Finally Some Snow

Winter has finally arrived.  We have had a little snow now and then, but until now we have been exempt from the crippling storms elsewhere in the country.  Even this one, though it at least made it look like winter, is notable more for the cold temperatures than snow accumulation.  Today, though, the icy wind has died down and temperatures may have reached the teens( a guess on my part based on the relative comfort of our morning walk).  I decided to let the chickens have some air.  Apparently chickens have limited memories, since they looked at the snow as if they had never seen it before.  They were curious, but not enough to venture out while I stood there.  It's a bold move to trust the new environment enough to take the plunge.  Probably if I put a ramp from the door to the ground they would be more comfortable, but the ramp is inside now, from the roost to the floor.  Penny has become either afraid or unwilling to jump.  Actually I believe now that this surviving Rhode Island Red is not Penny after all, but her twin Henny.  This girl's personality is very different, but I didn't want to believe that Penny died.  It's not that I  felt less sad, exactly, but that I protected myself from the idea of losing my favorite.  Bold girls in the doorway in this picture are Bonnie and Dottie.  I imagine their curiosity has gotten the better of them and they are out in the yard now eating snow.

So today I have errands to do.  I will have to tear myself away from my various projects.........my new painting, my origami, and my puzzle.  I sit in the various chairs that are at the ready at each station, ignoring the clutter and dirt piling up around me.  Late in the afternoons, when I have fed and walked the dogs, I read.  All day the lives of the characters in my book come and go in my mind.  I wonder what they are doing while I am away.

Speaking of books , I am enthralled with the idea of blogger Pamela's latest.  She inspires me to seek out books I would never have thought to get and have bought some of her recommendations.  Her reviews draw me in.  Like me, she loves words and they way they are put together.  Plot, even content, comes second, the clothes line that holds up the words.  Or that is the way I think.  On her recommendation, I read Proust in small doses, savoring the words and his way of seeing.  I've never been a fast reader.....sometimes I think I may even be moving my lips like a child learning to read.  Every word, every noun, every verb, every adjective, every preposition, receives my attention equally.  When I am happily occupied in other ways, I am still aware of my present book, waiting for me like a treat I have put in the refrigerator to eat later.  So, Pamela, I would love to read the book you talked about in your last post.  I have every confidence I would love it.

I sat down at the computer to post my picture of the chickens.  I've wandered away, possibly subconsciously avoiding leaving the house to go to the bank, the post office, and the grocery store.  My breakfast coffee is still sitting beside the newspaper I have not read.  I need to move.....