Sunday, January 31, 2010

Daydreaming

Sometimes I wish I lived someplace more remote.

We have a nice home in a little subdivision outside of Clifton Forge. It's fairly quiet and not packed too closely, though I can throw a football and easily hit the neighbors to either side. And it's nice to have neighbors. At times we trade recipes and food. There is an inherent comfort in having people live around you because it brings the understanding that you are not alone and that help, if needed, is right next door.

But sometimes I can't help but wish I lived someplace more remote. Yesterday we had our second big snowstorm of the year and there's probably about a foot of the white stuff blanketing the ground. There are a couple of big pine trees in my neighbor's yard and they're beautiful under the cover of snow.

I walked outside just a few minutes ago to put some pork loin on the grill for lunch and I took it all in...the clear blue sky, the not uncomfortable chill in the air and the silence disturbed only by the occasional vehicle on the interstate just over the ridge from the house. My backyard and my two neighbors' back yards are a perfect, undisturbed blanket of white. I enjoy looking at snow before people have trampled through it. It's like a blank canvas that is a masterpiece in it's own right.

It was easy to imagine being somewhere else...in a house atop a hill, all snug and warm with snow piled heavily outside. No sound but the whisper of the breeze as it stirred the top of the snow blanket. A hawk shatters that whisper, it's white underbelly a stark contrast against the clear blue sky as it hunts...

Inside the cabin I could take it all in from my writing desk that sits in front of a large picture window overlooking the valley. A mug of hot chocolate or a cold Pepsi coupled with a hot lunch....

Maybe someday...

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