by
Jean Hughes
January 15, 1996
Cold winds have brought low temperatures and clear nights. Stars look like big chunks of ice. I love this time of year when stars are bright and easy to identify.

* * *
This morning, I bundle up and walk to the little creek. The sky above is singing the happy blues. I hear the hollow voice of water as it yodels under the ice and over the cold rocks of a small waterfall. Its music is as tender as a heartbeat.

I walk along the creek edge. The dogs meander with me. It is peaceful here and starkly beautiful. Except for occasional poundings of a woodpecker, it is quiet. Whenever I walk away from the sound of the water and stand still, and listen, I can hear the music of the spheres. I never feel so much a part of the earth as when I am in the woods, and I never feel alone.

* * *
Today, I am out for fun. I stand in the center of an unmowed field. There is not the sound of one bird song nor the whir of one wing. And so, I begin to call the soft "tish, tish," that sometimes brings the birds.

Almost immediately I hear a fluttering. One by one tree sparrows gather in the nearby bushes and trees. They have come!. To me, it is magic.

I linger for a while in this peaceful spot, watching the birds and enjoying them flying around me, then I climb up the hill and around a winding path that Chris cut for me in the rose bower. The bushes are full of cardinals eating rose hips.

Finally, I turn toward the house where work and warmth await, but I do not hurry. I never get enough of the wild. I never will.

* * *
I watch a few ducks in a protected inlet. The lake is frozen over, but along the edges there are a few open places of water. Ducks seem to be able to make themselves happy with very little. I have learned from their example. If you don't have a whole lake, a puddle will do.

* * *
This evening, I walk to the end of the mule pasture, so I can turn and walk back into the sunset. A red-tailed hawk, sitting low in a woods' edge tree, flaps slowly away down a ravine.

I did not realize until recently how much my every action, or inaction, influences the life around me. My decision to take a walk changes the life of every creature or plant that I contact, and so I influence all of life. For life is a chain of touchings, and every action, no matter how small, is eventually felt by every living thing on earth.


January brings soup and pie weather.

Magic Crust Sugar & Spice Pie
Beat well: 3 eggs.
Stir in: 1 3/4 cups milk and 1/4 cup melted butter.
Mix together and stir in: 1 1/2 cups sugar, 2 t. pumpkin pie spice, 
1/2 cup flour and 1/2 t. baking powder.
Fold in: 1 cup flaked coconut, firmly packed.
Pour into a  9" pie pan and bake at 350o for 45 minutes.

This morning, in the early dawn, nature is watering the earth with snowflakes. Of all the forms that moisture takes, from clouds to oceans to raindrops, snowflakes are the most beautiful.

As I walk my lane, in the snow-filled world, I hum a little tune to winter. Now, I can walk the hills for hours and never get hot or sunburned. We are all creatures of the seasons, and some of you curl up in winter, but not me.

As the earth turns, we each find our favorite time. In less than 60 days the sun will be closer, the first trillium will bloom and the cardinals will be singing spring into the hills. But first there is time to enjoy the gift of snowflakes and the magnificence of the open woods. First there are days of time to live in the loveliness of winter.

Copyright 1996, Jean Hughes.

Jean's book of ramblings and recipes "A Country Mile of Winter" and her book of poetry "The Earth's My Home" are available for $4.95 each plus $1.30 for postage and handling. Ten of Jean's favorite recipes will be included free with each book ordered. Order from...

Country Mile Publications
616 E. Monroe St.
Delphi, Indiana 46923

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