If perchance your hopes had been disappointed, you learned never to ask for more. So through good times and bad, famine and feast, the villagers held fast to their traditions. Until, one winter day, a sly wind blew in from the North…Chocolat’

The north wind blew in last night; you could hear it in the chimney and through the windows.  The wind was wicked this morning on our walk but we got our hour back and I was grateful for the light.  I’m sure our morning walk is going to require gloves and more layers going forward and today forced me into corduroy leggings (the most God awful, least flattering, still have them on as I write this piece of clothing in the world if you are round).

You can tell by today that winter is coming but I love that it’s coming.  I love burrowing down into my home; it’s quite possible I may light the first fire of the season tonight.  I love the weight of an extra blanket on the bed and that the girls snore a bit louder in winter. It’s really not a hardship for me; most of what I do is solitary (writing, photos, “real job” subject matter expert…it’s a tiny little subject) so when everyone hibernates and longs for spring I’m doing my thing in a house that smells like roasting, eating soups and stews.

My office is the sunniest room in the house and the afternoon sun warms it even on the coldest days.  It’s conducive to getting any kind of work done, be it administrative or creative.  The weather doesn’t matter to me; I do that kind of work that can be done anywhere.  I thought for a long time that I had a traditional job that chained me to a desk but not so.  With the advent of technology I can be anywhere and work by cell phone and laptop away from the chaos of an open floor plan office with not enough white noise and safely shielded from the harsh elements. For this I am grateful.

Any collaboration that is needed can be done by conference call or video blah blah.  I learned a wonderful lesson this week about creative collaboration.  It doesn’t have to be done head to head in the same room or even the same state.  One of my dear friends was moved by the same approach of winter and wrote about it.  She is not anxious for winter’s arrival the way I am.  I had the good fortune to be the one she trusted with her words.  I had even more good fortune to see her on my way home from a recent business trip.  I took some photos of her fall garden and together we created this (with her permission):

This was a week of gathering with friends in unexpected places but restorative to me none the less.  It was all the right people saying all the right things after I voiced my concern about where I’d find like-minded people who could understand that I didn’t go to Houston to learn to “color”.  There will be some people who hold fast to their traditions and they will be safely relegated to acquaintance.  While others on the tail of the sly north wind will be boosted even further into my heart.  All these people important as with both I have balance, but oh how I love those on the wind… I think we’ve got to measure goodness…by what we embrace…what we create…and who we include…Pere Henri…Chocolat’