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Contemplating white space

I had every intention of sitting here today and sharing with you my experience at the silk retreat and some thoughts on running events. I even have awesome pictures and a cool story.  As happens and is certainly my experience of late my plan has been thwarted. Mother nature has influenced my intention by decorating my world here in the hills of Scappoose with a fair amount of snow.

Our first snow of the season. 

We woke up on Sunday morning to a cascade of flurries gently collecting on limb and tree until there was the slightest blush of white everywhere. I love the first snow of the season it’s magical. I forget that quiet that descends with a snowy blanket.  As if each flake carries within it solitude, a silence that envelopes flake by flake.

Since Sunday I’ve been graced with the peace that snow brings with it and wondering why. Why do I feel cocooned in this bliss of white winter wonder? 

I know some of it is heart warming childhood memories. School closes, we stay home and we get to sled, ice skate on the canal buy moonlight, have cocoa and curl up with a book… . Magical.  Time is suspended, if only for the briefest moments.

As a woman with not a whole lot of time for herself just the idea of time suspended makes me want to weep in joy. I stood out in the woods yesterday right before the light of the day faded into evening and took in all of the white.  Took a deep cleansing breathe of frosty cold all the way down to my woolly clad toes. 

Filled my usually colourful self with white space.  Just about everywhere my eyes lit was white space.

Open, distinct, clear pure white space.

Shimmering with light and a whole lot of possibility.

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20 Comments
  1. Hazel Smith #

    Tears in my eyes again. You hit the nostalgia button with unfailing accuracy. Love you bunches!

    Cheers and red wine, Hazel.

    November 30, -0001
  2. blogless grace #

    The first snow is just like that everywhere: peaceful, calming, cocooning. The only needs are tea, book, cat.

    November 30, -0001
  3. Naomi #

    Beautiful, just beautiful!

    Snow blessings,

    Naomi

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  4. Katharine #

    You so just make me wish even harder for snow.  It sounds so wonderful.

    November 30, -0001
  5. Beautiful! You make me long for a snow day here in New England…..

    but today we have a drizzle-y misty rain….

    Tina – send me some snow in a box with a sprig of that yellow-berried bush tied to the top! (and I will send you the scent of the sweet maple forests when the sap is running in the spring).

    November 30, -0001
  6. There is something lovely and silent about the first snow.  It’s like a blank sheet of paper, perfect and crisp.

    November 30, -0001
  7. Judy #

    I, too, have been struck by the loveliness of the first snow of the season. I was also struck by how happy I am that it waited until after your sale (my first!) on Saturday and of how this snow has forced me to slow down and allowed me to knit your gorgeous yarn.

    November 30, -0001
  8. I think I’ll download Cat Stevens’ ‘Into White’, which really has a lot of color references in it.

    Wishing you and the family a magical Thanksgiving!! xo

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  9. I love snow!

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  10. And the Reflecting Pool downtown, with the Park Service building a bonfire, the Washington Monument in silent serenity–did you ever go skate there too? Cold cold cold, but you knew if the worst happened you couldn’t fall through much more than the tops of your skates.

    Swain’s Lock was our usual spot, though. The Canal. I so miss it.

    November 30, -0001
  11. Sometimes it’s better not to ask why.  Just be in the moment and enjoy it for what it is.  Your post was so beautifully written.  Thanks for sharing it!

    November 30, -0001
  12. Trudianne Temple #

    I’m envious! Have been watching the weather forecast for snow the last couple of weeks. Every time I see the possibility, I get hopeful. Then it turns to rain and although I love a good rain storm, it just isn’t the same.

    You’re last line makes me especially smile… “Shimmering with light and a whole lot of possibility.”—Just like undyed yarn!

    November 30, -0001
  13. Ahhhhhh, that sounds like bliss!

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  14. Sarah JS #

    The light and the whole realm of possibility—first snows and the also the universal appeal of the very young.

    Peace to you and yours this Thanksgiving.

    November 30, -0001
  15. Nebraska Knitter #

    Lovely post.  First snows always feel like a fresh start.  Why can’t we suspend time more often?  As usual your photography is wonderful.

    November 30, -0001
  16. Beautiful description. You brought me along for the ride. Glad you found some moments of peace.

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  17. giab #

    Thank you.  Wordsworthian in its depiction of glowing solitude.

    Peace and joy for the season.

    ginab

    nj

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  18. Sue #

    Wow. You could be a poet…… not that I want you to quit your day job…

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  19. lovely tina, simply lovely.

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  20. LOVE.  Glad you took the time to enjoy and share the white space.  Silk can wait…I’m all about unplans anyway!

    November 30, -0001

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