With all of that particulate matter banished to warmer skies, the northeast night sky shimmers with a giant white moon hanging in the east. It’ll track toward the west in a south-facing sky, illuminating deer in the snow, new years revelers, and trees frosted with ice.
In this sleeping time there’s the comfort food and the snow boots carrying us through snow drifts. Maybe on winter vacations, great aluminum wings lifting us high into the sky, pointing toward southern destinations.
Here in Massachusetts the days have been arctic cold– 7 degrees farenheit as I write this — my queue to stay warm inside, resting. The heating system in our old farmhouse barely keeps up with the cold, drafts that make me think a door has been left open sometimes blow through. I remind myself this house has weathered winters since 1750, family after family living here – the first owner a major in the revolutionary war. The horse hair walls and old plank floors look strong, solid, reassuring, with 9 over 9 windows framing the beautiful, clear night sky and luminous moon, the fireplaces and roof standing where they’ve stood for 267 years.
Another year under the winter sky for this old house and its people for now, 2017/18. Winters come and winter go.
Happy (another) new year.
Backyard Botanics@Miller Hill Farm 