MAKING WINTER BEAUTIFUL
She found beauty in every season, but Winter for my grandmother was magical.
I am not the only one who recognized and remembers my grandmother’s excitement at the sight of the very first snowflakes falling from the sky.
Others remember and remind me.
I have childhood memories of snowstorms, snowballs, snowmen, and sledding.
When we were both in Alaska and the days of Winter seemed especially long, my grandmother wasn’t afraid to suggest a change of pace to break up the long dark days.
“Let’s drive to Fairbanks and go out to eat,” she might suggest. (Never mind that it was a 200-mile round trip, and the temperature was 40 below zero with thick ice fog hanging in the air.) Or, she might suggest a trip to Anchorage (400 miles one way) or to the port of Valdez (over 500 miles round trip) to see the mounds of snow shoveled from rooftops.
Nan understood that to witness dazzling snow on the mountain peaks or watch the Aurora Borealis in all its splendor, or the arctic fox and the great white owl, one had to also experience the darkness of an Alaskan Winter.
I don’t know that Nan ever lost her zeal for Winter. If she did, I never knew it. While I still mirror her excitement when I witness the first snowflakes of the season, I can’t say I tolerate the cold weather and darker days with the same sense of excitement I did when I had my grandmother’s frequent reminders to notice and enjoy the treasures that only the cold and darkness can bring.
Last night, I dreamed of her, as I sometimes do. We were in the kitchen, preparing food together in her Alaskan home. There was laughter, joy, and a sense of peace. Maybe she came to me in my dreams to remind me to savor the moment, for even the darkness of winter holds blessings to be remembered.
Today, I dressed warmly and walked in the snow as a large moon hung suspended in the early evening sky. Across the way, I witnessed the snow on Buffalo Mountain and while it doesn’t begin to have the splendor of the Alaskan range, it’s still beautiful.
I’m thankful for winter, for winter’s past, and for my grandmother, who continues to influence my life.
Dear Reader,
With the cold and snow this past week, I have been thinking a lot about winter and how the dark, cold days affect some of us adversely. My thinking came full circle and I was reminded of my grandmother and how much she loved winter, especially the snow.
A book I finished today, LILAC GIRLS, included a chapter in which the main character, Caroline, was working in the garden at her family home in Connecticut. Beside her, digging in the dirt, was a middle-aged Polish woman who had suffered greatly at the hands of the Nazis. Caroline says to Kasia,
“Father loved the fact that a lilac only blossoms after a harsh winter.”………”It’s a miracle all this beauty emerges after such hardship, don’t you think?”
As I listened to the audio version of LILAC GIRLS and came to this part, I stopped to suck in my breath.
It was a thought worth contemplating.
Perhaps, the joy of Spring cannot be fully known without the dark of Winter.
Hang in there, because Spring and lilac blooms are on the way.
All my love,
Tammy
Recent Reads:
Most recently, I finished a series of books by Martha Hall Kelly: LILAC GIRLS, LOST ROSES, and SUNFLOWER SISTERS. The New York Times best-selling author’s attention to detail makes it difficult to lay aside these books until the reader reaches the last page.
In LILAC GIRLS, Kelly’s extensive research brings to life a fictional rendering of the philanthropic work of Caroline Ferriday to help Polish women who had been subjected to experimental surgeries by the Nazi doctors of Ravensbrook Concentration camp during World War II.
LOST ROSES tells the story of Caroline’s mother (Eliza) and her Russian friend (Sofya) as the stage is set for World War I and the Imperial Russian dynasty falls.
SUNFLOWER SISTERS tells of Caroline’s grandmother, a nurse during the Civil War.
If you enjoy historical fiction, I promise you will enjoy this series.
Notable Quotes:
“Wisdom comes with winters.” — Oscar Wilde
“How many lessons of faith and beauty we should lose, if there were no winter in our year!” — Thomas Wentworth Higginson
“To appreciate the beauty of a snowflake, it is necessary to stand out in the cold.” – Aristotle
“That’s what winter is: an exercise in remembering how to still yourself then how to come pliantly back to life again.” – Ali Smith
I finished up a piece for Self-Reliance Publications back in the fall. Since that time, I have taken an extensive break from writing. With the start of the New Year, I’ve begun journaling once again and will update my blog each Monday with the past week’s entries. If you are interested, you can find those entries at A COUPLE OF FARMERS
I also think of Nan when it snows. We use to tease each other, she praying for snow and me snowing for it NOT! God always seemed to listen to her better…