White, White Winter

I'm not sure I can remember a winter so snowy. For months there has been a constant veil of white on the ground, and storms that come in waves like the sea, misting the air and dusting the trees with powdered sugar. It seems like there are always snowflakes dancing in the windows. Really the most wonderful year for a winter lover.

It is so cold that I have spent the last three days at home, keeping warm with hot chocolate and my crocheted shawl, reading Angela Carter and watching Legend. What have you darlings been up to?

Photo by http://www.flickr.com/photos/casienserio/4253873034/in/faves-30495408@N04/

Tonight

...I am remembering. Lying on the trampoline on summer nights and squinting up at a trillion grains of light. Setting up little fairy-sized towns with plastic pools and fuzzy grass, cut through by miniature train tracks. Mists of woodsmoke on overcast afternoons, with the smell curling through the trees. The ache of a thousand castle stairs burning in my legs. Falling asleep to the careful rocking of the water, a floating cradle in the darkness with the clank of the sails for my lullaby.

April Showers Bring

Lately it's been as gray and wet and stormy as Misselthwaite Manor here. It's getting very dreary, but against all the gray everything looks so lush and green I almost don't mind. I think the volcano in Iceland is to blame... just like the Year Without a Summer.

I am shipwrecked...

In the middle of the ocean I am alone, clinging to a piece of driftwood. All my paddling, all my energy and direction is fruitless. For every inch of headway I make, another great wave comes along and sweeps me back to square one again. My fate is not my own, my destiny lies somewhere in the currents and the waves, and I do not know where they will take me. I may wash up on a friendly shore, or smash to pieces on the breakers, or perhaps I will just float and float here until I cease to be. On the sea a compass is just a pretty bauble, and courage is something to leech the strength from your bones. On the water you cannot hope, you cannot think, you can only drift, aimless on the tide, and pray.

Photo by http://playpretend.tumblr.com

Hello Everyone!

I'm back! I've actually been here for about a week now, but I've been too tired to want to write. For some reason I find catching up on my journals a real chore, so I think I will slowly share tidbits of the trip with you instead of writing big long entries.

Since we've returned I've started looking for work, joined a job hunting class, gotten sick (again) and spent quite a lot of time at the All American Quarterhorse Congress with the family. I've been reading about Queen Victoria and Tasha Tudor and old-world superstitions. I'm planning to alter a skirt of mine, and a buy a petticoat when I can, and I've been looking at pictures of young Goldie Hawn from the 60's and now I'm in love with her hair. I want so badly to watch The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe again, those scenes where Lucy first enters Narnia always fills me with childish wonder, and the end always makes me cry. I've also discovered the song "Fireflies" by Owl City. So sparkling, and light and beautiful. It makes me think of what living inside a snow globe must feel like.

On the Open Road

Ever since I was a child I've dreamed of packing up my meager possessions and setting off to see the world in a little gypsy caravan like Mr. Toad. It's been a while since I've been on a road trip, and lately I've been positively itching to be back "on the open road". So you can imagine how excited and delighted I am at the prospect of a month-long excursion across the USA and back again.


I'll be seeing so many wonderful things, Mammoth Cave, Yellowstone, Las Vegas, and so many different landscapes and climates! My family will be leaving on Tuesday (just three days, heavens!) and I will most likely be out of touch the whole time. I'll miss you all!

Then next month I should be back with many wonderful stories and pictures to share!


Until then, why not entertain yourself by checking out http://dubuhdudesigns.typepad.com/ the source of all the lovely images from this entry. There is so much creativity just per square inch there it's amazing, and I'm sure you'll find something to keep you amused.

Hope to see you again soon!