getting dressed by the fire

I grew up in houses that were cold in the winter, they were old, drafty houses and my parents were not interested in high heating bills. so it is lifestyle ingrained into me that in winter, I wear layers of warm wools, inside & outside. at mom's farm, we had a wood stove, which meant the living room was always cozy. and as kids, we quickly learned, that to avoid being naked & cold in our bedrooms, we just needed to take our clothes to the living room, & get dressed by the fire. 

lately, I've been getting dressed by the fire again. 

& I admit that I have my mornings when I wish/miss just hitting the thermostat, hearing comfort in the sound of a furnace kicking on. but most mornings, I find this is part of my winter cycle now. I wake, I start a fire, the room warms up, then I change out of pajamas. 

we took a walk today, bundled up against frosty winds. the snow fell on our faces as we walked. we don't have the snowfall, la nieva, here at the house that the mountains up top do. they, las nevadas, newly white, are shrouded from view in white clouds. 

we took a different path today, taking the opposite direction, and this time looking over our little valley to the north where we so often walk. we found a trail, old and not often used. at one point, on a plateau amidst the boulders, I got a feeling that bigger things were around us. frankly, I got a little spooked. I don't know if it was the softly howling frosty wind, the fact that d. said he smelled an animal...claiming it must be a sheep though my brain went right to "hungry bear"...or just some sense that we were being watched--by something in the trees, rocks, air, mountains. this is when we turned to head home. 

but, we'll try the walk again. it was fun to see that, right here, we still have new trails to take.