January 5, 2026
Good morning!
It’s Monday, and our world continues to be covered beneath a thick and inviting layer of snow. We donned the swishy snow pants and went for a tromp down the old dirt road. But after only a few steps, we discovered that Mother Nature had paved the road with a thick sheet of ice before unfurling her blanket of snow.
After a few slips and shuffles and arm wavings and whoas, we made the very reasonable decision to turn around and do our tromping and trudging elsewhere.
“Just to live in New England in winter is a full-time job; you don’t have to “do” anything. The idle pursuit of making-a-living is pushed to one side, where it belongs, in favor of living itself, a task of such immediacy, variety, beauty, and excitement that one is powerless to resist its wild embrace.”
—E.B. White
Onwards,
Clara
White’s description of New England’s winters reminds me of many a winter I spent in Chicago. All pursuits—even work—seem superfluous to dealing with the weather.
I very clearly and definitely pushed making a living aside. Retirement is bliss 😊