It is better to light a candle...

We are planning to escape for a few days to Vancouver, where green plants and flowers grow! And where the rain falls frequently - although I'm sure it will let up while we are there:)



Who would think the snow would still be so high, the icicles so long, and the ruts so deep mid-March...where is the bluster of March?

Will April showers be pushed into May?

Like many others I simply sigh and say, "We take what the weather brings."

I am thankful that we have such contrasts in weather because we really do get a huge range of nature's beauty.

I love how the setting sun reaching over our roof touches the top of the evergreens down the street.

This photo was taken February 24th, about 6pm, south of the city, and facing east. It was still amazingly light.  One could easily be confused, thinking it a sunset, but actually it is the reflection of the sun setting in the west as the moon rises in the east.

I read an ancient Celtic quote today that cheered me. While it may have originally applied to the hope the Celts longed for during their long experience of living under physical threat I think it also could apply to our long dreary winter....

"It is better to light a candle

Than to curse the darkness."

And so the strong force of culture and personality [Celtic grit, Norwegian ingenuity, & English fortitude - and, I suppose, Canadian 'resignation'] encourages me to once again open the door to the whiteness of yet another snowfall, start up a cold car, and drive over the ruts and ice to another day's work.... 

I know that while I complain now of the snow, come late summer I will complain of the heat.  And through it all I hope I will continue to learn to look for the beauty each day brings because in its coming it pushes back the darkness.