Imbolc, harbinger of Springtime, part 1

We have had bitterly cold temps, snow and more snow, endless days of no school and cancelled plans.
But these days grow longer, and when the sun is out birds sing. And you can smell that spring will come.
Today it snows again,
after snowing the day after our Imbolc ritual,
when it rained cold and persistent,
and it will snow again in a few days. 

The endless white is a blank canvas.
Bridget knows.

Bridget knows about our songs unsung, about our health neglected, about those walks not taken.
Bridget knows we care and we love.
Bridget inspires us to do better, even when we fall down.
A busy week of art and plays and recuperation and connection leading up to our ritual day. Groundhog’s day, 6 more weeks of winter. Days and weeks blended together, until we no longer know what day it is, but we know February has begun, and we know it will end and it will be Springtime. Sometime.

Once again many folks who plan to attend ritual but can’t,
it is once again just our family and Katrina’s family.
A magical 6 of 2 sets of parents and 2 teenagers balanced into 3 guys & 3 gals.

Grateful and alive and grateful to be alive.

Outside now it is silent, there are not yet tracks, except for our digging and the snowplow. It is long past 5pm and yet the snow still shines like the afternoon. 
Everywhere is a grey white that could be a cocoon and is most certainly a blanket.

I long to walk out to her, but it is way too deep. I will wait until there is a path. For now I imagine how quiet it is there at the frozen brook with all the valleys filled flat with snow.

We have a haircut to offer,
time to grow, begin to stretch,
to move energy in a good direction
with gratitude.

It is always just about gratitude.

Coincidences are not and activity is.