the scream

I've been thinking about this post for over a week now. I took the picture of the snow halfway down the mountains about a week ago (from my back door), but I haven't had time to blog. I am helping coordinate the MOPS ministry for this valley and our first MOPS meeting was yesterday~ these meetings are a pretty huge endeavor (childcare for over 90 preschoolers!), so I've put all my personal projects and hobbies on pause until after Wednesday morning. The morning went well, and there is a couple weeks until the next meeting, so now I feel I have some freedom to think about other tasks... like my reading list and this blog.

I've thought of Edvard Munch's "The Scream" several times lately. I've thought of it with some of the tasks related to MOPS, but mostly because of the snow that has been coming. Last week we had several cloudy days~ clouds that socked in our valley to such an extent that if one didn't know we were surrounded by mountains, you'd have never known to look around. The mountains were swallowed up by thick grey clouds. When the coulds would lift for an afternoon, we could see their handiwork. Usually we talk about "termination dust"~ the first bit of snow we can see on a mountaintop that tells us winter is coming. This has been a termination dump. It doesn't seem we'll get to wade into winter this year. I imagine the snow will attack within a matter of weeks~ it's like watching Ghengis Khan's army approaching... or what I imagine it would be like to watch a mortal enemy charge.

Do I really think of snow as my mortal enemy? Well, no... not really. Hyperbole just feels appropriate. Maybe because I've had two espressos this morning (gifts from my sweet husband and my sweet neighbor). But though I wrote a couple weeks ago about loving fall~ which I really do in a very romantic way~ I do dread long, cold days and temperatures that turn people blue.

Winter is coming though, and for morale, I am trying to focus on the fact that with the snow, the holidays are also coming. We could go out this afternoon to buy a pumpkin, halloween candy, turkey decorations and Christmas lights. All of these things and the celebrations they represent are things I deeply enjoy. We've been so transient the last few years that I haven't felt like we could really do the holidays like I wanted, but this year! This year we're celebrating everything! I'll be wearing long-johns, fleece and a new down jacket, but we'll be celebrating! Come January and February, I'll be looking for suggestions on how to do Presidents Day up right...