I don’t know about you, but cold weather makes me cold.

Really cold weather makes me really cold.  Like this cardinal, I want to take flight – but under warm blankets (wake me up in the spring!)

“Spring will come in our souls if only we have the patience to last out the winter under the cold snow. A good winter is the best preparation for a good spring.”  Carlos G. Valles, SJ

But a good winter doesn’t have to be SO COLD! The weather didn’t get the memo this week that Virginia (the state of) is in the south? And we don’t do temps like 5 degrees Fahrenheit (-15 Celsius) or wind chills below -1 degree F (-18C)? All week we’ve dripped our faucets, run the heat all night, and bundled up for outings occasioned by necessity with hats, mittens, woolen scarves, earmuffs and our warmest functional winter coats (vs. fashionable ensembles.)

Mine makes me look like the Pillsbury Doughgirl.

In case you don’t remember the Pillsbury Doughboy, here’s a refresher. (Pillsbury piecrusts are still the best, says pie-maker Virginia who used lots over the holiday.) Note his well-rounded appearance? Just like me in my Pillsbury Doughgirl coat (but it’s warm!)

Swinging by our Neighborhood Walmart Tuesday evening to restock a few holiday-depleted items (like piecrusts), I found numerous empty shelves and long check-out lines. A bit perplexed as the smaller neighborhood Walmart is usually a quick in & out (vs. the gigantic one across town), I checked the weather on my iPhone to see if we needed to drip the faucets (we did) — but somehow a red alert winter storm warning had snuck into the forecast.

woah! A mad dash into Trader Joe’s ensued for the umpteenth time since the onset of the holidays. Did I mention the frigid temperatures? But at least we haven’t run out of chips, dip, and all those goodies Trader Joe’s so tastily creates.

Basic necessities for a winter storm (snow inclusive.)

Our front porch @ a blustery 7:00AM today.

Last night nearby cities of Norfolk & Virginia Beach were under a blizzard watch. They endured 65mph winds, 12 inches of snow, and some friends there are still without power. Here in Williamsburg, we received 8-10 inches of snow and gusts up to 35mph.

View out our back porch this morning.

This morning I woke up @5:00AM to wind whipping around the house, gustings that continued throughout the day. Rattle, rattle, shake, shake, but we are grateful the electricity stayed on.

Our windblown Nightmare Before Christmas front porch decor.

We haven’t taken our holiday decorations down yet, but we’ve talked about it. (The Three Kings need a chance to make it to the creche stable: Epiphany is January 6th.) Contemplating packing away this snowman has been a struggle.

Each time I pass by, bouncing it makes me laugh!

Dwight (my brother) said, “It’s a reminder. Let’s be flexible.”

We decided to leave out our snowman as a winter thing, with the added bonus of daily flexibility remindering. Sometimes flexibility can be the best tool in our tool kits.

Bruised reeds bend in storms, but don’t break.

These bushes aren’t exactly reeds, but they did fine in today’s winter storm, because they bent with the wind and didn’t break.

“Blessed are the flexible, for they shall not be bent out of shape.” Anonymous

A good reminder as the first week of 2018 starts with winter storms disrupting our schedules and plans (sending us into hiding under warm blankets!)

As a pick-me-upper for our frozen toes, here’s a YouTube video of The Bangles ’80s hit cover of the Simon & Garfunkel song, “Hazy Shade of Winter.”

“Look around,

Leaves are brown,

There’s a patch of snow on the ground,

And the sky,

Is a Hazy Shade of Winter.“

(Paul Simon)

grace, peace & snowtime flexibility grooves

Virginia : )

p.s. Had to share this pic of my brother rocking out in last January’s snow…

(it was too cold to venture outside today!)