As my colleague the Tortoise Cat and I strolled the yard and neighborhood this nearly snow-free midwinter, our feet and paws tread on present moments while my mind scanned the year 2011, now almost passing.
I hastened to highlight successes to celebrate and struggled to re-frame failures to transform into lessons. But these flashbacks have been fleeting and inconclusive, so far.
Alternately snow-free and snow-dusted, the picturesque paths through this winter holiday season have led me to stand still, retreat and regroup after a year of troubles. At the end of a year of days I pitch my tent this New Year's Eve and rest a while longer within sight of another edge of life and unimaginable changes.
Crows cawing clangorously while soaring from barren trees to evergreen trees call me back from flights of imagination to the crossroads of here and now, the only place there ever is, anyway.
Frozen fallen autumn leaves rustle under the tortoise cat's snow-free paws during a midwinter stroll.
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Looking up, I wondered where the snow clouds have been hiding this midwinter!
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Snow-free barren branches seem to poke the quiet blue sky just before another midwinter dusk begins.
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How long will this winter holiday season continue to be mostly snow-free?
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A crow soars between bare and evergreen branches to join the flock in the cloudy midwinter dawn.
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