in bleak midwinter

 “November is the most disagreeable month of the whole year,” said Margaret, standing at the window one dull afternoon, looking out at the frostbitten garden.

“That’s the reason I was born in it,” observed Jo pensively, quite unconscious of the blot on her nose.

(from Little Women by Louisa May Alcott, chapter 15: “A Telegram.”)

I often adapt those lines to my own situation, in which January is the dullest month of the whole year and that’s the reason I was born in it. :) January and February are what I call the “bleak midwinter,” because in Goldendale, they usually consist of cold, fog, cold, and fog, plus a slab of ice where the swamp floods the driveway. A rather gray time of year, to say the least!



Oscar agrees with me. His philosophy is to stay on the warm side of the window, examining his handsome reflection. Let Jane and Lizzy get themselves stuck in trees if they want to—King Oscar is going to exercise more intelligence. (As a matter of fact, that’s the only thing he exercises! No dieting resolutions for him!)


I don’t really blame him. I’ve been up to walk the Loop before sunrise the last few mornings, and it is the most courageous thing I do every day to get out of my nice warm bed and step out into the dark, ten-degree January morning. But the sunrises are fantastic, so one of these days I’ll have to get it on camera for all my wonderful blog readers. :)




I hope you are all enjoying your bleak midwinters… with both the wisdom of King Oscar and the adventurousness of Lizzy and Jane!!!