I know everyone has just about had it with snow, but....right now it is very late and my world is quiet.  The snow is softly falling and looks so fresh and glittery under the light of the porch and the streetlamps.  As it sits, undesturbed on the ground and on the bare branches of the trees, it's clean and white...at least for now.

Very soon, winter will be another memory locked away in my journals and the warm breeze of spring will be all around us.  However, until then, I will enjoy the last glimpses of a New England wintery night as I sit here peering out the window.

Sunday morning.  If it wasn't for the snow on the ground, I would think it was spring.  It's a little over 50 degrees outside and a warm breeze is playing with my windchimes just outside my window.  At first, it sounded like it was raining, but I soon realized it is the melting of snow on the roof.  A few days of this would melt most of the snow in short order.

Sally spent the night with us last night and she is bouncing off walls this morning.  Gosh, to be 7 years old again!  On second thought, no thank you! LOL. She came waltzing in with her footed pajamas, her long, blonde, Hannah Montana wig, and a tiara.  She really wants to play with her moon sand.  I have already put a curse on her father for sending it to our house.  I need to tidy up the kitchen from last night's pizza party, so I will let her play with it then.

I hope everyone enjoys this day.

Here we are with snow on the ground and still a week away from Valentine's day, yet looking out my living room window, I can feel and hear the changes that are going on outside.  The sun is beating warmer on my window even though the icy wind is keeping the air cold.  I can hear the windchimes along with the birds out on my feeders.  It's as though Mother Nature is telling me that spring is just around the corner.  It's a slow process, but the ice and snow is starting to melt... more so, now that we are seeing daylight a little longer now.

I do know that I am ready for the season's change.  It feels stuffy inside this cottage.  A little drab and dull.  I want to wash the windows and open them to air out the rooms.  I want to take down the curtains and wash them, clean the light fixtures and change over the heavy quilt on the bed to a light and airy comforter.  I want fresh flowers on the kitchen table and I want to smell the scent of bleach throughout the house.  I also want to sweep off the porch and steps and put a couple of rocking chairs  out there.  As much as I hate the chore....I would like to tear apart every shelf in the house and organize what to keep and toss out the rest.  I want to be more organized.

I guess that's it for now.......

Carol gets off her soap box and takes a bow before walking away!!!

My heart goes out tonight to anyone who is homeless and on the streets.  The temps have been dropping all afternoon and when I took the dog out, I was getting uncomfortably cold and I had a coat on.  Even Fred was shivering by the time we came back inside only moments later.

Here we are, inside with the warmth of the furnace and the oven as I am baking chicken at the moment.  I will have to refill the humidifier because it is so dry in here, but we are warm and cozy.

While outside, I looked up to the moon and the air is so clear that stars just sparkled.  I was amazed at how many I could see tonight.  I remember a night just like this Fifteen years ago when I was outside looking at the black night sky with all those stars in the cold New England winter night.  I was freezing and as I looked down,  There was Steve, catching me with a kiss.  I will never forget that moment.  It's one of my favorite memories.

Back to the present...... Steve will be home from work within the next couple of hours and we will have our dinner and watch TV, snuggled up together before we retire for the night.

It's getting late, but the dog needed to go out one more time before I retired for the evening.  It's still snowing, but, very lightly.  It was so quiet out in the back yard and because the snow is so dry, it sparkles like little diamonds floating down and landing in small mounds on the evergreen boughs.

Looking up, a sliver of moon shone through the parting and thinning clouds and the crooked, bare, limbs of the old oak tree in our back yard created a frame around this scene.

Winter may not be my favorite season, but I have to say, there is a soft beauty no other season can match.  In just a few short weeks, it will be sugaring time with shiny buckets attached to the sugar maples all through the back roads of this small state.  The sap will be collected and the sugar houses will be fired up, working day and night until the sweet maple syrup has been boiled down to perfection.

So, with this, I will go to bed and be lulled to sleep by the hum of the furnace.

Sweet Dreams.....

Here we are, Mid-winter.  We still have six more weeks of winter to go.  Why does it seem that winter is longer than the other three seasons?  There never seems to be enough time for summer and autumn.  They fly by so fast, at least, here in New Hampshire.  Anyway.....I am now thinking of spring gardens and a complete spring cleaning inside the house.  I will be so glad when I can open the windows and air out this cottage.