Winter Skin...

... it's real.

Looking at my arms for the first time in months was a bit like returning to an old summer cabin after a long winter. You recognize the shape, the lines, the old scars. And some new scars. Yet, the closer you look, the telltale signs that it is in need of a little maintenance begin to emerge. In my case, the arid cold has taken liberties with my skin and needs a good coat of poly... I mean coconut oil. The decision to fatten up a bit to weather the series of 7-dog-nights has also gifted me a few happy, lumpy spots.


And, like returning to an old familiar part of life, glimpsing this weather-beaten shell made me surprisingly sentimental. Because though some hairs had grown short where thermal layer cuffs had rubbed, and snug winterwear had made others grow right back into themselves - I was surprised to recognize nicks and sun-kissed-ness held over from the last hours of the past season's farm light.

As much as recent years have been challenge-packed, this year's ambitions are far more personally demanding. Nesting a bit on a semi-permanent property means digging my OWN gardens and root cellars, building decks and fences and sheds, and thinking-planning-rethinking-reworking all of it as I go. And notes. Tiny composition books full of ideas and wisdom from folks and friends, near and far, old ways and new.

Work coming my way, too, that I've hoped would - eventually. It's the kind I naturally enjoy, and it's proving valuable here in this place. Valuable, also, to my particular life leanings. Now, normally I'd be concerned about my ability to meet my own standards... there just isn't time to be.

Things are moving at a blinding clip. Somehow I've found myself in situations that call for skills I have but don't think much of. Just like running through brush or puppy claws leaves well-preserved marks that take me by surprise a season later. I trust that the heart going into everylittlething will re-emerge one day, maybe this time next year, when we're again uncovered and exposed.

Till then, you can find me...