Friday Ramble - First of the Year

In January, it is tempting to remain indoors and curl up in the warm with a mug of tea and a book, but Beau and I need to be out among the tree people now and again, however short our stay on cold days. Rambles nourish and sustain us, and there is always something to see when we are out and about.

Earlier this week, we were on the receiving end of an ice storm, and village streets have been treacherous going, but trails in the woods were not bad at all. "Crunch, crunch, crunch" went our booted (and cleated) feet yesterday as we made our way along. It was surely our imagination this early in the year, but the woods seemed brighter than they were a few days ago. Sunlight sparked through the trees, and everything glittered. The light was sublime. We felt as if every jeweler's vault on the planet had been looted and the glittering contents spilled out at our feet.

There was flickering movement in woodland alcoves and hollows; shadows rippled and flowed as squalls gusted through the whiskery trees. The shadows seemed deeper and more intense, more blue. Here and there, a tiny sprig of frozen evergreen poked out of the snow, and the color was a hopeful thing, one that not even the biting north wind could carry away in its gelid paws. I often wonder why there are not more words in the English language for such blustery air currents.

Resolutions this year? With so much suffering and uncertainty in the world, my heart is not in making resolutions. There is just the same old work in progress, Beau and I wandering along together, breathing in and out, in and out, in and out.

As we go, we will try to keep the words of Zen master and lay teacher Osaka Koryu in mind. When we breathe in, we will breathe in the whole universe. When we breathe out, we will breathe out the whole universe. We will ramble onward paw in paw as always, and we will simply keep putting one foot in front of the other. We will converse with the great trees along our way, and we will look for the light.

Note: The first full moon of the calendar year is tomorrow night, and skies are supposed to be clear, so conditions for viewing it will be splendid. In the northern hemisphere, this month's moon is usually called the Wolf Moon, and tomorrow night's full moon is the first supermoon of 2026. Wrap up and have a look!