A Winter of Contentment
I’m still not tired of snow. I watch the snowflakes fall lazily from the sky and think how white and clean everything looks. The fog that condensed out of the sky the other day into hoarfrost clinging to every branch was as rare as it was beautiful.
You may think I still like snow because I am not the one at our house that sweeps it away or runs the snow blower each time it snows. I am not the one who brings in most of the firewood. I am not the one who treks out to feed the birds. All of this is true. My enjoyment is mostly through the windows. I did bundle and boot up to make a snowman last week when the snow was just right. Percy helped find his branch arms and I used black film cases for eyes, a cork for a nose, and circles of cedar from the closet for his mouth. Since I knew he wouldn’t last long, I took his picture. I appreciate all the snow men I’ve seen around town.
Since I tutor students who speak English as a second language, I enjoy snow days for the chance they give me to catch up on school work, reading, and closet cleaning.
In December, it seemed like we weren’t going to have much winter; certainly we had very little snow. After the leaves fell from the trees, the gray barren look of the landscape was somber. Even though the grass stayed greener than in other years, and the oak tree has held some of its leaves until now, the grayness remained.
In late November, we received a present of three amaryllis bulbs from our daughter, Catherine. We immediately started watering them, and they have rewarded us with glorious orange-red blooms, four on each stalk for the whole month of February. Percy measured the growing flower stalks and some days they grew two inches. Each of these amazing bulbs even sent out a second flower stalk which is blooming now, after the original flowers have faded. We shall try all our growing tricks to keep the bulbs and have them bloom again next year. The directions say to continue watering and fertilizing through the summer. Then give the bulbs two or three months of dormancy. The bulbs were from Jackson and Perkins.
Percy cut back last year’s poinsettia and left it on the patio all summer. He took it in the greenhouse before the first frost and continued watering and fertilizing it. He didn’t follow any schedule of covering it. In January its red bracts appeared and have graced the family room ever since.
Another of winter’s joys is warm flannel sheets and snuggly comforters in a cool bedroom. We indulge ourselves in long underwear and warm woolen socks in the winter so we are hardly ever cold. The most heartening of all is the fireplace.
A long time ago, in the 70’s when we remodeled, we researched fireplaces and chose what we considered to be the most efficient one. We bought it from the old, now departed Solar Usage Now in Bascom. It circulates water through the double walled fire chamber and hollow grates through a fourth horse power pump in the basement. There are about 70 gallons of water circulating through the closed system. Square finned radiators are under the windows and along the wall on two sides of the family room. Pipes also run to radiators in the living room so we can turn a valve and heat that room, too. Another feature of the fireplace is a source of outside air beneath it through the ash pit. That ash pit continues to fill up until spring when we unload it and spread the ashes around the garden and flower beds.
Percy builds the fire backwards, putting a large log in front and building the fire behind it so it is against the back wall. We have a gauge so if the fire gets above 190 degrees, we stop adding wood or turn in the living room water pipes. Glass doors keep warmth in the house at night.
Christmas books and others from the Tiffin-Seneca Public Library have been another winter pleasure. Our reading varies from westerns to the Three Inch Lotus, a book that the library discussion group read about foot binding in China. We also take advantage of the library’s new policy of loaning their entertainment videos free of charge. The Masterpiece Theatre videos from television have been especially good.
In winter I start making homemade soups and baking bread. I have found some organically grown whole wheat flour which is especially tasty. I usually add more than half white flour to the mix. If I don’t do that, I have “brick bread” as one granddaughter calls it. It’s still good, even though it’s heavy.
I know that March is coming, and then I can appreciate the sentiments of X. J. Kennedy in the following poem:
Obdurate Snow
Crusted with oil and soot,
These crags of late March snowfall that refuse
To go away though crocuses break sod
Lie sunning like a row of walruses.
No use to prod
With shovel, pick, or shoes
Their twice-refrozen icecaps.
Taking root,
They hunker down determined to endure
Every humiliation
Firmly convinced that winter is for sure
And any thaw a passing aberration.
– Mary