moon

Full moon, "wolf" moon, super moon, blood moon, blue moon. Back for the new moon.

January

A meadow mouse, startled by my approach, darts damply across the skunk track. Why is he abroad in daylight? Probably because he feels grieved  about the thaw. Today his maze of secret tunnels, laboriously chewed through the matted grass under the snow, are tunnels no more, but only paths exposed to public view and ridicule. Indeed, the thawing sun has mocked the premises of the microtine economic system!

The mouse is a sober citizen who knows that grass grows in order that mice may store it as underground haystacks, and that snow falls in order that mice may build subways from stack to stack: supply, demand, and transport all neatly organized. To the mouse, snow means freedom from want and fear.

A rough-legged hawk comes sailing over the meadow ahead. Now he stops, hovers like a kingfisher, and then drops like a feathered bomb into the marsh. He does not rise again, so I am sure he has caught, and is now eating, some worried mouse-engineer who could not wait until night to inspect the damage to his well-ordered world.

The rough-leg has no opinion why grass grows, but he is well aware that snow melts in order that hawks may again catch mice. He comes down out of the Arctic in the hope of thaws, for to him thaw means freedom from want and fear.

January
A Sand County Almanac
Aldo Leopold

change

Yesterday was a beautiful springlike day. Sunny with temperatures in the high 40's. We had a couple of days recently when temps were almost at 60 but yesterday seemed even warmer. It's still January and I've seen robins and bluebirds in fields nearby.
I watched a little bit of the golf tournament from San Diego yesterday. I wistfully noted the bright green grass, but also noticed how the south-facing field in the back was devoid of snow. When we first moved here in the 80's, I can remember watching the Masters which takes place in April, and this same field would be totally covered with snow.
Allyn and I went to a talk given by our friend Kim Royar last week. It was a great talk with all kinds of interesting information. The most astonishing fact she mentioned was that in Revolutionary times, the temperatures in Valley Forge, Pa. were the equivalent of current readings in Quebec City! Even in the mere 30 years we've been here on the other side of the creek, there have been some stark climactic changes.

after the rain

After the rain. This photo says it all.

bluebirds

Yesterday was a rainy, foggy, gloomy day. I looked out the back window to check the temperature and saw a pair of bluebirds inspecting the birdhouse in the back. Sometimes it seems that spring could never come again, but I guess it will. These bluebirds think it will

The Fallow Way

When I go into the United Way offices in Rutland I see these geese waiting, waiting in the Otter Creek. Thought of this song:

The Fallow Way

by Jimmy Webb

I'll learn to love the fallow way

When winter draws the valley down

And still the rivers in their storm

And freezes all the little brooks

Time when our steps slow to the song

Of falling flakes and crackling flames

Deep in the velvet of the night

The crystal time the silent times

I'll learn to love their quietness

While deep beneath the glistening snow

The black earth dreams of violets

I'll learn to love the fallow way

When all my colors fade to white

And flying birds fold back their wings

Upon my anxious wonderings

The sun has slanted all her rays 

Across the vast and harvest plain

My memories mingle in the dawn

I dream of joyful vagabonds

I'll learn to love the fallow way

And gather in the patient fruits

And after autumn's blaze and burn

I'll know the feel of still, deep roots

But nothing seemed to do or need

That crack the ice in frozen ponds

And slumbering in winter's folds

Have dreams of green and blue and gold

I'll learn to love the fallow way

And listen for the blossoming

Of my own heart once more in spring

As sure as time, as sure as snow

As sure as moonlight and of stars

The fallow time will fall away

The sun will bring an April day

And I will yield to Summer's way.

robins

Two beautiful winter days over the weekend. It definitely seems lighter now. Speaking of light, Allyn's daffodils have been leaning this way and that, trying to find as much light as they can. Aren't we all. We spotted some robins  pecking away in some open ground when leaving the Zen Center yesterday.

forgot

Forgot to attribute the words in the last post to Vermont humorist, Keith Jennison. Sorry about that.

cabin fever, part 1

Hey old-timer, it sure it pretty up here in the summer, but what do you do during the winter?

Oh, we set and think, mostly set.

snow

Came outside yesterday morning to a winter wonderland. 3-5 inches of fluffy snow had come down during the night. The feathery snow blew off my windshield in a whoosh as I headed into a morning meeting. People in town (not all) were excited by the beauty and the skiing opportunities. Winter can be difficult in the north country, but days like yesterday are a gift.

I weathered some merry snow storms, and spent some cheerful winter evenings by my fire-side, while the snow whirled wildly without, and even the hooting of the owl was hushed.

Former Inhabitants and Winter Visitors
Walden
Henry David Thoreau

Blue hour

If you get up early these days in Vermont, you often get to experience L'Heure Bleu, the blue hour. The color of the snow goes from blue to green to gray to, well, white sometimes. Sabra Field's prints are famous for showing this phenomenon. What color is snow anyway?

carve

Beautiful uneventful winters day. Snowmobiles around and about. Ice fishing shanty on a trailer in West Rutland. Sun and wind "carve" the snow into beautiful patterns.

busy

The weather over the past few days has been an amazing roller coaster of a ride. Temperatures rose from cold and temperate mid-week readings to almost 60 on Friday with rain, freezing rain, ice, high winds and snow. The rain and rapid snow-melt caused flooding in many places including the Ira Creek and in my own basement.
It is amazing to consider all the steps necessary to maintain equilibrium at home here on the other side of the creek during weather events like these. The flooding activated the sump pump in the basement with the worst possible scenario being that the basement would flood and the furnace be damaged should the power go out. I had purchased a generator to help address that possibility. I worried about the difficulty of getting to the generator in the garage in time. The door to the garage operates electronically, and it would have to be manipulated by hand somehow in that eventuality. I left the car out of the garage during the ice storm to help deal with that eventuality.
The weather turned cold again but the sump pump is still running. Ice accumulates on the end of the pipe leading out of our basement, and so one of the last things I do every night is knock the accumulated ice off the end so that it won't hinder the exit of water from our basement. Another concern is the water from the basement gathering on Kahle road, freezing there, and causing driving difficulties not only for ourselves but for the snow plow which is about the only other vehicle that uses this road. I spend some time reopening the ditch along the road to eliminate that problem.
Then of course there are the usual wintertime concerns. Keeping the wood stove going. Activating the heater in the bathroom off the kitchen so the pipes don't freeze during frigid evenings. There's kind of a lot to do.

But if you can take a minute and look around, it's still beautiful.

January thaw

January thaw; temperatures around 50 yesterday and today. Sound of water coming off the roof and under the tires on the road, fog in the valleys. Allyn washed her car yesterday. She wasn't the only one. During these thaws, bees leave the hive to take care of business. After breakfast in bed, and arguing with my granddaughter on Google chat, I was also around and about this morning. Had some coffee with friends.

The truth is that you already are what you are seeking.
Adyashanti
Zen page-a-day calendar

Fargo

The wind was blowing hard out of the south the other day when I was driving Rte. 7. The good news was that the temperature was considerably warmer. However, the snow drifting across sections of the road made for hazardous driving. It reminded me of something out of the movie Fargo. Wood pellet pallets, salt, sand, and windshield washer fluid featured in gas stations and hardware stores.

OTOH: Heading out to meditation this morning. It seemed lighter out!

house warming

I know I've said this before, but during the warmer months the wood stove is purely ornamental. It actually becomes something of a catch-all. We put stuff on it, like it's a table or something. In the winter, however, it is a central part of our life here. During the recent cold snap it was very comforting to know that the wood rack was stocked up and to sit in front of the stove and soak up the heat radiating out of it.
One of the worries during really cold weather is that the power will go off, and that it will wreak havoc on water pipes and the like. Electric powered pellet stoves aren't any help unless you have a generator (we do). The wood stove provides an insurance policy should the power go off for a long period of time. You could even cook meals on it if necessary.
The stove, along with the iron pot on top to provide humidity, makes the most amazing sounds; sighing, mewing, clanking, bubbling. It's almost like a living thing.

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

Thanks, Shawn!

Winter Grace

by Patricia Farnoli

If you have seen the snow

under the lamppost

piled up like a white beaver hat on the picnic table

or somewhere slowly falling

into the brook

to be swallowed by the water

then you have seen beauty

and know it for its transience.

And if you have gone out in the snow

for only the pleasure

of walking barely protected

from the galaxies

the flakes settling on your parka

like the dust from just-born stars

the cold waking you

as if from long sleeping

then you can understand

how, more often than not,

truth is found in silence

how the natural world comes to you

if you go out to meet it,

its ice ditches filled with dead weeds,

its vacant birdhouses, and dens

full of the sleeping.

But this is the slowed-down season

held fast by darkness

and if no one comes to keep you company

then keep watch over your own solitude.

In that stillness, you will learn 

the significance of cold

and the night,

which is otherwise always eluding you.

Thanks, Shawn!

Mind of winter

To newcomers and old timers on this blog, I post the following poem every year on what appears to be the coldest day of the winter. I first encountered this poem during a talk at a February sesshin many years ago. It was -24 here yesterday morning so I hope to God this is the right time for this edition.

The Snow Man

by Wallace Stevens

One must have a mind of winter

To regard the frost and the boughs

Of the pine-trees crusted with snow,

And have been cold a long time

To behold the junipers shagged with ice

The spruces rough in the distant glitter

Of the January sun; and not to think

Of any misery in the sound of the wind,

In the sound of a few leaves,

Which is the sound of the land

Full of the same wind

That is blowing in the same bare place

For the listener, who listens in the snow,

And, nothing himself, beholds

Nothing that is not there, and the nothing that is.

mountain

The description is not the described; I can describe the mountain, but the description is not the mountain, and if you are caught up in the description, as most people are, then you will never see the mountain.

Krishnamurti
Zen page-a-day calendar

really cold days

Squeak of boots on snow on really cold days. Kicking snow off those same boots when coming inside. Frost collecting on the bottoms of doors. Ice skating rinks are busy. This is the rink in East Aurora.

Wolf Moon

The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow gave the luster of mid-day to objects below.

Twas the Night Before Christmas
Clement C. Moore

Happy Birthday!

Yesterday it was -24 on New Year's morning. We are in the middle of a real cold snap. These usually occur in January, but this one started in late December. I'm sure that's happened before, but the last time I remember it being this cold in December was the December before John was born. The high temperature on Christmas day that year was -15, the low was -35. Happy Birthday John! Full moon, the "Wolf" moon either tonight or last night depending on your calendar.

It's always just beginning. Everything is always just beginning.
Jakuso Kwong
Zen page-a-day calendar

Happy New Year

Mt. Mansfield

Happy New Year! Drove home from Buffalo the other day. It's about a six hour trip on the NY Thruway. As I came over the final hill into West Rutland, I got my first real view of the snow covered Green Mountains east of Rutland. It was so beautiful. I can honestly say it was the most beautiful scene I saw on the entire trip. It's pretty nice here on the Other Side of the Creek, even in January.