And

For no reason

I turn into a leaf

That is carried so high

I kiss the Sun's mouth

And dissolve.

(part of a Hafiz poem)

This excerpt of poem reminds me of the hike Snark and I took up on the hillside last week with the sunshine on my bare arms, the heat of the sun infusing my body with those wild, releasing feelings of relief and renewal as if spring had arrived in the first week of January, and I could breathe again. Not that winter, 10 miles from the Mexican border, is that much of a hardship. Our nights hover in the 20s and 30s and our days are usually in the 50s. But last week it was in the 60s and I was walking around in chacos with sockless feet and it felt delicious. I felt like I had stripped all the heavy clothing of a cold and trying winter and was light-bodied and grateful.

I receive reports from WI and CO of the snow and the cold, which is much harsher than my own environment, but I can't help feel like winter is a drain no matter where I am, and the cold of 50 degrees makes me shiver even with the knowledge that it is much colder and wet in those other places.

Almost three weeks I've gone without blogging! I think it's the longest span since I began this blog. The last few weeks I've been existing in states of stress/depression/worry/exhaustion. It is much subdued now and I am feeling a lot better, but damn it! Emotional turmoil sure is tiring. It seems I have the impetus to read rather than write when these periods of emotional/mental upheaval occur, and after a couple of months of not reading anything at all, I have finished six books in the last couple of weeks.

There have been lovely moments, of course, among the harder ones, during those weeks when I was not posting. Below: some cutie-pie photos of Snark and Veggie Dog, our lucsious lettuce growing in the cold frame, and the blanket I knitted for my cousin's baby (due in Feb).