True North

Resolving

Aaahh, NOW I realize why I let myself be so busy all December. I was avoiding winter. Avoiding cold and darkness and the hopelessness that follows. Now that it's January, I'm facing down a long line of winter weeks ahead. Last year, I made a point of appreciating and taking photos of winter's own stark natural beauty and sharing them here in Thank you, Winter posts. I think that plan will have to make a comeback, and perhaps the photo above can count as the first one of the new year: the wintertime view from our bedroom window of the moment between sunset and twilight. The rest of the year, when the trees have their leaves, this view is predominantly of foliage. But in the winter, when the sun sets, it casts a bronze glow on the windows of the houses you can finally see between the trees, whose leafless black branches reach up alongside the church steeple into the purple sky...

I have tons of goals and plans for 2012, but if I have any resolutions, per se, they are all about keeping my momentum going through the next three months, about being healthy in all the ways I need to be to keep the winter blues away. Resolutions like eating well, not skipping meals, and taking my vitamins (boring, but crucial). Like walking more, even when it's cold, especially when it's cold and sunny, and reaping the rewards of all the exercise endorphins and sunshine vitamin D. Like weekly nights out on the town with friends, even if it's just one quick drink after the kids are in bed (every mama needs some upcoming adult fun to look forward to at all times, I believe). And like DAILY time at the easel to work on the pieces I'm doing just for me -- painting is the best time I spend with myself, and this winter it is no longer ok to prioritize it below laundry, groceries, work, cleaning, bills, kiddo homework, family obligations, etc, etc. My creative life is just as important as everything else on that list and deserves to be treated as such.

What about you? Any cherished resolutions for the new year - creativity-protecting, sanity-preserving, or otherwise? Do comment and tell me.

Thank You, Winter

Taken back in December. The Hudson is particularly beautiful in the cold, barren season. These were all shot from the same spot, within two minutes of each other, but the colors and light changed so much depending on which direction I was facing... Love.

Thank You, Winter

At Wave Hill this past weekend with my girls (for the excellent Hibernators' Ball!), walking through the bare, frozen gardens, we came upon this tree still loaded down with red berries. Against the grey and white, the red seemed to glow. In a different season, would I have even noticed?...

Thank You, Winter

Happy 2011, everyone! We had a wonderful end of the year ~ a cozy Christmas, a big-night-out New Year's Eve, and visits with friends from far away. We're back to the routine now, broken up by the occasional snow day...

Part of returning to the routine is reminding myself of my new resolution to look for the beauty in winter. Especially now, in the loooong stretch of cold after the high of the holidays... months of cold... abandonment by the sun... my old enemy, February. I refuse to be undone by it all this year!

So thank you, winter, for the beauty of bare trees against a dusky sky, adorned by the moon. I appreciate it. I really do.

Thank You, Winter

It may technically still be autumn, but it sure feels like winter lately. The temperature hasn't gone much above freezing all week, and I've broken out the puffer coat. Getting Maeve out of the car at nursery school this morning, I felt a familiar gloom descend: the feeling of being constantly cold, of always rushing from indoors to car to indoors, of looking up at the sky and seeing mostly gray. This is not my favorite time of year.

In other winters in my past, the gloom has turned into depression and despair. Last year, though, I managed to stay pretty balanced and not fall all the way into the hole, mostly through a regime of vitamins, light therapy with the SAD lamp (which we call the happy lamp), and focus on fun creative projects.

Can I do it again this year? I think I can. And in service of that goal, I'm going to try something here: Thank You Winter posts. About once a week I'll be posting a photo or two of something uniquely wintery that has caught my eye and made me catch my breath. A little pause, a little acceptance meditation. I'm always working towards acceptance, especially in my relationships, and so I like that this plan will help me with that goal, too. Practicing seeing the good in something (or someone) and being grateful for it is always a sound investment in your own sanity.

So today, after dropping off Maeve, I went and found a nearby winter favorite - a huge sycamore tree bordering the town playground near her school. Sycamores are so gorgeous in winter, it is their glamour season. Their bark.. their amazing angles... their sheer massive size, stretching bare white arms up into the sky. The absence of leaves lets you get a good look.

Anyone who wants to can join in, just leave a comment with a beautiful winter moment from your own day (or a link to your own photo).

Serendipitously, when I cam home this afternoon and got on the computer, I randomly stumbled on this project, Come Darkness, by fabric artist and blogger, Maria Alexandra Vettese (MAV, of 3191 fame). I must be on to something here... ;)