Winter's Here!

Some days are unmistakeable; the first day of fall is a favorite - it doesn't matter what the calendar says the date is - and usually it's within days of the first day of school too. You can open the door and step outside, and just smell the leaves turning colors on the trees... I don't know what it is...it's just so unique!

Within a few months of that day, and it seems it's usually without warning, I'll wake up to a room that's just a bit colder than the usual morning temperature. There might be a hint of breeze in the air (that I can hear rustling outside my bedroom) and somehow I want to just dig down deeper in my blankets and snuggle just a minute longer (this never happens on a summer morning!). Surely enough, as I approach the front door, I will feel the cold sneaking in between the storm door, the front door, and the door frame...whistling a little tune to let me know that it's REALLY chilly out! As I suspect - the gap between the doors is just a little wider this morning, letting in the colder air, and letting my precious warm house air escape. Yet even with that gap, there's an extra tug I need to give to get the door open....and the sound of ripping tape off a counter....the door's slightly stuck to the door frame from all the condensation that's formed between warm house and cold outside.

The storm door is closed well, yet there is a thin layer of frost over the inside glass. (OK, this isn't good at all...I'm going to have to have Mark take a look at this.) Again I pry the storm door from the frame, and Abbey the Wonder Dog is startled from her patient waiting. Now even she is apprehensive to take her paws outside. This will be her first morning of REALLY cold weather.

My first visual is almost deceiving; hazy fog lays low to the ground, and the sun is trying desperately to break through the haze that screens it from the earth. The cold air and heavy clouds have frosted the whole countryside; a glistening, sugar coated farm scene fresh from Currier and Ives. The grass sparkles as the sun breaks through, and the front porch railing is glittering as if coated with ...well...glitter. Slowly the tap, tap, tap, of the heavy frost on the roof melting captures my attention as it hits near me on the step.  Abbey rushes by, off to chase a morning bird or just do her morning laps. Other than her dashing off, the morning is still; the breeze subsided.

It's then that I wished I had stayed bundled up in my blankets, but carried them outside with me to capture more of this moment, to relish and relax in it. The breeze rustles the few leaves on the branch, and reminds me that it's below 30 degrees outside. Abbey is content to run around without me, so I seek shelter within the walls that once felt cool, and am happy that they are holding in the warm air. I manage to remain away from my bed, afraid that I'd never stay awake now, but manage to get my morning routine going with the memory of the frosty beauty outside to accompany me.

I'm so grateful that I have sight this morning! As much as my scent can identify that first day of fall, it's my vision that calls out this cold morning. Without it, it would have been "just another cold day".