Here we go!
One of the things I love about Southern Oregon is winter - it gets cold enough to light the fireplace for months, the rain is a romantic mix of mists and fog flowing over the hills, and you may get a foot or two of snow for a couple of days and then it goes away. Most of all, I get to point up to a mountain that will have feet of snow straight through Spring while I am nice and sunny in my little valley. And it must be because I have never lived in 4 seasons before (they go by so fast) that I am enamored with the early, dark evenings and the frost on the stairs at 8pm or the icy chill of morning. And my favorite - the stars go on forever on a crisp clear night. It's like the cold becomes a cosmic magnifying glass and you can just touch them.
And in the morning everything has a light dusting of frost. Now don't get me wrong, I used to go to Tahoe and I even used to snowboard. There were a few winters in Amherst, Mass for holidays and that one time I hiked the Poconos in December. But I don't remember these little prairies of ice in the fog where even the weeds are beautiful.
And being a CA girl for most of my life, I never understood why they had those lightly dusted Christmas trees and ornaments. I always thought they looked super fake. Well not until this morning when my favorite tree showed me what those classic ornaments were about.
And it is funny how things can be beautiful and eerie at the same time.
But if you look up close you can even see where next year's new buds will return in Spring.
So, for just a minute, I was bummed not to have a Christmas tree in the house because of these two dog-horses in the mist.
And then I realized that I have a ton of Christmas trees and everything was already decorated for me with more decorating on the way. So I guess I'm still winning at HooperLee Farms! #perspective
No post is finished without one of the Ice Queen herself: Cleopatra
