Hello Again

Today I finally started feeling healthy after whining for days about what turned out to be a pretty minor cold. To celebrate my new health I broke out the snow shoes I haven't used all winter and went for a little winter hike. Um. You guys? Snow shoeing is HARD. My mom has been trying to convince me to make arrangements to retrieve my cross country skis all winter, and I kept saying "Oh no! I don't need to no stinking skis! I have my snow shoes!" But dude. Snow shoes are not skis. Skiing is relatively easy. Pretty much as soon as I got out of the car and clambered over the bank and into the powder I was ready to turn around. But I persevered. I sweated and and I pushed myself forward and managed to make it as far as my favorite summer perch above the river where I divested myself of a LOT of clothing and sat on a warm dry rock and had some tea. And it was glorious! Today is just stunningly beautiful. Not a cloud in the sky, fluffy white snow everywhere, high of about 24 degrees. And it makes me feel like a complete IDIOT for not spending every sunny day this winter doing exactly this. Somehow I had forgotten that in the sun, with the proper clothing, after a little exertion, one can sit outside with a cup of tea poured from a thermos in perfect comfort. What is WRONG with me that I forget these things? I think I need to re-commit to my blog if only to remind myself that actually doing things is good.

What is also good is answering my phone when it rings. Winter is depressing. I've been depressed. There, I said it. And when I'm depressed I don't have the energy to deal with people. Or do anything really but bake and make tea. But this weekend my friend L and her husband came into town to empty out the townhouse they own at the local bankrupt resort before it goes into foreclosure and they change the locks. And so on Saturday night a group of spa people got together for dinner to catch up with her and it was so much fun! It was fabulous! And as I was getting ready to go out my phone rang and on a whim I actually answered it and it was a friend I hadn't talked to since October, and while we didn't have a lot of time, it was fun to catch up. And I decided that I would answer the phone whenever it rang for a whole week and just see what happened. And you know what happened? I've talked to two other good friends I haven't talked to in ages. And I talked to my grandmother without feeling guilty for dodging her calls for three days before finally calling her back. Good things all!

There are a lot of exclamation points in this post, and I apologize, but I'm feeling downright peppy. Blame it on a really wonderful combination of sunshine, renewed good health, and the early arrival of DST. Hope the four of you who still check this sadly neglected blog are equally cheery.