Yeah! the winter solstice! The earth is now tipping towards summer and the days are starting to get longer. If that isn't good news, I just don't know what is in my books.
The next pressing questions is will we have a white Christmas? At the moment the ground is bare and soft. There is a winter storm on the books for tonight, but Christmas day itself is supposed to be mild. Not that I mind I have to say. We are driving down to Marblehead, MA to have lunch with Steve's family, then back to Hancock to have dinner with my family and do farm chores. Having the roads clear of snow will just make everything so much easier. I will say that it is strange not having snow on the ground and the lakes open now. I do remember having warm Christmases in the past, but we aren't burning nearly the wood that we normally do by this time of year, and we have really only had to deal with frozen water buckets a few times versus every night and morning. Chores are, dare I say, pleasant.
I am finding the land beautiful right now. You really get to see the bones of the earth. Normally the leaves fall, the snow comes and everything is buried till spring, but not having any snow you can see through the woods and see the stone walls, waterfalls, old buildings and cars and of course rock formations. Not having tons of snow means now I can be out on the land clearing brush and trees, opening up more space and letting in more sun on the orchard. What started out as just opening up a little space has grown mightily. But I tackle a bit every day, cutting and hauling, building the berm and splitting firewood. As much as I would like to have the project done now, being the impatient person that I am, it is nice being able to slice and dice the fire wood, haul the brush as I go and not have a big mess to contend with when the snow does fly and the project is on hold till summer, when I don't have the time for such a project.
Winter will come, like the sun will rise in the morning. At the moment I am content with the warmish days, soon though, I will be hovering by the wood stove reading and waiting impatiently for spring. Merry Christmas to all, Happy holidays, be safe happy and healthy.
Just for fun, go to http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/b4_EdJ-XkUA?rel=0
.... they aren't our goats, but you will laugh like we do. Cheers
