Note that we are porting this server to another, so this post might be lost, but in case it is I will have backed it up and will repost it later.
Our winter wonderland is here, starting last Monday and continuing, with snow all week, through the weekend. My return to running is on the treadmill. While my toe seems mostly healed, I fell on black ice Tuesday morning and have a fudged-up hip. It only bothers me when I’m running, so am just going easy, starting again with the C25K program–which has been pretty easy compared to where I was at before the toe issue. The big bummer is needing to run on a treadmill, and only twice a week so far, since it is hard to even walk outside, much less run!
However, we are now commuting to work on the new skytrain, which finally made its way to our neck of the woods, which means we use way fewer fossil fuels and get outside more. It’s about a half mile walk each way, including to and from the bus stops, so that’s an extra mile every day–my Google fit has been very active lately!
Friday we had the most beautiful of snowfalls, and I only had to work at home three hours that morning. I had some banked overtime and time off for the rest of the day. It snowed all day, with large flakes still coming down when Morgan got home. So after dinner, we decided to dig out the snowshoes and went on a neighborhood “ski”. I was already wearing my super baggy flannel pajama pants and didn’t even change.
Our neighborhood is quite hilly and full of side roads. We were surprised at the number of neighbors out that night–all the kids were making snowballs and snowmen or just sledding around. Some folks on the street behind us were snowboarding down the steep road leading from their street to past ours. And people were trying to keep up with the shoveling as the snow was falling fast and hard. We had so much fun and were out for a while. I liked how there was a feeling of community spirit, even more so than being out in summer. The nice thing is that it was just around freezing, so wasn’t too cold.
So, the new train commute is nice in that I walk more, and this time of year, as we head into the winter solstice, I hike up the cold, snowy path to the train before sunrise and hike home after sunset. I can watch the turning of the sky from the train, and right now the dark skies are clear and with a big moon smiling down.
I listen to music both ways, and often thoughts of the world pace through my mind. This morning, the deep snow of our yard greeted me with diamonds flickering beneath a waning gibbous moon and dim streetlights. It is hard to walk in the snow and on the icy paths, but I figure it’s good balance training for trail running when it gets warm again.
I enjoy being out in the elements in the winter, and love the dawns and dusks in the snow. I do have many more thoughts I’d like to share–about the state of the world right now, particularly–but I’ll write more in the new year. For now you can see my special holiday announcement at Eco-fiction.com.
The featured image is a pastel sketch of me snowshoeing Friday night.
