I said I would write and write I have!  In two weeks of farm living, I have created over 20,000 words towards my next project.  To put that number in prospective, my entire first novel was just shy of 60,000 words.  There is a lot to say for being determined, creating the time, but then relaxing into a process and letting it come.  And the farm is a perfect place to do that. 

After almost six years of snow-free living, I thought I’d given winter up.  While enjoying Charlotte’s moderate temps, I’d remember Chicago’s biting cold, mounds of dirty slush that didn’t melt for months, the tedious routine of extra socks, boots, hats, gloves, scarves and thick, bulky parkas just to step out the door.  But from inside my fire-toasted family room, looking out a wide bay window at acres of uninterrupted white, the thick, fluffy, undisturbed snow-covered landscape takes on a new beauty.  One morning I awoke to a crystallized world, every branch or stalk was adorned with a drapery of thin, patterned ice.  The sun decided to peak out and make a living kaleidoscope of the whole scene and it was breathtaking.  Without trains to catch, or busses to try to hop on over ice mounds piled by plows, this Northern winter thing isn’t bad, well, for the short term anyway!

My other bay window looks out onto a giant, natural aviary.  So many birds.  Chickadees, Finches (Gold and House), Sparrows (Tree and Song), Woodpeckers (Red Belly and Downy), Juncos, and Cardinals.  They seem little troubled by the thermometer’s red dropping below 32, as long as we keep the seed and suet coming.  We’ve gone through 30 pounds of sunflower seeds and 10 pounds of cracked corn in two weeks.  It’s been a daily game, watching them, snapping pictures of new ones, emailing my Dad for proper identification.  They are fascinating, and I could end up watching them all day…but, okay, back to writing.

In lieu of more words, I’ve posted some pictures of my winterscape on flicker, as well as some highlights from the Key West family get together. Enjoy.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/42679370@N06/sets/

P.S.  You may notice that I finally got around to installing a spam filter and cleaning out any junk commnets.  Thank you so much for all of your thoughtful comments, and now you can keep them coming without competing with auto-spam!

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