“Surely everyone is aware of the divine pleasures which attend a wintry fireside; candles at four o’clock, warm hearth rugs, tea, a fair tea-maker, shutters closed, curtains flowing in ample draperies to the floor, whilst the wind and rain are raging audibly without.”
~ Thomas de Quincey, Confessions of an English Opium Eater
Time change last night–this morning, really–and I find myself awake in the dark at 4:30am. Not altogether unpleasant, nice actually. I’m a morning person and gaining some extra pre-dawn time is a bonus for me. Likely I won’t be so pleased twelve hours from now when the day begins to get dark and “candles at four o’clock” become a distinct possibility.
Still, even in the dark months we are heading into there are distinct comforts I look forward to: cozy days inside with soup simmering and bread baking; curling up with a quilt and a book as the snow falls outside; eating exclusively from the stores we have laid away for winter; days with no commitments when I can be lazy and settle in to inhabitation (a word I coined a few years ago when retirement was still a distant dream and I longed for time to spend in my home).
Yes, as I wrote yesterday, it’s can be difficult and painful journey through this life. This morning, I’m reminded that it is also one of simple blessings that can pass by unnoticed if we are not paying attention.
Sitting here at the Carnegie Book Fair, in Turlock, CA, where business is not bustling or I would not be doing this, I had lost track of all those things, Mr.de Quincey. Thanks for reminding me. =)
Hope you had a good time at the book fair, Lynn.