We are in the middle of a three-or-four-day stretch of really frigid temperatures. The air temperature is in the teens below zero Fahrenheit, and the wind chill today may be around -30 to -40. I remember some stretches like this back when I lived here in the 1990's, but I think this is the coldest spell since I returned in 2018. I am thankful not to absolutely have to get out for any appointments or events, and will simply leave the house once or twice a day to fine-tune the sidewalk shoveling job, or walk a block down and back. The rest of each day, I will surely spend my time thanking the Goddess (and my housemate) that I have a safe place to be, and looking out the window at dramatic lake scenes. The water is steaming like crazy...until the other day, it looked unlikely that a large percentage of Lake Superior would freeze over, but after a few nights like this, who knows? In some parts of the world, once you get to February, the worst of winter is over. Not here. Paradoxically -- just as the sun is rising in the sky -- this can be when winter really takes hold.
I just keep remembering that much of nature responds to this cold by hibernating. That this retreat action -- not racing around in cars and buses, trying to keep to human schedules and activities -- is "natural". I feel so privileged to be in a position to do that, and to realize that, in a sense, contemplation and retreat is my norm much of the year. I'll try to use this rich gift of time well, and lightly.
