Haystacks in black and white...

Or is it just another trick of the sun?

Nature photo of the day: watchful haystacks in the winter snow. What the camera captures is not always what your eyes see, this picture is in color, not in black and white.

a walk down the lane
to visit a neighbor or a friend
often begins
as it ends
with a set of haystacks watching you
or watching out for you
as you meander along the unpaved path
that many thousands of feet have ambled before
because walking is truly the best way
to get around
your soles aching to stretch
in the freshly fallen snow
slipping, sliding, 
glissading
when and where the going gets steep
like a ballerina in chunky winter boots
clumsily falling like a child 
laughing all the way
back home

- Cheryl M.

Love it, hate it, or falling (literally) somewhere in between, winter has arrived in gentle force, leaving behind about 8 inches of heavy, wet, sticky snow. At least for us in the hills of northern Romania.

As much as I love being outside, I can’t say that I’ve ever “loved” winter. I enjoy the cold, even walking out barefoot in the snow. And I don’t mind the snow in its many forms, but the ice associated with winter is something I struggle to be grateful for, even though I used to ice skate on the shallow pond in our backyard as a teenager - in a long sleeveless dress no less!

Sledding, however, was always a little more threatening to a child with glasses. They fog up or slide down your nose, snow covers the inside and outside of the lenses… you get the picture, especially if you wear them yourself.

And then there was the time my older sister and I went down the “Sugar Bowl” at Gilbert Park in Downers Grove, not too far from home… she slid and slid down the hill between the trees till she slid too far right into one. I was right behind her and heard the thump of her tiny head on the stump, resulting in a concussion and a trip to the hospital.

I also lost my front tooth in a sledding accident in our backyard. It was that kind of snow that gets so icy on top that you can walk on it - until you fall through and hurt your shins. Well, I went face first into that one. Luckily it was a loose tooth and I found it two years later on a bright summer day.

Winter memories… I’m sure you have plenty of your own.

As for the journal prompt of the day:

What winter memory do I cherish the most?

Was it outdoors, or in? Related to skiing, sledding, skating, or perhaps no winter sports at all?

Write it down and let it out.

With gratitude for winter,

Cheryl

p.s. Our digital 10-page Winter edition of the Earth Gratitude Journal is currently on sale, as are all of our other instant winter prints. Grab them while they are cold!