{mixed-up monday} flock this

 

December  . . . that means it’s about time for my  annual Winter Appreciation Program to kick into gear. For a summer girl like me, it’s easy to dread the months sandwiched between decking the halls  and baseball season. I can admit to suffering from more than one case of  “goose envy” while watching a flock  heading for points south, wishing I could flap on down along with them.

 

Since many of my Austrian/ German ancestors  skied before they could talk, I kept my anti-winter feelings under wraps in my early years,. And then one day,  I realized my aversion was getting more intense with each snowy season, and since hibernating {or becoming a snow bird}  wasn’t an option, my Winter Appreciation Program was born.

 

One of my tricks? Seeking out winter wonders in nature. Today it may be simple to click our way to an inspiring photo or video  {like one of my favorites  at right}, but before virtual doses of wonder were readily available, I relied on good ol’ Mother Nature to deliver. At first, I struggled. It was easy for me to revel in bursts of yellow delivered by the first brave daffodils or get lost in the magic of embers glowing on a stony beach at a summer bonfire, but my “winter eyes” had a hard time focusing on beauty. It was easier to see gray and dark when I was feeling cold and wind-blasted.

 

And then two things happened — my winter runs got longer  and my son’s twice-weekly ice hockey practices forced me to be outside, breathing in fresh, albeit cold air and giving the world around me more than a fleeting “get  from the car to the house quick” look. I started to revel in the honesty of  bare branches against a was-there-ever-a-bluer-blue sky and sway to the bay pulsing under a crusty blanket of icy snow.

 

No, I’m not moving to the Alps, and you still won’t find an “I HEART WINTER” t-shirt in my drawer, but I’m not yearning to follow the geese these days. You can catch me smiling as I watch sun sparkles dance on the crunchy snow beneath my running sneakers, and I might not even be daydreaming about spring.

 

This week’s playlist gives props to  birds — from the southbound geese I once envied to the starlings inspired, synchronized dance. Click on the photo I snapped of a wintry beach to tune in.

 

Bob Marley – Three Little Birds
The Civil Wars – Birds of a Feather
Coldplay – Up With the Birds
Ryan Adams – Night Birds
Ray LaMontagne – Winter Birds
Kate Nash – Birds
Emiliana Torrini – Birds
R.E.M. – King of Birds
Gregory and the Hawk – Boats & Birds
Neil Young – Birds – Remastered Album Version
The Be Good Tanyas – The Littlest Birds
Eels – I Like Birds
Quahog – Starlings
Lydia – Birds
The Submarines – Birds
Margot and the Nuclear So and So’s – Birds
Pavement – Starlings Of The Slipstream
Jackson Browne – Birds Of St. Marks – Live
The Phoenix Foundation – Flock of Hearts
Instar – Starlings