In the interests of a quick, simple and enjoyable blog post here at midweek, I'm borrowing just three questions from the Wednesday Hodgepodge with Joyce at From This Side of the Pond.
I picked questions 1, 2, and 5.
1. What kind of winter person are you-snow lover, fireplace snuggler, winter adventurer, or indoor hibernator? Elaborate.
I'm a little bit of all four, I guess. I do like snow, and especially enjoy watching it fall. I hate driving in snow, but I don't mind walking in it if I have proper footgear. We don't have a fireplace, but do have a wood stove in both home and cottage, so snuggling up to those is a definite option. There is truly nothing like wood heat. I don't mind a winter adventure like a walk, a drive, or even an easy hike, but nothing more adventurous than that, thank you. There are times when I feel like hibernating indoors, but that said, I do try to get outdoors every day in winter, whether to walk or just get some early morning light.
2. The Pantone color of the year is cloud dancer, described as a gentle, billowy off white shade. The color symbolizes 'peace, clarity, quiet reflection, renewal, and a soft reset'. Of the terms just listed which do you need most in your life this winter?
Quiet reflection and renewal. I would also love to do a gentle 7-day home reset. Our little cottage in the woods, below, is a magical place in winter and invites times of reflection and renewal. It's very seasonal though so we tend to pick nights with warmish temps to stay there.
5. Thomas Wentworth Higginson is credited with this quote-
"How many lessons of faith and beauty we should lose, if there were no winter in our year."
Agree or disagree? Tell us why.
I agree completely, both regarding actual winter and also the wintry seasons in our lives. The Bible contains many references to winter, snow, and ice, and I am glad that we have actual winter to show us what those look like. I am thinking especially of Isaiah 1:18 which pictures salvation as a fresh fall of snow:
"Come now, let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool."
And I do believe too, that it is very often in the wintry seasons of our lives where we learn the lessons of faith and beauty that Thomas Higginson alluded to. Those are the times we learn to lean on God and to trust His workings in our lives, and we find that those seasons have their own unique beauty.
And there are the three wintry questions and my simple thoughts and answers to them.
We were in the northeast over Christmas and were caught out in an ice storm. I did not love the drive back to my sister's house! But I do enjoy seeing snow fall and don't mind a little bit of winter. I don't want it to last into March, but the early snows are nice. Enjoy your weekend!
ReplyDeleteIce storms are the worst. Even 4-wheel drive is no guarantee of safety on ice. I have only driven in an ice storm a couple times and it was so nerve-racking!
DeleteAgree about a wood fire. Nothing beats it.
ReplyDeleteI like your answer to 5. I complain about cold weather cuz that is me, the summer girl, but there is truth in the need for winters both in the season and other.
My hubby is out of town for the day so I am in charge of both the wood stove and the wood furnace. A necessary chore in this wintry weather!
DeleteWonderful responses and pictures to go along with them. You are the perfect one to write about "winter" and its benefits, etc. And I do love to see pictures of your little cottage in the wintertime. How wonderful that you have a wood stove there so you can enjoy it year round. Yes, wood heat is the warmest, especially in a wood stove. Not so much in a fireplace unless it is properly built with vents to help circulate the heat. So many of them just suck all the warm air up the chimney! (been there, done that!). I hope you are enjoying your wintry days now. It's 29 degrees here this morning, and I am thankful to be inside where it is nice and warm! Blessings to you and yours.
ReplyDeleteParts of our cottage (especially the kitchen) are not insulated, so we really have to pick warmish nights to stay in winter. It's not possible to insulate in there as the walls are very thin, but we'd like to figure something out eventually so we can stay more often in the winter months.
DeleteNothing like a woodstove or real logs burning in a fireplace to warm a home in winter! I remember grousing occasionally about the chore of having to build a fire in our woodstove but it was indeed worth it! Your cottage is adorable and looks like it would be a special winter retreat spot! Sorry for the lateness of my visit this week - enjoyed reading your answers!
ReplyDeleteOh, no worries about being late with your visit! I am always happy to hear from friends. Yes, we love our cottage. It's not fully insulated so winter visits take some planning, but we like to spend a winter night there occasionally when the temperatures allow. Being there when snow is falling is lovely.
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