Over the weekend it seemed I bumped my toe several times, even before dipping into the mulled wine on Saturday. My father-in-law suggested putting something over my feet, so I did–slippers. After a very busy but great weekend full of family and friends visiting, and despite that occasional clutzy toe thing on Saturday, my toe has not hurt since then. Yesterday I was able to do a two-mile hike. Today a 5-mile bike workout. The rest of the week I’ll stick to hikes and bikes, and if all remains okay, I’ll start running again next week. Cannot wait.
Yesterday I really did love getting out into the woods–listening to the Lore podcast. It’s like I need that silent reverie. I have missed it so much, despite some hiking here and there.
We’ve gotten two months of constant rain, minus about five clear days in that sixty odd days. Nights are dipping down low but hovering just over freezing, which means endless rains and winds. Some of them are heavy. At times I lay there at night listening to my wind chimes go wild. So this weather makes for very wet trails; yesterday I slid more than once in wet leaves and mud.
The sky is nearly perpetually gray and cold, except for the rare clarity that brings wildly colored sunsets and sunrises. The surrounding coastal mountains are layered with confection-like snow. They brood above the Pacific, the solid giants that they are, with Mt. Baker visible on better days–appearing like a massive pointed wedding cake in the distance.
Every night as I fall asleep I think of colder nights full of diamond-like snow flitting through a black sky. I see twinkling eyes in the dreamed of snow, which falls light and packs hard. I can hear howling gusts, and see how they blow the snow like fairy leaves, making them dance. I envision how it feels to crunch through the snow with boots or glide on skis and skates, something I miss and haven’t done for awhile. I imagine tiny dim porch lights just making circles in the wild packed snow around–bringing it out of its slumber and gently soaking it with life agleam.
I’m sure when we go to Maryland in January, and to Kamloops next month, we’ll get a taste of ice, snow, and freezing weather. I can’t wait–but I also like it at home and dream of putting on our snowshoes and doing a wonderland hike, out somewhere that is distant, peaceful, sacred.
I do really miss winters, or at least winter beginnings. I’m done with it after a couple weeks, wanting the warmth and sun again. Vancouver is just so mild, but it is strange we have not had any snow in the valleys for a few years now. Not anything that accumulates or sticks around.
The featured image was taken by my husband on December 24, 2008 as we headed to Kamloops to visit relatives.
