The Way Of The Circle

As I was coming back into the house yesterday I looked at the porch with all the snow of the past few days rapidly melting, and decided that I needed to both finally get some of the crocks into the house and unpack a couple of large plastic containers that have been sitting in the corner of the porch waiting for me for get motivated.

Both containers were labelled as quilts and breakables.

The picture above was inside one of those containers carefully wrapped in a quilt.

It was drawn by my oldest son Sean when he was in Grade 8.

He was always creative in an enviably effortless and thoughtless way as he was growing up.

I remember watching him as a 7 or 8 year old little boy playing with a box.  Within the span of 15 minutes that box got demolished as this child of mine ripped and tore and strung together, and transformed the box (again effortlessly and thoughtlessly) from a boat to a car to a parachute to a shark to something to do with Beetle Juice (which was his favorite movie at the time).

I remember one day when still living in Canada with the boys. 

As a single mother I was valiantly trying to help Chris make a musical instrument for a school project, and after he and I unsuccessfully made something worthy of a school project I called Sean over to the kitchen table and asked him if he could help.

My 10 year old son regarded all of the supplies on the table for a moment, grabbed a few things and twisted and tied, and less than five minutes later wordlessly threw something on the table.

It made music, and looked better than the piece of junk Chris and I had conjured up.

Such is my son Sean.

The picture above was drawn during his two year stint in football (he played through Grade 8 and 9). 

Unfortunately he was a year younger than everyone else in his grade and hit puberty after everyone else as well.  Which means he was smaller and had not yet developed the muscle mass of his football playing peers.

Which means he got the crap knocked out of him pretty often until he finally decided that he had had enough.

I love this picture because it reminds me of a time when he was taking his first tentative steps from boyhood into manhood.

And I love the picture for the same reason that I love the treasure chest my youngest son gave me.  It is a reminder of our shared history together.

My oldest son is now an Athletic Trainer and works to put football players back together when they get the crap knocked out of them................

After digging out my quilts and seeing that they were all still dry and in good shape, I threw them all into the dryer for a couple of minutes one at a time.

I have been collecting these silly things for about 10 years, have gotten each one of them at yard sales over the years and have never paid more than $5 for any of them.............

I brought the crocks into the house that could easily fit on the shelves in the laundry room.

There are still 6 or so much larger crocks still sitting outside on the porch and I will get my kitchen organized and put them in a corner there.

There are still probably another 10 or so packed in boxes underneath the house.

These were also yard sale finds over about the same time period as the quilts.

They've ranged in price from 50 cents to also about $5.

I could find them easily enough and quickly enough at antique stores but honestly I just don't want to pay that much for them.

I can (and do) wait until the right crock (or quilt) at the right price comes along.

They come along just often enough to keep my collecting pangs under control...........

My snow globes were also found wrapped in quilts.

Three were yard sale buys, and the one (second from the left) with the zebra was a Christmas gift from Chris one year.

It plays Born Free............

James after our walk yesterday along our road close to the house..........

The snow around the house is almost completely gone now, and this morning it was 44 degrees.

There is still a lot of slush and ice in shady places.

I grabbed Jamie and we drove out to Skaters Cabin off the Back Loop.

There is a state run campground right next door to this place. 

It is closed for the season right now, but the area is used extensively by locals during the off-season to walk and cross country ski.

Skaters Cabin on a warm and cloudy Sunday morning..........

I have now come full circle.

I first saw Mendenhall Glacier in the winter, have visited extensively during each season of the year, and am now back at Mendenhall Glacier in the winter................

When it was snowing so heavily on Friday night and with a snow advisory in place for Saturday I was very much hoping to try out my cross country skis for the first time this weekend.

I had planned on trying skiing out on my road because I have never done it before and wanted to see if I could even succeed in moving forward.

Unfortunately the snow advisory on Saturday never provided snow, only rain.

And by this morning most of the snow was gone and it was warm.

So I put my cross country ski hopes on hold.

I was very surprised then, when I arrived at the campground near the cabin and saw these two elderly people cross country skiing with obvious ease and experience.

There was no snow on the trails - only a combination of slush and ice.

I did not know you could cross country ski on that stuff, but they were having no difficulty at all.

We'll see what next weekend brings.............

Those were the only people that I saw the entire time Jamie and I were out (which was a couple of hours), until we arrived back close to the parking lot.

A warm, and pretty and very quiet time with my dog.

I really loved it..............

We walked on a combination of slush covered roads (leading around the camp ground) and multiple side trails that rounded the perimeter of various small lakes and ponds.

My dog walking point.........

The water looked very still and very reflective and very grey.

I love every season of the year, but there is something very and quietly beautiful about this time of year.

Something very compelling and soothing..........

Picture of my dead-sexy insulated boots and Yaktrax.

With all of the slush and ice on roads and trails this morning I would not have been able to walk without these Yaktrax.

A wonderful and simple invention made of rubber and metal springs and velcro.

An absolute must in these kinds of conditions............

The first snow man of the season............

My favorite picture from this morning............

Very close to Skaters Cabin again Jamie and I ran into this beautiful dog and her owner.

In this picture the dog is sitting obediently and attentively waiting for her owner to give the command to "come"..........

W I N T E R

The snow has blanketed the earth and there is such quiet about. As the sun shines, the snow sparkles with such beauty It's like a thousand diamonds that sparkle when the snow glistens in the sun.

It seems so appropriate that the world should have Winter ... to rest. There is so much to prepare for, with Spring just around the corner, and all the activity that Summer brought with it.

Through the woods, I can even smell the freshness of the snow. The silence, as the snow falls , has me engulfed in thought. I see fresh tracks of those wood critters who have been searching for food.

I feel there eyes upon me as I ski pass them, and know their presence. They stay quiet ... so as not to disturb the day ... and not to be seen. We are as one in the quiet of the woods on a snowy day.

It would be a good place to stop here and rest. The trees are laden with snow ... makes me think of snow ghosts, and some branches even have remnants of ice frozen on them.

The sun shines, the snow begins to melt on the trees and the branches are freed of their burdens of heavy snow. The branches appear to weep with the melting of the ice.

It is not a tear of sadness however that is shed, only an acknowledgment of change and that's the beauty of the quiet of the wood ... it displays itself so well.

To acknowledge the quiet and peace, is to know that I am such a part of this. That is the way of it ... I am an integral part of the snow, the sun, the quiet the world and it too is a part of me ... that is the way of the circle.

~~By Cougar Wisdom.~~