I’m looking forward to some simple pleasures this weekend, taking different walking routes than my weekday routes and baking a batch of cookies.
I hope that you have a great weekend!
I have conflicted feelings about winter. In the last week it snowed twice. It’s been a very easy winter so far, so it doesn’t feel right to complain about a couple of light snowfalls. But, after shoveling one afternoon, the snow kept coming down and didn’t stop until 8:00 at night. The last thing that I wanted to do after dinner was to find dry mittens and a dry hat and go out in the dark to shovel.
I read an essay by Virginia Sole-Smith, called The Myth of Regular Exercise. Sole-Smith begins the essay talking about her response to “stick season” when the leaves fall from the trees and we turn the clocks back. It was late afternoon, dark already, and lightly snowing outside as I read Sole-Smith’s description of the “unmistakable frisson of dread about how cold, how dark, how long till I’m warm again.” I could relate.
When I think of winter, I think of short days and dark afternoons, dreaded heavy snowfalls, and icy roads to worry about when I’m walking.
But something happened this week that made me very excited about our cold New England winters. As I was out on my walk, a flock of adorable titmice were calling to each other and flitting from tree to tree across my path. I stopped to watch them and spied something up in a tree. Something that I’d been on the lookout for. A woven nest, hanging like a sack from the bare branch. It was some distance away and at first I questioned whether it was really a nest. Maybe it was a plastic bag that had been blown up there by the wind and gotten caught in the branch? Looking closely, I could see woven strands of grass and thin branches. Clearly it was a nest. I quickly took a photo. Due to the distance and lack of light, it isn’t a great photo, but it is enough to confirm that it is a nest. I think it’s a Baltimore Oriole nest. Orioles hang out in our backyard and I’ve always wanted to see their nests. I’m planning to revisit that nest in the late spring to see if any birds return to it. That is, if I can find the nest. In the late spring that nest might be hidden by bright green leaves. Thanks to winter, I was able to see it.
After we finished shoveling snow a few nights ago, I looked up at our dogwood tree and admired how beautiful it was covered in snow. I went into the house, where Tom sat, exhausted on the couch. I said, “It’s really pretty out there.” Tom agreed, “I was just thinking the same thing. The dogwood is beautiful.”
Here’s what I’m sharing on this wintery weekend:
- The Myth of “Regular” Exercise — Virginia Sole-Smith on how we think about exercise and weight. (Burnt Toast)
- American Expatriates in Paris Wish Emily Cooper Would Go Home — Is everyone noticing red berets all over Paris? (The New York Times)
- Are gas stoves really dangerous? What we know about the science — The gas stove news that is keeping me up at night. (The Guardian)
- Five Women on Going Gray in the Workplace — More and more women are going gray. (The—M—Dash)
- If you haven’t seen it, you can find my post on going gray here. (Sea Salt and Sailor Stripes)
- A Friend’s Tip, a Food Writer, and a Delicious Duck Dinner — Winter is a good time to cook a duck! (Sea Salt and Sailor Stripes)
- Goodness: These ‘Invisibile’ Solar Panels Appear Just Like Historic Italian Terracotta Roofs and Can Help Green Historic Buildings — It’s great that old cities will be able to keep their traditional look with these tiles. (Good News Network)
About the photo: An empty Baltimore Oriole nest hanging from a tree branch in my neighborhood.