It’s been almost a week since I posted last. It’s not that I haven’t thought about it and all of you. Ideas for posts have slipped through my mind. Bits and pieces of stuff most instantly forgotten.
Fleeting morning light.
I’m distracted and I don’t know why. Could be that it keeps snowing and it’s cold. Could be that we haven’t had more than a few hours of sun in over a week. Maybe it’s the 7 day forecast which shows more snow coming.
And did I mention the cold?
Winter arrived early.
I have no plans for Christmas other than to take the dog for a walk somewhere fun. Unless it snows. Or maybe because it snows. She likes snow.
Me? I don’t think I like snow all that much any more. I remember as a kid having fun building snow forts and sledding down hills and ice skating on the lake. But these days I hurry the dog along on her walks and when she’s outside doing her business.
Quit being a drama queen mama, it’s not that bad.
It’s cold.
Why is it that when you’re traveling and it’s cold it’s fine, it’s part of the adventure. But when you’re home and scraping ice and snow off the windshield in the early dark morning it’s just about too much to bear?
Sometimes snow, sometimes fog. Sometimes both.
Alabama calls me.
But I’m trying to be a responsible adult and I have commitments here in Michigan that I need and want to honor. The most pressing of those being the Christmas concert I’m playing tonight at a local high school. I made a commitment at the beginning of the season to play a certain number of concerts. The dates were provided at the start.
To bolt for warmer temperatures now would be wrong.
Katie says she likes the cold and I should get over it. Katie doesn’t scrape the windows of a car whenever she wants to go to the park.
Can we go play now?
Maybe I should work on my Christmas cards to lift my holiday spirits. On the other hand so far we’ve received only three cards, one from our stock broker, one from Katie’s kennel, and one from an exceptionally organized friend.
It’s possible I’m not the only holiday spirit deprived, disorganized and distracted person out there.
Holiday spirit from another year.
If you need a holiday boost and you’re local, stop by the Clarkston high school tonight about 7 and hum along to some music in a warm auditorium.
I promise any snow you see there will be fake, but the holiday spirit will be real.
Happy Holidays!
Change Is Hard 
December 4, 2018 at 10:54 am
I truly empathize, Dawn. Winter arrived here much too early, as well. And even Dallas doesn’t seem as enamored of the snow as he once was! Our Band Concert is this week, too, and the Mississippi Gulf Coast is calling to me. Soon, I hope!
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December 4, 2018 at 11:05 am
Just saw on FB pictures of a friend of mine enjoying the Alabama Gulf Coast. It looked marvelous! I’ve heard the Mississippi Gulf Coast is beautiful too. Do you go every year?
Good luck with your Christmas concert!!! I hope it’s wonderful and fills you with joy, as sometimes happens to me when I’m playing in a concert. Sometimes I actually lose my place in the music because I get caught up in the whole big sound of it all.
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December 4, 2018 at 2:50 pm
We haven’t been south in several years, so maybe that’s why I’m missing it so much. As for our concert, it’s Thursday night. Dress rehearsal last night went swimmingly — our auditorium is an acoustic marvel and beautiful, to boot!
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December 4, 2018 at 11:03 am
So, is it cold there? 😉 Yeah, I’m not ready for an early winter, either. It is getting colder here again after a warm couple of days. At least those days melted most of our snow, except the piles and the snow in shadows.
What do you play? The last photo is of a clarinet, but that looks like in a shop window…. Are you part of a community band?
Hope you can escape to your warm spot soon…
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December 4, 2018 at 11:07 am
We had one warm pretty partial day. It’s 25 right now, at 11:00 a.m. That’s pretty much as high as it’s going today. In fact I think all week. But we have sun at the moment! Maybe the weather gods were reading my blog!
Yes that last photo is a clarinet in a music store window. I play clarinet with a community band, have for many years. Last year I missed one concert because I spent weeks in Feb and March in Alabama. I felt bad about that. It’s hard for the director to plan when we snowbird wanna be folks keep taking off on her.
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December 4, 2018 at 11:46 am
A few years ago I picked the trumpet back up, but I didn’t have time to play, so I dropped it again… I think I’d enjoy being in a community band. I can see how if most of the concerts are in winter it would be tough for a snow-bird-wannbe 🙂
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December 4, 2018 at 2:01 pm
Check around you…there’s probably a community band nearby. Most people that go back haven’t played in years and years, and though it can be a bit intimidating the first time you go back, you’ll find that musicians are really welcoming in a community band. And it’s a blast to play with a group again! PS: We could use another trumpet…but I guess the commute is to long to Michigan…ey?
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December 4, 2018 at 2:23 pm
yeah, a bit of a long commute 😉
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December 4, 2018 at 11:29 am
The snow arrived here in Chicagoland last Monday and it has been cold since mid-November. I am a transplanted Texan so I hear you to a point – I don’t think it’s the cold so much but all the stuff we have to wear to combat the cold that makes it so dreary and the lack of sunshine that gets us down. But it is how we react to everything. Hang in there and know that sticking around for the other 7-09 months of the year is worth it. Peace.
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December 4, 2018 at 2:03 pm
Yes, part of my problem is I don’t WANT to put on the coat and scarf and hat and boots and gloves just to get the dog to do her thing. She’s very impatient while I don all the apparel. I’d like to just pop out and pop back in again, but the times I don’t put on the coat are the times she figures she needs to explore the whole neighborhood to find the perfect spot to leave her gift.
When my folks moved from Michigan to Alabama their blood thinned out pretty quick and they no longer enjoyed winter up here. I wonder if it’s the same when you move from the south up here…do you get used to it in a year or two?
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December 4, 2018 at 2:10 pm
I can’t tolerate the heat! Or humidity. I have been back to Houston three times this year – late April (low 80s), mid August (90-low 100s), and Thanksgiving (60s). My mom sold her house after 51 years and downsized and hasn’t adapted well and has several health setbacks. Currently she is in rehab and having to work hard to get back to where she was in July before she moved. Prayers for our parents and a more moderate winter! Stay strong.
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December 5, 2018 at 3:15 pm
I hope your mom’s rehab works out the way you all want it to and she’s able to get home.
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December 4, 2018 at 1:41 pm
I’m right here with you. What a strange time of year this is, with daylight getting more and more pinched and the cold settling into your bones. It feels like the universe is testing me to see how much I can endure, winding me like a spring. Oooooh, **spring**. Doesn’t that sound nice? I hope you get some warmth and sun, however it comes.
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December 4, 2018 at 2:05 pm
Ooooooh spring DOES sound nice. Let me see, that’s only….(counting on my fingers) …maybe 4 months from now…or 2 if I go to Alabama…and if I’m lucky like last year and they have an early spring down there. Today, after I wrote this the SUN CAME OUT! I think the weather gods read my blog.
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December 4, 2018 at 2:24 pm
My problem is that despite multiple decades of experience, I still somehow expect spring to come right after the New Year. This is always a rude awakening. Spring is a new beginning, so I really think it should be consistent with the calendar and start arriving in January!
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December 4, 2018 at 2:56 pm
Not just possible, likely! The leaf picture is a classic.
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December 5, 2018 at 3:19 pm
Thank you!
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December 4, 2018 at 6:24 pm
Beautiful set of photos! You caught wonderful light on the snowy trees again and I love the closeup of the frosty needles.
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December 5, 2018 at 3:20 pm
Thank you, me too.
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December 4, 2018 at 8:53 pm
The weather here in the FL Panhandle has been weird. It poured (poured!)last week/weekend. Warm yesterday. Down in the 30’s at night through Thursday. Queue the rain for the weekend. Tell Katie I don’t look as cute in the snow as she does…..
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December 5, 2018 at 3:20 pm
That is weird weather. But then it’s weird all over. And for the record, NOBODY is as cute as Katie in the snow.
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December 5, 2018 at 9:08 pm
haha! Yes, I assumed that about Katie and snow… 🙂
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December 4, 2018 at 11:12 pm
I don’t even have snow, and it’s only the beginning of December and not even the start of winter officially yet, and all I want to do when the sun goes down is to crawl into bed and stay there. Family Christmas was always a huge thing and now–it isn’t. I don’t know what I’m going to do about that. And I also have received 3 christmas cards, all from businesses. I can’t blame anyone for this–I stopped sending out holiday greetings several years ago and gradually people stopped sending me things, too. It has been raining for over a week–well, with bits of sunshine between here and there, but still–chilly and wet and muddy. I used to like being outside even with that, but now I don’t. All I’m really saying is that you’re not alone in feeling the grayness of winter. But your photos are beautiful and inspiring. I hope you get to go somewhere warm and lovely sometime soon.
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December 5, 2018 at 3:23 pm
I wish we could meet somewhere central for a holiday that isn’t anymore. Bring the dogs and go for a long walk…or in Katie’s case a medium size walk. It’s hard without parents to continue the tradition, in fact I think it’s impossible. I think we have to establish new traditions, but without kids of our own that’s hard too. I pretty much have not done Christmas since dad was killed in 2004. Still, this time of year still makes me wistful.
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December 5, 2018 at 6:19 am
You must be getting all the snow that we should be getting. We’ve had too much rain. But the cold is coming this week.
I’ve been listening to music as I knit. Normally I like quiet, unless I go to a concert but I’ve been craving keeping my hands busy AND music. Must be the darkness that brings the desire for warmth and the need for lovely music.
Keep those commitments and THEN head south. Katie will forgive you and the snow will probably be there when you get back.
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December 5, 2018 at 3:24 pm
Most of the snow on the ground is gone now, but tomorrow they forecast more. So winter continues. I used to love to crochet and knit in winter, kept my hands busy and out of snacks! 🙂 I’ll be making all my commitments and maybe go south in March. Or sooner if it really gets cold here! 🙂 🙂 🙂
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December 5, 2018 at 8:57 pm
I don’t like the dark and the cold either, snow I don’t mind except when we get dumped on. I joined a Sheltie card exchange three years ago because very few of the family and friends that I sent cards to actually sent one back. Decorating and Christmas music get me in the mood.
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December 6, 2018 at 2:18 pm
Helen…I did the sheltie card exchange a couple of years ago…but didn’t do it last year because it got so expensive. Plus Katie got way more cards than we did. 🙂 I’m considering doing a few cards from her…but it’s getting late so I don’t know…
For sure Christmas music is wonderful.
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December 6, 2018 at 1:25 pm
Why I am in the minority when I say I love winter, I can agree about the grey. This next few days the sun is suppose to shine. And then I will look forward to some snow. I hope you have fun with the concerts. The pictures are very pretty.
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December 6, 2018 at 2:20 pm
The concert went really really well. You just never know, but this one I think was pretty good. People said so anyway. I’m reserving judgement until I hear the CD. I like snow like we’re having right now, big fat flakes floating slowly down. But we had ice just prior, so the roads are sort of a mess. I guess now that I’m inside from running my errands and don’t have to drive in it anymore I can just enjoy the pretty snow.
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