Both are covered with snow.

snowbanks

Shoveling out the walkway at home, the snowbanks are so high that the snow often falls back into the pathway at my feet. Snowplows and other machinery seem to be dealing with the same phenomenon in roadways and parking lots in the area.

snow melt

On Sunday, temperature rose above freezing for the first time in over a month. Snow melt occurring along roadsides. It was nice to see. Ads for summer theatrical performances at the Weston Playhouse appearing in the Rutland Herald.

winter farmers market

I didn't get to the Winter Farmers market this Saturday, but went last Saturday. It's a cheery place to go this time of year.

pitchers and catchers

Today is Allyn's birthday, breakfast in bed for her. By my reckoning it marks the end of the coldest stretch of winter, more or less. The sun is out now when leaving from work. Pitchers and catchers reporting to spring training in Florida & Arizona (not in Vermont).

ancestral home

Allyn & Ellen went skiing on Presidents Day. I have to admit that I like the colors in this photo. Immediately after I took it, John & I saw 4-5 bluebirds hanging around this nest on the fence post. It was a cold day & they were puffed up like little fluff balls. I start to see them this time of year, but Ellen said she saw them all winter long when she was living with us last year. We have had bluebirds nesting back there for several years now. I'm sure that all the birds we saw were born in that nest. It is heartwarming to realize it is their ancestral home.
I've always thought the first actual sign of spring is the frost bumps that are now appearing in Rte. 133, but it's not. It's the return of the birds from the south. Their calls become more prevalent every day. It's a welcome return of energy & life to the north country.

troika

We've had a lot of snow covered roads lately. Sometimes during my commute I feel like I'm not driving a car, but a Russian troika, somewhere between Moscow & St. Petersburg; wolves nipping at my heels. Active fantasy life.

Cheshire Cat moon

Was heading home the other night, and came out to find the waxing crescent moon high overhead. I remember seeing this a number of years ago. The way the moon sits in the sky reminds me of the Cheshire Cat from the Walt Disney version of Alice in Wonderland. The moon looks like the universe is giving me a cat-that-ate-the-canary smile from an all knowing presence, laughing at my feeble attempts to understand its mysteries. It gives me an unsettling, but compelling feeling. I honestly don't know if the crescent moon is always in this position or not. I think not, but I'm going to have to watch and see.

cabin fever edition

The summer tourist said to the old Vermonter, "It is beautiful up here, so green! But what do you do during the winter?" The Vermonter said, "Oh, we set and think, mostly set."
Keith Jennison

noticing

How is it when something you've seen a thousand times is seen for the first time? For the first time the other day I saw that the blue sky is reflected in snow melt the same way it is on a lake or a pond. I'm sure I've seen this before, but never really seen it. Heraclitus said, "Nature loves to hide."
This blog is mostly about noticing. Finally seeing what has been hiding in plain sight is the most rewarding aspect of undertaking this exercise in awareness.

jewels

In the evenings now, Venus is setting in the west while Jupiter is rising in the east. When I got home from the Zen Center last night the skies were very clear. Orion, Leo, Gemini, Cassiopeia shining like jewels in the sky.

splinters of light

The temperature at our house on Friday morning was 16 below. I went to the morning meditation anyway, and coming out of Steve's office afterwards, the sun was shining brightly. As I walked over to my car, I noticed these small particles of ice floating about in the cold air. They were so small that the only time you could actually see them was when sunlight reflected off of them, little splinters of light. When I drove home in the evening, I saw a sun pillar off to the west. Sun pillars are caused by sunlight reflecting off ice crystals in the atmosphere. There's a lot of that going around.

snow

On Saturday morning I saw a van pulling a snowmobile trailer in West Rutland. On the one hand, this has been a cold and snowy winter, and I'm getting a little tired of it. On the other hand, this winter season has produced some of the most and best snow I can remember in a long time. There are lots of people reveling in it I'm sure. Pete Esslinger runs a snowmobile business, and is one of the nicest people I know. I'm happy for him. The ski resorts must be doing very well which is good for our region.
Earlier in the winter I remember reading about the animals who rely on snow cover for their very survival. When the snow pack went away back in December, I remember seeing their pathways in what little snow was left, and wondering how they were doing. I'm sure they are happy and warm in the abundant and fluffy snow we are currently experiencing.

flowers

Ellen got Allyn some paperwhite bulbs for Christmas. They are doing very well. Saw a woman buying some tulips in the market the other day. You need some flowers this time of year.

looming

Snowbanks growing along Kahle road. Icicles looming at work. Sand and gravel being spread in parking lots in town. They sweep it up again in the spring.

Hoo hoo hoo

The full moon, the "Snow" moon shining brightly last night. Getting up early recently to shovel out the driveway, sound of an owl.

For sounds in winter nights, and often in winter days, I heard the forlorn but melodious note of a hooting owl indefinitely far; such a sound as the frozen earth would yield if struck with a suitable plectrum. I seldom opened my door in a winter evening without hearing it; Hoo hoo hoo, hooer hoo.
Walden
Henry David Thoreau

blizzard conditions

Yesterday we had inventory at work, and I had to go in early. It was dark, and the snowstorm was ongoing. Rutland seemed like some sort of Arctic frontier. I drove home from work later than usual, and the conditions were the same, dark with wind and snow, blizzard conditions. It reminded me of a time many years ago when I pulled into Newport, Vermont late at night at this time of year. It was a dark and desolate time with the feeling of being on the borderlands of the civilized world.

Candlemas Day

Snowing on February 2nd, Groundhog Day, also Candlemas day. "Half your wood & half your hay should still be left on Candlemas Day." How you doin' Doug?

Every man looks at his wood-pile with a kind of affection.
Walden
Henry David Thoreau