Wide awake in the dark at seven am, the almost full moon shinning in my bedroom window, low in the sky, going down behind the hill. I put some wood on the fire and light the lantern by my chair. The nice thing about the cabin in winter when you get up before dawn and everyone is still sleeping is that you can sit quietly in the lantern light all cozy with a hot cup of coffee and get lost in a good book.
Or write letters. Real letters. The kind that don't limit full expression with your full voice. With plain paper and a pen you never run out of space before you're finished.
I wonder what Marshall McCluan would have thought about today's social media.
Dan gets up around eight looking for his Horticulture magazine. Gardeners like Dan don't give it up for winter. There are all those plans to be made for the coming season.
Will shows up about the time the chickadees arrive at the feeder.
During breakfast Dan mention's Tim. "He doesn't look good." He wonders if Tim wanted help to check out Walter's cabin. Walter lives near Tim and asked Tim to pack the trail to his cabin so that when he and his wife come up with their toddler daughters they won't have to break trail. Tim hasn't done it yet.
We talk about things still on our agenda. Will still needs to get a tree. My snow machine still isn't started. Christmas cookie dough still chills in the refrigerator.
Dan comes back to Tim. "He really doesn't look good. I wonder if he's sick like last year." A few more Tim references later Will says, " Why don't we check out Walter's for him and let him know its done. You know if you ask him he'll say he doesn't need help."
They're both pleased with their plan for the day. I get out the Christmas cookie dough.