Enjoy Time OutdoorsIt's a great day to get outdoors…

Photo courtesy of snowtubes.com

The snow tubes are ready.  More snow has fallen.  Enough for us, as adults? probably not, but if we were still kids it sure would be!

Now the only thing standing between us, an inflated snow tube, and a snow covered hill is time.  Plus a little thing called ‘work’ and the hundreds of trace elements of life, better known as ‘interruptions’.  If the eye drifts off the prize, going snow tubing, life’s interruptions will silently transform the anticipation of ‘wanting to go’ into the regret of ‘having not gone’.

When we were kids it didn’t matter how much snow there was.  If our sleds or snow tubes could make it down the hill without getting torn up by glacially deposited rocks or stalling out on bare patches of ground, we were game.  The cost was cheap- a little time, plus some energy, topped off with some adrenaline and fair amount of smiles.

Fast forward 10, 20, 30, 40 years (enter your corresponding decade).   Why is it now such an undertaking to get up and ‘do’?  Maybe it’s our minds playing tricks on us.  The mind tells us we don’t have time, we’ll do it later.  Will we?

We all share the same 168 hours per week so time may not be the whole factor.  Time can’t have fun by itself.  It needs it’s two buddies- opportunity and desire.

So I ask myself- do I have time?  Yes.  Do I have opportunity?  Yes.  And most importantly, do I have the desire?  Yes, but…. (insert over thought reasoning here).

Am I simply waxing nostalgia?   Not entirely.  Snow tubing is still a blast!  It hasn’t changed.  The only factor that has changed is us.  Likewise, the only factor that can un-change is, you guessed it, US!

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Old Man Winter

Here in North Eastern Indiana (USDA Zone 5) Old Man Winter has still yet to unleash his seasonal wonders upon us.  Last night we received a preview of things to come, a thin blanket of brilliantly white snow.

Just enough that the ground is covered in white.  Not so thick that it restricted some of taller grass blades from poking through, providing a touch of texture to the otherwise smooth surface.

In the cloud diffused early morning light the leafless skeletons of the deciduous trees stand proudly in the foreground of the otherwise nondescript landscape.  A scene reminiscent of an old 35mm film negative.   Timeless art that only nature can create.  Though unlike any art captured on film, nature’s creation will only last for a few moments before it morphs into something else uniquely of it’s own creation.

Nature is the essence of art and art,  nature.

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The morning sun shares it’s brilliance across the Eastern skyline.   It’s hues of red, and orange, and yellow reach up to share it’s illumination with the low hanging clouds, softly back lighting and contrasting their puffy blue, grey, and black edges.  Day gently nudges nighttime forward.  It’s Day’s turn to share.  It’s not just a new day upon us, it’s a new year!

I open the porch door, quickly passed by two excited dogs who are as happy this morning as they are any other morning.  Not happy because they will get a treat when we’re outside, or because they have to go potty, but because they know the rest of their world exists out there and they get to experience it (again).

Riley offers up her ritualistic beaconing bark to see which friends and acquantences around the neighborhood are out in their yards this morning.  Today, her call goes unanswered.  She’s not phased, she doesn’t mind at all.  She turns around and commits her energies and love to her sister.  She tries to get Lacie to play ‘chase me!’.  Lacie doesn’t take up the offer.  Riley goes about her business and goes potty.  Their day has begun.

I step out the door and walk into the yard.  I feel the cool winter breezes on my face and sleeveless arms, and the soft, wet grass on my bare feet.  Like a plush carpet of life I feel the blades tickle between my toes as I walk.  I meander to the fruit trees and check on the buds that will blossom in a just few short months.  Everything’s looking great!

Yes, it’s cold- but my body focuses outwards and absorbs the energy of the new day, recharging my soul.   No, I’m not deep in the woods, 0r surrounded by an expansive and beautifully manicured public park, but my  soul doesn’t care.  The calmness and peace of mind holds the same effect, without regard.  One word explains my feelings- tranquil.

Though this morning looks and feels like any other winter mornings, this day is  little different.  It’s the first day of the new calendar year.   Not that the sun, winter winds, Lacie, Riley, or I would ever have noticed otherwise.

Some use the expressions “time passes quickly” and “time passes slowly”.  Time does neither.  Time just is.  Time is the most constant thing we know.  It’s just our perception of time that makes it seem fast or slow.  Like light through a prism, a crystal.  Our life is the crystal. Time is the light.

Every day, we are all gifted with precisely the same amount of light.  The key to our creating brilliant rainbows is the angle at which we choose to refract that light.

Yes, it takes practice to find the perfect angle which will produce the most brilliant rainbow.  Practice is known by a simpler name.  Life!