Slightly Light

The sun doesn't rise until 7:06 a.m. here in the North country, but when i sit down to meditate at 6 a.m., the sky is slightly lighter than dark. We've gained 15 minutes of daylight in the morning, and so, about an hour before daybreak, light starts leaking into the sky. It's a sight for sore eyes. I can feel my heart dancing in the pre-light of the coming day.

My little groundhog self burrows out of a warm bed, pulls on fleece pants and wool shirts, and goes downstairs to meditate in the dark-light, in the lightening of the dark.

Groundhog Day is coming.

https://pixabay.com/photos/winter-dawn-tree-fog-nature-cold-3321361/

Second Summer

It's been a beautiful second summer here in the North Country. Last week and this, temperatures have been in the sunshiny 60s during the day. I keep taking off the layers i put on pre-dawn until i'm down to short sleeves and long cotton pants. Then, as soon as the sun sets, the day-dusk cools down to fleece weather. Even so, the evenings are lovely under a clear starry sky.

Change. So many changes of clothes during the day. Fleece pants, a long-sleeved merino wool shirt, and a fleece hoody as soon as i arise for morning meditation at dawn. By ten in the morning, i've shed the long sleeves for my short-sleeves underneath. Next to go are the fleece leggings. If i'm outdoors, even the short sleeves may be discarded for the tank top underneath that. Then one by one, i put them all on again.

Change. Change. And more change.

Too Cold to Garden

"It's too cold to garden," says the Exercise Queen.

You nearly have to drag me to exercise class, yet i gladly go outdoors in layers of wool and fleece with neck warmer and hat in order to dig in the dirt. Within 10 minutes, off comes the hat and the second layer of fleece. I'm trudging from garden to garden, digging, dividing, transplanting, and warming up.

I guess it all depends on what you find unpleasant. She finds cold unpleasant. I find exercise unpleasant. She finds exercise pleasant. I find trudging around the garden, all bundled up and covered in dirt, to be pleasant.

Really, pleasant and unpleasant drive our actions. So after exercise class, i went directly to the garden and started digging.