"Ode to the West Wind"          

This is what it looks like at my house.

and this....

& this is what greeted me opening the front door.

🎶"It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas..."🎶

 & has ever since the day after Christmas! & we are in the midst right now of a blizzard in the making!

This resembles the expression of a friend of mine when she was told that at least a foot of snow was coming our way. Again! ("Stupid groundhog!")

Now we could take it with cool (no pun intended) aplomb as Kitty Buttons  did.

Actually, anytime is a good time for a "cat nap".

such a 

dolly!😽

If this is the reaction, we may need a little of this...

or, instead, we could just do this...

or maybe this.

or add a little levity to the situation.

(My son is responsible for this artwork.⛄)

The last line of the above title to this post, "Ode to the West Wind", written by Percy Shelley, is, "...if Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?" well, it depends on where one lives, & this one says....well, yes, it can.  When Shelley wrote this I believe he was in the country of Italy at the time. & I am commenting on the title only, not the content of the ode. An ode is usually supposed to be sung, but I really am not singing when the"... west wind" blows at a blustery sixty miles an hour whipping stinging

ice pellets into my face & making it impossible to stand even if you were leaning into the wind. If you walked backward into the wind, you would be walking forward.

So for all of these days ( & there are quite a few!) instead of grumbling & complaining, let's instead take our lemons & make them into lemonade. Or more practically & metaphorically speaking, let's take the abundance of snow, & make it into snowmen! 

There are times in all of our lives where we just have to, with purpose, make our own joy. How do you turn your snow into jolly (if you take out the l's in jolly you have "joy"!) snowmen? One of the ways I do it, is by pre-Spring cleaning. Yes, I truly enjoy getting a jump-start on "sparkle-ing up" my home! 

This year, I started with my curtains. I love the smell of spring-fresh curtains! & knowing that all of the dust of many yesterdays, ahhh, down the washing machine drain.

Of course I like to do this on a day of sunshine & little wind (& when the temperature is above thirty-five) so I can hang out my curtains (or clothes or linens) on the clothesline.

But before I re-hang the curtains...

Our doggies & kitties love to sit on the dining room window sills looking out & smudging the windows with soft velvet noses, so this is an ongoing job. But I don't mind. I love sparkly windows!

& I really enjoy bringing order to a definitely out of order pantry or closets. & who doesn't love getting rid of those U.F.O's (unidentified food objects) in the refrigerator? 😵

Though cleaning brings freshness & order to my home which truly promotes peace, accomplishment & well being, another joy contributor to me is reading books by Gladys Taber, Tasha Tudor, L.M. Montgomery, Jan Karon, George MacDonald (who I read everyday!) Catherine Marshall or Ruth Bell Graham to name a few, who always inspire my Christian womanhood. & makes me want to do something "homemaker-ish", like cook or bake something!  Which is another joy to me!

Also, frying up a batch of golden, crispy, delicious

country fried chicken!

"Umm...I'll have a wing please..."

🍨

Of course there is always the joy of making (& eating!!) snow icecream! Yum!

There are different recipes for snow icecream online that you can 

try. I haven't made it since my kids were little & although we all loved it,  I'd still rather eat snow in it's purest form, head tilted back to the sky & mouth open, catching snowflakes on my tongue! Or dusting the top layer off of a newly fallen snow right out of heaven & scooping a handful & munching it before it melted. How delightfully cold & refreshing as it glides down your throat. But watch out for brain freeze!

(In case of brain freeze, these may help. Press your tongue against the roof of your mouth, or sip a warmish drink.😂)

It also brings me great joy to feed our critter friends & know they won't go hungry & they will be able to stay warmer because of the "food fuel."

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Watching a wholesome, funny movie or video while eating buttery popcorn is a great joy perker!

& you can't beat Laurel & Hardy for hilarious in my opinion!

We started watching these a few years ago & got our grandsons started on them also, so we always watch them when they come & visit. This kind of humor should be passed on to future generations!

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Here we are, the second day of our blizzard.

 Snow & more snow!!

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I think that we may be done except for the"... West Wind" blowing more snowdrifts. When we lived on the prairie we would have snow sometimes up to seven feet & snowdrifts up to ten feet or more & a five mile "driveway" that called for some pretty tricky driving. It was an adventure that's for sure, but the real excitement came with the spring thaw & all of that melted snow had to go somewhere & that somewhere was a quarter of a mile from the house where the road dipped & a cattle guard was at the bottom of it where a gate had to be opened to go through. Sometimes it was a temporary but raging river & then no one was going anywhere! If we were able to get through it in the four wheel drive truck, then came the fun of slipping, sliding & bucking through gumbo & trenches. We almost always were able to stay in the cab the full eight seconds!😉

Those were the times for some serious sledding because we were surrounded by bluffs but because of the cactus the snow had to be pretty deep. Night sledding in the moonlight was enchanting, & it seemed as if you were going a hundred miles an hour!

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I have been a fan of the "Ideals" magazine for many years now & I told my local library if they ever decided to get rid of their section of those magazines to let me know. They just weren't checked out much. I can't imagine why because they have always been fun, beautiful, inspiring, & wholesome, so rich. One day the call came & this was one ecstatic woman! I came home that day with over fifty years of "Ideals", which amounted to over four hundred! Talk about pushing my joy button! So, along with my regular devotions & Bible study every morning, I include reading a little bit of an "Ideals" that is pertinent to the season, or if I need a bit of an extra dose of joy (like right now!), I may sit down with a summery issue & a cup of tea & dream.....

I know this is coming...  

In the meantime, I don't want to squander any of these days that the Lord has given me. & I do have to guard my attitude at times. I remember a few years back, that the "....West Wind" had been ceaselessly & fiercely blowing. The grandkids were visiting & were unable to go outside & play & so many of our plans were spoiled because of it. & believe me I was not singing any ode. Our picnic was spoiled & I shook my fist to the wind & shouted, "I AM SO SICK OF YOU STUPID WIND!!!! SHUT UP!!" There was instant & I mean instant calm. One of my grandsons who was with me at the time, looked at me in complete awe, a new respect (& maybe a little fear!) in his wide eyes & said "how did you do that Grandmother???" I was just as astonished as he was & feeling rather sheepish because of my loss of temper. I don't remember if I had an answer or not, just that the Lord let me have my way (& the picnic!). I felt a mild reprimand, but still think He smiled a bit. I have had bits of temper since then concerning ye old "....West Wind." but there has never been a repeat performance of "instant stop" of it. I guess it was just a one time deal.

So, for those of you, like me, who are waiting for the sun

and springtime

to come, 

let's continue making our own joy ...

& turning our "snow into snowmen". &

Come to think of it, there is a scripture in Exodus 10 that says "& the Lord turned a mighty, strong west wind, which took away the locusts, & cast them into the Red Sea..." Maybe the Lord is blowing away some "locusts" that I am unaware of. If that is the case, I guess I really can sing an ode to my former nemesis as I regarded it,  "...the West Wind". Now, let's go build a snowman!

Raintree perk of the day:

"These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, & that your joy may be full." John 15:11💗