{mixed-up monday} flock this

on 12-03-2012

 

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.

Click this photo to  witness magical murmuration.

 

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.

Click here to give the “flock this” Spotify playlist a listen.

 

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

 

 

 

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