Journeys

Saturday, December 14, 2024

Cold, cold, cold, is what it is outside again today. Instead of complaining in my head about soon having to strap on cleated boots, get into a heavy coat, and go outside to feed my horses, I should be thankful it’s not as cold-bad as sometimes it has become at this time of year. I also need to remember last year’s bad weather here in Central Oregon, when soon after New Year’s, more freezing, longer-lasting, and just-awful weather rolled in. I stayed cleated, bundled, and complaining the whole way to springtime.

In a larger perspective, cold, snowy weather is less headachy than other, increasingly common, climate events. I’m thinking of hurricanes, tornados, fires, and floods. Beyond an actual event, coping with loss and recovery possibilities and impossibilities. It’s somewhat real to me because I grew up in Oklahoma. I recall being “on watch” for tornados that threatened often, and if I saw the air “turning blue,” sheltering became an immediate need.

Reflecting on all that is making the local weather seem less awful.

Dear Friends: Now, I’ll boot up, strap on, and go hiking in the cold. Diana