Settling Down for the Season...

Hopefully this time of year, you're ready up here for the down times -- indoors more, or more prepared outside, settled in with sweaters, soups, frozen fruits and reading materials.

This morning is overcast, which isn't all that ugly in the country. The grays and browns have been with us more than a week or two now -- they seem like familiar friends, more worn than weary this time of year, but the same face as mid March, when you're patiently waiting for greener signs of Spring...

I'm ready. This year, more and more every year, I like to think I've prepped, planned and prepared enough to make it a most comfortable winter. Healthy, removed, and in control. Sometimes it starts later in the month; two years ago, we had several inches of sticking snow on my birthday... You never can be too precise by the calendar.

Still, it's here:
the slower season. When you have to think more carefully about manufacturing warmth, and not taking it all for granted -- that easy sunshine of the summer months.