Snow

January 30, 2018

Snowyhill today, a steady fall since morning. We had deer visiting, four just the other side of Zen’s fence, and a large herd, at least eight, down on the far side of the valley to the east at the edge of our neighbors woods. It’s easy to enjoy the sight of them when they aren’t eating my vegetable garden. We’ll see what our attitude is during growing season.

Zen is the resident elderly horse. He had been Karen’s pride and joy, a beautiful black gelding. Her love of horses was probably a big part of what drew her to this property originally. She put up a fine barn and state of the art fencing. After she died, Zen went elsewhere (I’ve forgotten just where), but Dan, Karen’s caretaker and now ours, found him doing poorly and losing weight and brought him back to Sunnyhill. He’s quite a sweet presence, a little shy with strangers, but very gentle. Charlie has barked at him a few times from inside the house, but when he goes out he leaves Zen alone. They haven’t been formally introduced yet, but Dan says that Zen loves dogs.

Last night we were surprised to see a lone firefly – I didn’t think we’d see any until spring. Jay said he thought he was wearing an itty bitty down vest.

At the gym this morning in an aqua class for flexibility and balance, we watched the snow falling outside from the warmth of the therapy pool which has huge windows on three sides. This amazing sports center has three pools – a 25 meter lap pool, a deep pool, and the warm therapy pool. The center hosts physical therapy for Bassett Hospital, the major hospital in the area, and reported to be surprisingly good. It’s certainly a major employer. The sports center boasts 5,000 members. Kind of amazing in a town with a population of 1,852. But we’ve met people who come from over twenty miles away. It’s clearly meeting the needs of a large rural area – and what an amazing gift it is to the community. It’s full of kids of all ages after school, with tons of great activities. It hosts Head Start groups during the day, and bowling leagues. There is literally something for everyone. And in the winter, it’s a great antidote for cabin fever.

The blowing snow is mesmerizing. Charlie refuses to go out.