Winter Therapy

I've been a little distracted, nervous, jittery, emotional, over my daughter's recent move to Washington. She's doing fine and I'm doing better thanks to my two favorite winter therapies--bread making and snow shoveling. Over the years I have resisted getting a bread maker because I enjoy kneading bread. I have poured a lot of anxiety into bread dough! Snow shoveling is also great! I'm too,well not brittle yet but definitly not so bendy any more, so skiing and sledding tend to hurt at the end of the day and I never was coordinated enought to ice skate. But I love to shovel snow! I like being out in the fresh air, I like the sounds of the shovel swishing through the snow and I love cold, clear January days! I once complained to my brother about the summer heat and mugginess one June evening and he comented that he loved the long days of sunshine so much and they were so fleeting that he didn't mind the heat. It occured to me yesterday that the same is true of crystal clear January evenings with the sky a delicate mauve and dramatic rose colored and with the snow crunching under foot and your breath freezing as you exhale! It is stunning and beautiful and actually relaxing! I slept really well last night.