Wednesday, January 1, 2014

Yesterday's Winter







The mountains will soon be covered by a white blanket, a change is coming. Ice crystals will hang like the morning dew, frozen in time across the wind swept hills of this beautiful Blue Ridge.

It’s apt to be a hard winter better carry in plenty of firewood and kindling to keep the fires going in each end of the house. Time to grab the water buckets and tote in enough water to last or do without. Soon the little spring will become frozen over until the sun shines warm and the birds start to sing.

Dragging out the many clean and still fresh line, dried quilts, making more covers for the beds knowing one could be buried underneath such weight and never be found again. Made by steady and meticulous hands on old quilting frames that hang down from the ceiling more often than not, especially during winter’s hardest wrath.

The thought of fresh hog meat hanging in the old smokehouse makes mouths water on a cold winter’s day along with the taters and cabbage buried underneath the ground in that big hole that took all fall to dig, especially for preserving winter’s grub. And those can shelves  packed so full of filled cans ready for many a big table spread . All part of summer’s bounty and will beat a snowball any day.

Sitting around an old oil lamp after dark and listening to the scary stories while the cold, north wind makes its whistling sound around the house with a vengeance.  Playing fox and the geese on a home made cut out game board until eyelids start closing and need toothpicks to prop open.

Bare feet running and jumping in the middle of the bed buried under the covers until the break of dawn. Waking up to knee deep snow, eyes shining like sparkling diamonds gazing through frost covered window panes.

The smell of breakfast drifting through the kitchen door, anticipating  hot biscuits, gravy, fresh ham or tenderloin and occasionally eggs is about more than a body can take.

Slipping out the back door having snowball fights and gathering snow for snow cream, anticipating the sweet, frozen taste of only one of winter’s many treats is sheer heaven.

In one door and out the other never taking the time to warm frozen feet and hands, made for a nice, enjoyable winter even if it was colder than the North Pole.

© Susie Swanson, 2013

The above picture is not here YET, and the above Post is just memories for now but according to our local weatherman, it's on the way. I know some are saying, we already got winter. We've had winter to but just not as cold as some places.
We used to have plenty of winter. It'd snow and we couldn't get out to go anywhere for two weeks or more at a time. Here in our little, neck of the woods we've been blessed in late years. Last winter was a warm winter and it rained almost everyday ..So I guess we're over due.. Good way to start the new year. I wish each one of you a Blessed and Happy New Year.

16 comments:

  1. Winter has definitely arrived here where I live, Susie. We have plenty of snow on the ground, and it is very cold. Going to get even colder first of next week.

    This is a lovely description of your winter memories. Well-written!

    Wishing you a very happy new year! :-)

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    1. Thank you Daisy. Oh I figured you were getting it bad. You stay warm and take care. Happy New Year to you.

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  2. We had our first snow even before Winter started. Tomorrow we are supposed to get a snow storm going into Friday. Oh well. we will try to live like you wrote. That shall help.
    Happy New Year. to you and your family.

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    1. Thank you so much. Sounds like you are in for a bad one as well. Stay warm.

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  3. Great post --and we can HOPE. Yes, it 'is' on the way --so they say. We are supposed to get snow tomorrow (first of this season for us) and the low tomorrow night will be about 13.... Brrrrrrrr....

    Hope you had a wonderful New Year's Day --and holiday season.
    Hugs,
    Betsy

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    1. Thanks Betsy. Yes we can hope. Ya'll take care and stay warm my friend. Happy New Year to you as well.

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  4. You paint such a lovely word picture...Made my mouth water!
    I bet your snow is real heavy with the warmer climate making it wet?
    Ours is usually very deep and hard as ice, or fluffy and light because of the colder air.
    Blessings and love~ Lisa

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    1. Thank you Lisa. I bet yours is dry and fluffy. We haven't had any yet this winter but sometimes it can be the wet kind. It depends on the Temps. Stay warm and Blessings to you.

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  5. I agree with Lisa; this post was a lovely word picture! And of course it all took me back to the little gray house where I grew up, with kerosene lamps, quilting frame hanging from the ceiling, cured ham and biscuits. Makes me happy!

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    1. Thanks Charlotte. It really was some good times even if we did have some rough winters.

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  6. Like you, I'm hoping we get a good taste of winter for a bit, so far, in my opinion, we've not seen winter yet! Keeps passing us by where we are...so here's to hoping we get so see the real beauty of that picture:) Let it snow!

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    1. I agree Lise but just in portions. We don't need it staying around long. lol.

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  7. Thank you Susie! Hope you have a really good New Year, too,

    Love your snow memories. Growing up in Mississippi we seldom saw snow, but it was always a treat for us when it happened. We loved the snow cream, too.

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    1. Thank you Elaine. Hope you have a nice New Year as well. Sounds like you had some great memories as well.

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  8. Hi Susie! What a lovely post and I so enjoyed your memories of winter's past. Especially the line about getting lost under the quilts. Sigh...it sounds so cozy! :) It is freezing here today and so cloudy and dreary looking. The trees are bedraggled from last night's wind storm, trying to hold on to the last of their leaves to the very end. I went out this morning for awhile and wore all my warmest clothes but it still wasn't enough to keep out the chill. They say the worst will hit us on Tuesday. But I am not complaining, I do love to experience changes in the weather and for some strange reason I feel better in the fall and winter and have less pain. We officially finished our construction project last week! Yahoo! I am so happy and both Tony and I have felt so relaxed the last few days. The only thing I have left to do is iron and hang the living room curtains. I hope you have a lovely afternoon my friend and stay warm under all those beautiful quilts. :) With Love, Delisa

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    1. Thank you Delisa. I'm so glad you got through with your remodeling. You stay warm and take care. I'm dreading it myself. I hope the power stays on. Love to you.

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