Hello everyone and Happy Saturday to you! I hope your weekend is off to a great start. It was a bit cold again this morning, with a terrible wind that just blew right through me. That is what it felt like anyway. I did not look at the temperature before going out this morning to feed the birds. I was a bit late getting out there, so I was in a hurry. That cold just blasted me, I was not quite expecting that today.

It is a bit colder than normal these days, but that will begin to change tomorrow and for the next 2 weeks things are looking much better. Providing the forecast is right. Sometimes it is not. Frequently it is not. But that is a whole post in itself. Which I do not want for this morning. But I have done some ‘informal studies’ about that very thing. Anyway, today is about solitude. I believe that we all need times of solitude. Some may need more solitude than others.

The type of solitude will be different from person to person. The length of time for our periods of solitude will vary as well. But it can be a good thing to have regular times of solitude. For me it is getting away into a wilderness setting to enjoy the beauty of nature, the quietness, the singing of birds, watching the squirrels play or gather pine cones. Yes, squirrels do deliberately play. I have watched Jasper out here, alone and with Jasmine, playing in the snow, running up and down trees.

They will deliberately get on a big branch that is loaded with snow and act like a snowplow pushing that snow off the branch and really making it fly! That is solitude. They will run down trees fast and when they get close to the bottom they will jump off into the deep snow and disappear. Then their little heads will pop up out of the snow several feet away, wearing a little ‘snow cap’. Then down they go once more, coming up again close to a tree and run up that tree as close to the top as they can get.

Then down again to do it all over. That is solitude. I love to walk the trail to the river. It is quiet. Trees are covered with snow. Often the only sound is me walking. At the river I sit and watch the goldeneye ducks swimming and diving for their lunch. That is solitude. The river is often very calm, but still flowing constantly with a strong current which keeps it from freezing no matter how cold it gets.

The pictures today are from last January just after some cold temps of -30F (-35C) and colder. Just a bit of ice showing along the shoreline. Chickadees were singing. Two squirrels were chattering at each other. Then it was silent. Just the sound of the ducks diving could be heard. It was beautiful. It was solitude. It was an interesting walk.

It was a cloudy day, but once I got near the river the clouds cleared away and the sun was shining beautifully. On the way back home, the clouds returned. Beautiful solitude. Have a wonderful weekend everyone and God bless!

Steve and Muffin. (Muffin is sleeping on a wool blanket on top of one of my tallest shelf units)

©2022 Steve McLeod.