It's been a while...and a couple of snow storms since I last posted

Sorry that pesky...Life thing interrupts and you just have no time for anything. It is December 18, 2013 and it is 27 degrees Fahrenheit outside right now. We had a few days of below zero weather and that was an experience, my first. The snow freezes and ice covers everything. It is beautiful and purifying. The sun is out in full force now and with it comes the melt and the 'mush'. I always thought that the slippery bit was when things froze...wrong its when they start to melt. I'm in my attic office looking out upon the world through small 'dormer' windows. Ice and snow cover the slate tiles and as the house warms you hear a small roar and an avalanche of snow and muck slide off the side of the house and let out a huge roar like a hungry lion or some other beast reminding you of life! I understand now how and why there are more than 50 words to describe snow in certain languages. Fresh snow, frozen snow, clumpy snow, mushy snow, etc. It is still beautiful and majestic though. My friend KC from high school posted on my Facebook page something to the effect that native SF'ers are resilient and adaptive and I believe she is right! While I am in VT in the cold and the snow, she is in the desert experiencing the exact opposite. I am am looking at multiple forms of Water and she is in an environment which lacks most forms of water. Her comment is also a revelation in that native SF'ers are resilient and adaptive and are so because they are no longer in SF! It is however, beautiful to see this winter wonderland and to breathe in the pure air which is here in Vermont. It is amazing to have the force of nature dictate your response to life. Everything is slower here because it takes just a little more time to complete any given task because of the weather. You feel more 'alive' and more of being a 'part' of this planet when it impacts you so. California has its beauty and charm and weather which allows you more time for more things but what do you gain by filing your time with more and more things? Activities, events, logging in each hour on a calendar. You definitely are more 'detached' form the planet that way and more 'attached' to society/culture/events. There is a certain Zen in taking the time to shovel the snow off the driveway or sprinkle salt or clear your walkway. Give you time to think and absorb that which is around you while you perform a necessary task. Slowly your time is filled with events tied to daily life as opposed to events to just 'fill up' your time slot. This is definitely not the life for all nor am I criticizing. This has been a good change/opportunity for me. I am seeing life in a very different way. Life in Vermont/New England is good.