I'm *Trying* to Like Winter

I've been out biking in below freezing temperatures three days in a row! Yesterday, we joined a local club ride with other die-hard bikers. Setting off on the 15 mile route, feeling smothered by my parka, I started to think about Project Spectrum colors to distract myself from the cold. I wondered, would I see any shades of blue other than my beautiful bike frame and possibly my cold, blue toes at the end of the ride? You have to look a little harder to find colors in winter. Bright blues in summer flower gardens seem like a distant memory. Winter blues are muted. On the other hand, gray is one of the Project Spectrum colors and that's pretty much everywhere! So, I was mainly going to look for blues.

The sky was a weak, pale shade and was basically all the blue I could see as we started off on our ride following lanes through bare, brown and gray forests. Finally, biking along a hillside, I looked down into the hollow of the valley and saw some blues. First, the sky reflection in the ice of a small, frozen pond. Then, the bright blue coats of a few figures playing ice hockey. And a short way off, a pair of horses watching curiously, wearing their dark blue winter rugs. What a perfect little scene! It was like looking down into a delicate figural music box, or like a miniature winter scene built for a model railroad set. I actually forgot I was so bundled up that my arms wanted to snap out to my sides from the bulk of my sleeves. My distraction tactics were working and I was even somewhat warm!

A little further along the ride, I spotted a web of bright blue hoses running between the maple trees in a sugar bush. Was I excited to see blue hoses? Well, not really, I think the galvanized buckets are so much more romantic looking. But, they were something blue for Project Spectrum and, more importantly, a sign of coming spring that the sap is flowing in the trees!

Today, I completed a 20 mile solo bike ride. The views were coastal with some directions looking across a bay and others looking straight out to the Atlantic. The land across the bay was a steel blue, a lighter shade than the steel blue hulls of industrial ships slowly navigating down the bay and out into the open waters. Again, I saw lots of ice reflecting the sky. Skaters had discovered a flooded clearing in a woods and a family was gracefully gliding together. The best view today was at the point by the lighthouse where the sea was deep, dark blue and the wave crests were shining white and the closest waves were crashing over rocks frosted with frozen seapray that looked starkly white against the wet, black rocks. Even feeling the blast of icy wind, I had to slow and take in the view.

Am I crazy to be out in this weather?! Probably most people would think so. Sometimes *I* think so! However, home and warm again, I'm glad I made the effort to go out in the winter and take in the sights. There were a few other kindred spirits outside, a woman splitting some wood for her fireplace and a few solitary walkers on the causeway by the beach. The biggest bunch of people I saw were outside a cafe, bundled up and rushing from their warm cars to the warm cafe for coffee. And, coffee sounds like a *very* good idea to me and it's a treat I will enjoy a little more for having spent some time taking in the winter.

Oh, you want to know where the pictures are, don't you! Well, I had enough weight and bulk from my coat and couldn't bear to add the camera to all that. Besides, the camera lens motor slows down and groans in these low temperatures. You'll have to use your imagination!!