Susan's Thursday morning note February 3, 2011
Winter and Freezing Quotes
Good freezing morning! There are about 100 geese on a nearby iceberg cowering on one little foot next to each other, making me very thankful that I was not born a goose this morning. Can’t say I’ve ever stated that fact before! If only I could offer them all a warm cup of coffee and some toast. Would that instigate a particular neuron movement in their brains that they should maybe try to fly a little more south for a few months?!?!? I seem to always be a little late everywhere I go, regardless of my best intentions; but I must say, I do better than they obviously did, in planning their trip! Camden and I heard a quote we are claiming this month, “Better late than never, but better never late!” Well, I’ll toast my coffee to them and add extra filler – to their flight today! I’ve gathered some quotes on winter and snow that I hope you’ll enjoy reading this morning. Know you’re not alone if your brain is stagnant, your goals have hit a rock bottom zero, and you want nothing more than to crawl under a blanket again today. Join the masses! We’re all in survival mode…but February means spring isn’t very far away! Think now of the little tulips that are dying to shoot up & the little wildflowers just resting under their blanket of snow…getting ready to show their beauty to us.
A lot of people like snow. I find it to be an unnecessary freezing of water. Carl Reiner
Sometimes our fate resembles a fruit tree in winter. Who would think that those branches would turn green again and blossom, but we hope it, we know it. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Winter teaches us about detachment, numbness. But it’s a way to get through. From winter we learn silence and acceptance and the stillness thickens. Gail Barison, The Winter Solstice of my Soul
And for the season it was winter, and they that know the winters of that country know them to be sharp and violent, and subject to cruel and fierce storms. William Bradford (Plymouth Plantation 1590-1657)
In a way Winter is the real Spring — the time when the inner things happen, the resurgence of nature. Edna O’Brien
If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant; if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome. Anne Bradstreet (1612-1672)
February makes a bridge and March breaks it. George Hebert
A Riddle - On Snow by James Parton
"From Heaven I fall, though from earth I begin.
No lady alive can show such a skin.
I'm bright as an angel, and light as a feather,
But heavy and dark, when you squeeze me together.
Though candor and truth in my aspect I bear,
Yet many poor creatures I help to ensnare.
Though so much of Heaven appears in my make,
The foulest impressions I easily take.
My parent and I produce one another,
The mother the daughter, the daughter the mother."
There is a privacy about it which no other season gives you…In spring, summer and fall people sort of have an open season on each other; Only in the winter, in the country, can you have longer, quiet stretches when you can savor belonging to yourself. Ruth Stout
There seems to be so much more winter than we need this year. Kathleen Norris
Winter lies too long in country towns; hangs on until it is stale and sappy, old and sullen. Willa Cather
In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer. Albert Camus
O, wind, If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind? Percy Bysshe Shelley
One kind word can warm three winter months. Japanese Proverb
Why, what’s the matter, That you have such a February face, So full of frost, of storm and cloudiness?” William Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing
Perhaps I am a bear, or some hibernating animal underneath, for the instinct to be half asleep all winter is so strong in me. Anne Morrow Lindbergh
Hang in there! Under the snow blanket the wildflowers and mushrooms and planning their entrance…the geese are still sitting in apathy. How can they look so “unmiserable” when they are on one leg on ice? I’ll never understand how they can do that and not be complaining loudly. Winter. One day at a time. If you want to see a complete disastrous mess and feel better about your particular surroundings stop by the store – we’re in the midst of unpacking 127 boxes & it’s crazy…come join the mess – I might not see you behind the stacks, but your home will look significantly more organized to you in comparison! It’s beautiful outside…so still. Winter means stillness. Time with thoughts. Time to look at our children. Time to pet our animals. Time to read. Time to set goals. Time to create mentally. Time to rest our minds. Time for excuses (grin). Thanks for letting me write for you again this morning. Thank you so much for running to the store for your gifts and your books. The used bookstore is incredible – thanks for spreading the word and continuing to bring us books. Let’s go make the moments in our day today worth recording if we must write our epitaph tonight…time…so quickly flying…our choice to make the most of our gift of life. Susan
Latin for this week:
bruma - "winter"
Hiems - winter
Erat hiems summa - It was the very depth of winter (Cicero - In Verrem II)