Thinking of Summer Sunsets



One sunset on a drive home
last summer - ahhhh....

Well here it is February, the 8th already, and this is my first post of the month.  I've been a little preoccupied in the other part(s) of my life. I'm participating in an exercise science study at Skidmore College which has me arriving at the gym at 7 a.m. four mornings a week.  Then it's a full day of work which flies by, and then home to hang out with Katie and the boys usually until Henry goes to sleep, around 8 p.m.  All of a sudden I realize that I'm missing something - hmmm, what is it?  OH!  It's my blogging time, those few moments every now and then when I go back to my writing roots and share a story, a recipe, or a moment with you, my blog friends.

The past week was quite eventful, starting with a couple of snow storms and ending with the Super Bowl.  Here in upstate New York, we even experienced thunder and lightning, smack dab in the middle of a frozen winter!  I've said that this is indeed a very wintery winter.  People nod "yep" in full agreement.  I like those winters when there are three or four distinct and separate measurable snow storms,  when Puxatawney Phil's predictions seem possible.  Sure, there could be six more weeks of winter.  This year, that seems much too optimistic.  The snow I see outside my window looks as though it has intentions of staying right through April!  To that I say, "Go!  You've made your presence known.  We're all in awe of your power and might.  You're the boss (bully) of all the seasons.  We admit it.  So, go.  Go and don't come back until at least after December 21!" 

Morning outside my kitchen window

My friends Sue and Pete left for a month in Hawaii today.  All day long, I've been thinking about where they are on their journey.  I know how much they'll love the time they spend there.  They're both retired now, and to have that kind of time seems so foreign to me.  My friend Valerie lives in Hawaii for most of the winter.  I can't imagine it...well, I can imagine it, but I can't forsee it!   Others are heading to warmer climes too, as our temperatures dip.  My sister-in-law Carolyn and her husband Billy are in Florida until April.  My sister and her husband are heading to Hawaii in a couple of weeks.  The lure to experience warmth, breezes, and ocean waters is just so tempting, it's not hard to understand the migration of "snow birds" every winter.  The older I get, the more I see of that flock.  I'd love to be among them one day, but as a single and financially self-supporting woman I don't see it happening for practical reasons.  I'll wait for the summer and spend one very luxuriant week on the North Carolina coast with my sister Anne and her family.  That's the "happy place" I go to in my mind when I need an escape.  Right now, deep into February and single-digit temperatures, it's good to have summer memories to keep me warm.