Getting Ready for Winter


Now that mid-November is here, the sun dips behind the hill by 3:30 p.m. There is about one hour of sunshine through my living room sliding door. I moved the furniture so that I have a nice chair to sit and read in the sunshine. Instead, I usually find myself sitting on the floor in the sun with the kitties, a handwork project in my lap. The light and warmth go all too quickly. The the purple shadows of evening overtake us and the air cools and I reach for my sweater.

The view out my windows is peaceful and gives me joy, yet I yearn for the time I can have a small house that faces the sun again. I long to see the bright morning sun as it rises, to have sunlight that travels through all the rooms in the course of a day. But for now I live in an apartment on the west side of the building that sits on the east side of a hill. I'll enjoy the purple shadows and the birds that come to the feeders on the patio and the chipmunk that comes to drink out of the birdbath. I'll take joy in the gray fox that visits from time to time and the raccoons and even the skunk that I see every now and then. But I still miss the light.

As winter approaches, I crave green and growing things. For the last several years, I have been forcing bulbs. This year I have a multitude of bulbs tucked in pots and hyacinth glasses protected from freezing in my storage shed by brown paper and bubble wrap. On the window shelf in the living room there is a pot of paperwhites just starting to grow. Another spot of joy on a dark winter day!

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