walking on broken glass

I walked on a path of crystal shards through the forest, with a warm sun in my face, and sang "feels just like I'm walking on broken glass". 

These are the days of that particular February phenomenon. The temperature is still around zero but the air can hit you with shocking mildness when you leave the house, making you reel for a moment as if you had just walked into the loveliest of June mornings. The sun is warm, birds are tuning up their first song of the year. 

But everything is still frozen. So you can walk through swampy forests, on rivers, on the sea itself. These are the days of exploring unreachable woods, seeing the city from the sea, walking out to deserted islands ...

I bring my shades and an oatmeal chocolate cookie, lace up boots made for walking on ice, and set out to discover the world.

oh, happy day on a winter night

Hot, spicy coffee from a flask. I set down the lantern I'm carrying and someone puts a sticky-sweet piece of carrot cake in my mittened hands. 

We're having a surprise birthday party on the porch, in the illumination of a dozen lanterns. The snow is thick under our boots, the forest cold and silent around the little house. The darkness of a winter night can't daunt the cheerful chattering around the cake. It is so cold that my toes are going numb but I ignore it - because birthday party in a blizzard! With pandemic and social distancing, you have to get creative. 

We sing "Oh, Happy Day" and among the half-strangers around me I suddenly recognise voices from my favourite choir, thirty years ago. I have known the birthday boy just as long, and his smile warms my heart like it has for decades. 

I hope the roads won't have snowed in before it's time to leave.

hazy at the edges

Butterscotch, caramel and vanilla is the colour of my hair these days. The world is too dry and hazy at the edges. How did it become so small? Are there still foreign and wonderful things out there, beyond my horizon of snowy fir trees and winter clouds?

I want to stay in bed, reading books.