We
have a fifth season up here in Vermont. Winter likes to hang on as long
as possible, but eventually we see the signs of our fifth season; mud
season. Mud season happens when the snow melts, which it sometimes does
very quickly. It's as though Mother Nature just found the memo on her
desk and decided to make melting her new priority. The dirt roads, of
which we have so many, turn to something the
consistency of a high fiber pudding. the mud coats your boots, splashes
up your pants legs, gunks up the under carriage of the cars and trucks,
turns all the dogs into brunettes, and a lot of that mud gets tracked
the house, but it does remind us that our world is waking up again.
I love winter, I really, really love winter. I turn into a
three-year-old when the first snowflakes start to fall, usually a week
or two before before Halloween. I love the way the freezing air feels
when the front door is opened, the pristine white of the world, the
satisfying crunch under my feet on my daily snowshoe with the dog and I
love to wake up in the morning to the half inch of ice on the inside of
the windows. I love the soups and stews of winter and I love the way
our bed looks with all the winter bedding.
And the clothes! The
wonderful ski sweaters with the intricate designs, the hand knit wool
socks, the shearling boots, the cozy mittens, the big scarves, the wooly
leggings and I even love the insulated snow pants that make me look
like an aged toddler. During the summer I sometimes go up to the
off-season closet to visit my winter gear. Really. I go upstairs just to
visit the soft fibers and the lovely patterns of winter, but this week I
went upstairs to visit my chinos.
I checked on my chinos;
they're fine by the way. I admired some pink linen pants and mentally
paired them with the cute short jacket hanging down the rod a few
inches. I thought about digging into the off-season dresser just to make
sure that my bathing suits were where I could grab them. You know, in
case the lake suddenly loses it's three feet of ice overnight, but that
seemed extreme so instead I gave my sandal and flip flop collection a
quick count instead.
I love winter so much, and a good thing
too since it's going to get down to zero again tonight, but I can hardly
wait to wear those pink linen pants again, even if I do get mud all
over them.
