Five Days-
in Advent...
For five days during Advent, Richard and David toiled in, around and under our old house installing a new heat pump system to replace our conglomeration of baseboard heaters, fire places and window units. I think I can get used to a house that stays comfortable without constant interventions.
They did excellent work and in the process made a lot of unavoidable noise, so for almost a week, I did my reading and writing on the night shift and spent afternoons up the slope behind our house planting and transplanting little trees. I might be a better writer than I am a gardener but gardening is more fun.
This break from routine provided a grand opportunity to become more closely acquainted with the moods and vagaries of mountain weather and winter skies. Anyone who spends the better part of their days out in the open will wind up either a cynic or a poet depending on whether they crave utility or beauty.
