Kathy Hardy's Handmade Life

As we welcome Winter, a new year and a new 'mindset', we wonder what all of it means. Every New Year's Eve is celebrated with hope for the future, whatever that means these days. I don't know about you, but what I'm noticing more and more is the downright 'meanness' in people these days. While those boast about kindness, loving each other, helping each other, blah de blah, those same people are pointing fingers, judging, harassing and taunting others that don't agree with them. When did this become the 'new norm'? And if it is the new norm, I don't like it! It does make me glad that it's Winter though, since I can just stay hibernating until Spring and hope everything gets better. I wish we could really be like the trees and shed everything that we grew during the Spring and Summer and start all over again. I subscribe to the "DailyOM" email and these words, in particular resonated with me...I hope they do the same for you! 

"In fall, the earth begins the process of releasing all the things she has been holding onto throughout spring and summer, and by midwinter she has let everything go. She sits clean and undecorated in her simplicity, free of the frenzy of life that defines her in the warmer seasons. There is a quiet humility about the earth in the winter months, as animals and people retreat inside to escape the wet and sometimes freezing cold that takes hold. Inside our homes we create abundance and warmth in response to being effectively kicked indoors by the dark and cold that permeate the outdoors.

We laugh, eat, and talk, sleep, or catch up on reading, while outside our windows the earth grows dark earlier and stays cold longer, accepting as always of the process of change and her place within it. We might remember to learn from her as she so gracefully surrenders to the emptiness that precedes all form, the peace that precedes activity, the darkness that precedes the light. For everything she gives and teaches, we might offer a blessing, extending a goodly portion of the gratitude of this season her way, holding her in our hearts and thanking her for our very lives." 

And, since we are talking about Winter, I thought you might enjoy this little video from one of our ponds. The Fox and the Deer are trying to figure out what happened to the water...it's frozen! But, just like us, it will soon thaw out.

Happy 2022 Everyone!!!!

love and peace always ~ Kathy

“In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible Summer...and that makes me happy. For it says that no matter how hard the world pushes against me, within me, there’s something stronger – something better, pushing right back.” ~ Albert Camus