What I Did On My Snow Day

Maybe it was enough today just to watch the snow fall and feel so grateful that I could stay inside. Also, let me state  that firewood is a miracle, and you can never say thank you enough for it. I thought of this every time I ventured out from my  house this afternoon, walking carefully through the falling snow from the front door to the backyard wood pile, where I filled my carrier with the good logs that are keeping me warm, even as I write this. This pile of wood is a blessing that did not come easily. There is a cost to it, a sacrifice. It is a gift of trees, of oaks and firs, who offer themselves, and of time and sun and rain. It is a gift of the ones who find the fallen trees, and then cut them so that they are the right size for the wood stove, and then load them into a truck, drive them to where they are stored, and then unload them, cover them, and wait patiently for more than a year for the wood to dry so that it is good to burn. Then, when the wood is ready, it is loaded again, a final time, and driven to my house, where it is unloaded and stacked into a neat pile, where it rests and waits for the cold to come.

Grateful for the wood pile and the blue tarp that keeps it dry.

Maybe it was enough today to spend the morning in the kitchen slicing cucumbers and tomatoes for a Greek salad, and making shawarma spiced chicken from a new recipe  https://theschmidtywife.com/slow-cooker-chicken-shawarma/ and tahini sauce from an old favorite  https://toriavey.com/toris-kitchen/tahini-sauce/, and to cook all this while the snow flew outside. Maybe it was enough to venture out later for a long walk through the snow with my neighbor, who is undertaking an ambitious fitness program that is asking her to walk about a million steps a day,  without regard for the fact that it was very blustery out. I told her that the developers of the ambitious fitness program probably would grant her some grace if they knew she was walking in near blizzard conditions, but she was undeterred. So we trudged up the hill to the cemetery and were the first ones to do so, leaving fresh tracks in the snow. At the back end, we were sinking in up to our knees. But she got her steps in.

Even more than her goal, I told her, since walking uphill in the snow surely should give you extra credit.

Maybe it was enough today that after the walk we stopped by our other neighbor’s house, the fabulous baker who is dabbling in Keto recipes, and enjoyed hot apricot tea while sampling her latest creation, zucchini pizza muffins. What is not to love about a Keto style zucchini pizza muffin?

Because this was my day. It snowed. I chopped tomatoes and cucumbers, onions and garlic. I carried wood. I walked up the hill with my neighbor. I let the dog in. I let the dog out. I let the cat in. I let the cat out. I did a load of laundry. I checked the road report and was grateful that I didn’t have to drive anywhere since it looked like the freeway up here might have been closed for a time, due to spin outs and accidents. I watched the electricity flicker on and off. I miraculously remembered to restart the laundry every time the electricity flickered off. I was grateful that the washing machine remembered where it was in the cycle, and that I didn’t ever have to figure it out myself. I was grateful that the electricity never went off for more than a second or two.

Was there more I should have done? Was there something different I should be?

All I know is that it was a beautiful day: a day where it snowed, and I was warm, and fed, and saw my friends.   And even though I usually feel on days like this that there is something more I should have done, or could have done,  today, I mostly felt a lovely kind of peace.  The best place to be today was right where I was.  Home.