Shovelling snow then coming inside for a bit to thaw out
An interesting word, ‘returning’. When you break it down – ‘re’, and ‘turning’, it feels like it’s more of another turn on a spiral, rather than coming back to the same spot on a circle.
Which is, of course, my preferred way of looking at Life, the Universe, and Everything, (to quote the famous, some might say, infamous, Douggie Adams) on this mortal coil.
And so, I have re-turned into 2023, hoping most fervently that it be less … perhaps ‘epic’, might be an appropriate descriptor … hoping it be less epic that the preceding year. (one can only sustain such epic-ness for only so long before the cardboard underpinnings of the entire mess collapse beneath one. Up to, and including, spending 3 days in December, at -37C temperatures without indoor running water – not an experience to be envied, I tell you)
This was before the ice turned into a solid sheet
A bit of a close-up – I never really understood what these looked like when I read about such things in books as a kid. Now I do
There were days I wondered if I was going to make it. Not that I ever considered offing myself, but the question of whether I would make it, back here, back to writing, back to blogging, back to being a writer who was writing, reared its unsavoury head more than once. The tricky part about it was that I didn’t have, couldn’t find, an answer.
For most of the second half of last year, since we stopped being wanderers and, oddly enough, finally settled into our lovely house here, I was depressed. (situationally, rather than clinically) Which, wouldn’t’ve been a stretch to figure out given the barely submerged sub-text of my semi-infrequent blog posts during that time.
I’m slowly crawling out of that rather bleak place, thanks in part to the passage of time, the indomitable Mrs Widds, my own ability to self-critique, lots and lots of rest, a twisty sense of humour, and views from every window that are truly uplifting. (not necessarily in that order, but probably in that order)
Trying to capture the uncapturable deep blue colour of a full moon rising over a blanket of snow, with Venus, I think, a tiny sparkle of light, up there near the top of the frame
Widdershins Worlds 
Funny that stability would be the problem – but maybe that’s the point. Hope you’re back – I’m clueless enough to just realize you’ve been missing too long.
Also, remember that it might be an atypical winter.
I’m using my light box almost every morning – I get the Seasonal Affective Disorder.
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I’m back. 😀
There wasn’t anywhere or any time to fall apart before then – too exhausted and too busy! … we’re an odd species, us humans, that’s for sure.
I don’t think there are any ‘typical’, or ‘normal’, seasons left anymore. We just have to learn to roll with the ‘punches’.
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You’ll continue to, you and Mrs. Widds, and it will get better – even if not predictable.
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Very well done. Your temperatures make our current lack of heating rather insignificant
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Not when it hits out of the blue like that though. Hopefully your boiler issues are solved by now … I’m a bit behind with my blog reading. 🙂
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Where ever your journey takes you I hope you always return to us.
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Always. 🙂
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sometimes to find, you first must be lost
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The only way it works, eh? 🙂
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Welcome to 2023, a year which is strange because so much has happened to all of us we can’t imagine how 2023 will be.
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Yep, absolutely no idea what’s around the corner, but I’ve put in my request for any corners to be gentle and to be tiptoed around. 🙂
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I hear your exhaustion from dealing with 2022 (& the couple before that too). It takes a while to recover… & creativity can be the first casualty of exhaustion & stress. I hope this new year is easier on all of us, everywhere 🙏🏼, & yet, I’m not certain it can be 🙏🏼
May you ease yourself back to small joys, perhaps one a day: a hug, a nice cuppa & cake, a snatch of birdsong, an exciting sentence 🙏🏼
Blessings to you & the Mrs from Australia 🌈❤️
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Even though 2023 has already had its ‘moments’, we’re still so much better off here than we were on the Lower Mainland.
Exciting sentences ahoy! 😀
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The Fraser Valley floods were just over a year ago, and after that you were on the road. No wonder you’ve been discombobulated! Hope things improve as spring approaches.
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Spending that week-ish on flood alert contributed to our decision to go … ‘hell and high water’, in action. 😀
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Driving away was better than floating away!
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Bwhahahahaha … absolutely! 😀
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I’m delighted that you have found your new horizon. May we all peep over it together…
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May we all, indeed. 🙂
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Congrats at entering semi-permanence/permanence. I hope it’s comforting, fulfilling, and fruitful.
The frost shots on the glass, btw: beyond amazing. They’re miraculous.
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Mother Nature, being all artistic. 😀
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-hugs- So glad you’re back! The Widdy humour has been missed. As Bone & Silver said, ease yourself back to small joys. And don’t forget you’ve got friends here. 🙂
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Aww, thanks … I missed my humour too. 🙂 … however, as we are discovering, things that once were missing in this house, turn back up when they are good and ready, even if we looked in that exact same place a moment before. I love the personality quirks of old houses. 😀 … a bit like us old(er) humans. 😀
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-grin- I built my house so it’s only now starting to develop some quirks, some cute, some not so. Hopefully us old[er] humans will develop some cute quirks too. :p
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Ah – you’re back. I’ve been wondering whether you would, or whether life wandering the slopes of Erebor, dressed in quilted bearskins, goat’s-buttocks hat, and strangling moose twice-daily would keep you away. In re the moose strangling I have the usual long-lens and satellite photographs of course, so just leave the money in the usual place and the negatives are yours.
I must say that -37C sounds dramatic. We’d all have been happy here with something on the order of minus ten or twelve but no, there you go, over-egging the weather again. Indoor water is a luxury not missed until it’s gone. Bathing in whisky can be such a palaver, and one struggles to work up a proper shampoo-froth in most of the single-malts.
Chin-chin.
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Moose strangling? T’aint no strangled mooses ’round there here parts, pardner, but the moolah is in the usual spot, just in case, 😀
Re: whisky bathing – one ought not to light the hookah too close to the bath ‘water’ either. 🙂
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It is hard to get back into any kind of writing practice (or blogging) now I think. I’m still going back over old work. The weather you are experiencing sounds extreme. It would be hard to keep your spirits up after all you went through last year. I’m glad things are turning around for you. The exhaustion of last year is just below the surface for me too. These are difficult times. Despite the cold your environment looks beautiful. I can’t say the same for the dump I moved to in a panic. I will definitely move on later in the year.
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We had a stunning day today. Deep winter-blue sky with nary a cloud, the evergreen trees bedecked with shelves of snow, and the snow itself, gleaming in the sunlight. For all my emotional ups and downs, such beauty as this reminds me why I’m here. 🙂 … I hope the next stage of your Journey goes easier than the last bit too. 🙂
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That sounds beautiful but I still would rather see snow in photos than experience the real stuff. It’s pretty but the cold gets to me. 🙂
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Happily, I’ve managed to acclimate in double-quick time. 😀
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“…one can only sustain such epic-ness for only so long.” My feelings exactly. Here’s to a much calmer, less chaotic 2023. And the views from your windows are beautiful.
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It feels like it ought to be a year of consolidation … we’ll see how that turns out! 😀
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It does sort of feel that way. Deep breaths.
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It was a freezing cold winter. Our snowpack in the Rockies was destroyed but many severe cold spells that turned the snow in facets, which makes it very dangerous. While windows icing over is not ideal, I have to say the ice patterns are truly beautiful. I think people pay good money to have motifs like this etched into glass. So glad you got such great photos of your ice artwork.
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Water’s such a clever wee Element, in all its manifestations. 😀
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