To be sure, I love mornings… coffee, good reads, journaling, getting the fire going, sunshine, birds busy eating the food set out for them. It is a time for new beginnings, everything made new. I have a vision of a morning of epic proportions… all of the above, but adding a snow shelter with a view of the mountains and a fire going in the wood stove found there.

My plan has been to strap on my snowshoes and hike up to a snow shelter, with my coffee in a thermos, spending an hour or so there, then hiking back… So far, so bad. This was attempt.#.2 and I happened to get all turned around looking for a shortcut. Sigh…

I should note the number of interesting moments… for my life would not be my own without them. Markedly, there were the moments where the birds swarmed around my head in their curiosity. Moments indeed, for there is nothing like the presence of our free-spirited feathered friends to capture our hearts and minds and draw us into a place where time slows and disappears. The gray jays greeted me as I got out of my van at the Swampy Lakes Snowpark, maybe hoping for a bit of food to make their hunt for breakfast a bit shorter. Back and forth, tree, car, tree again… perching on the snowbank, they eyed me up and down, their curiosity giving them away. Later, as I was making my way through the woods, I stopped and allowed the chickadees and nuthatches to gather close. The flutter… the swarming… the chatter… this was the moment… the time when we were not so set apart by windows, buildings, civilization. We were wild, and we were there together.

The other thing I noticed is how quickly I can switch out of this satisfaction with the now. There I was plodding along, not really knowing where I was going, but knowing that I wasn’t heading in the direction that I want to. I was sweating, my legs tired. Frustrated, I wanted to find my way back to the van and get out of there. Annoyed, i hoped that the too-many skiers would not see me walking in circles. Thoughts quickly went to other things I would rather be doing, things that I needed to get done. The birds quickly abandoned such a preoccupied and noisy knucklehead.