February 9, 2025
Day 1,227 of the Adventure
I was awake this morning a little before 7am. The stove needed a fresh supply of wood which is something retrieved from our wood box on the back deck. It's only about two steps outside, then about three steps to the stove once inside. Barefoot and no shirt all the way. My joints don't appreciate it when I try to bend over to rearrange the contents of the stove and feed more wood into it for more than a few seconds. Most of my stove tending is done from a wooden kitchen chair in front of the stove. From there, I can rearrange away and get some flames brought back to life. I tend to linger there while enjoying a fresh warmth emanating from the coals. Once the flames are coming back to life, it's time to make some coffee. Such is the routine around here this time of year. There was a day when getting ready to venture outside to address some task was a high priority on a day like this. Not so much anymore. I'm fully content to return to the simple wooden chair and sip coffee and soak up the growing warmth of the fire. Maybe even for more than one cup. Winter has become, for me, a slow time that I do my best to match. The warm seasons of life offer plenty of opportunity to get after the outdoor projects early without the need to brace myself against the cold. While sitting there and thinking about how quiet it looked out the back window, I decided to change up my routine this morning, I stepped into some slippers and, for a few short minutes, went out into that cold wearing mostly just my skin and without bundling up in anything warm. Video camera in hand, I took a very brisk stroll around the cabin, house construction project, woodshed, nearly to the garden and back again. Maybe five minutes worth of eye opening, mid-February, pre-dawn exhilaration. It was my version of a "Polar Plunge" I suppose. The breeze was slight. Just enough to ruffle the American flag flying from our solar shed. Everything else was still and silent. Even the birds seemed to have the good sense to sleep in this morning. Upon making my rounds, I returned to my chair at the wood stove and finished a hot cup of coffee. If my skin was blue, that too had a chance to recover its normal color. Later in the day, we would indeed spend a little time out in the garden cleaning up tomato cages, preparing them for the spring planting season. Even that was a slow, deliberate process that fit the sunny, but still chilly afternoon. Mid-February at the Cabin. It's when the Slow Rhythm of Winter dominates the backwoods life.
Adventure Quote: “The ego wants to go fast. The soul needs to go slow.” ― Maxime Lagacé
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