Cold weather, you're no match for me!

I took a walk today, in 28 degree weather, to explore up the dead end road that leads to our house. After our home, the gravel road splits off, with a branch continuing on straight south and a branch that curves to the west. To the west are two other families, spread out. I knew we didn't have any other neighbors, so I had assumed that to the south the road just eventually stopped. And it does, but not before making its meandering way over a small concrete bridge spanning a creek.

(how much does this look like Frost's "Road Less Traveled"?)

I should explain a bit why I was out walking in the first place, facing head-on two things I normally despise: exercise and cold.

Reason #1: Gravel trucks have been driving to and fro past our house all day long; the owners of the property south of us are apparently building a pole barn and plan to build a house in the near future. Eli is devastated about this. They'll be far enough away that we can't even see their pole barn (nor their house when it gets built, I'm sure) from our house, so I'm thinking we'll still feel as secluded as ever. But until the house is finished, we will have the unfortunate luck of having traffic on our road.

Naturally, I had to check this situation out.

Reason #2: I have embarked on an ambitious plan to lose weight, including foregoing in-between meal snacks. So every time I get hungry and would usually start grazing I instead try to either drink water or distract myself from my stomach entirely. It's been exactly three days. And I still have two untouched pints of Ben & Jerry's in my freezer. Now THAT, my friends, is an incredible display of will power.

I actually enjoyed myself today. Whereas I would normally have sat around shoving Twinkies and the like into my gaping maw, I took the time to get off my butt and do something. The walk did me good. I found myself noticing and appreciating little details that I would have otherwise missed. Normally this time of year I spend as little time outside as possible. I mean, seriously, I detest the cold. But if I hadn't ventured out, I wouldn't have seen this:



a frozen puddle with bubbles trapped beneath in the dead grass. The top layer of the ice was thin and floated on the ground like a sheet of delicate glass.

Or this:

the coolest dead tree with the smoothest weathered bark.

I definitely wouldn't have noticed how calm and serene the reflection of the tree branches is in the creek. Hell, I wouldn't have known there WAS a creek!



So that was cool. But now it's getting late, Eliot is asleep, and I'm having a pretty hard time trying NOT to bake brownies and eat the whole pan. *sigh* I'd better grab my embroidery to keep my hands busy...