It’s cold outside!

I don’t walk at -20 degrees.

I have to draw the line somewhere and Monday morning was the day. Gail and I gave up our nordic walking poles and tried our new Pilates DVD workout.

You can call me a wimp if you want, but it’s really dark at 6am and with the wind and cold and ice it seemed to be the better decision to work out indoors. Of course that brings it’s own challenge, like getting the DVD to play and her dog Coco to stay out from under our feet. I must get some points for walking across the yards, at least I still went outside first thing. We’ll get our snowshoes out for the end of the week, a couple of days of pilates is about all I can handle before coffee.

And speaking of being out in the cold, if you missed the kick off cross country ski under the full moon last week (since there were only 3 of us I know many of you missed it) it was a beautiful evening. The full moon cooperated and was simply glorious in the night ski. The lighted lake trail at Hyland was groomed for skate skiing and the snow was good. We were 3 of only a handful of skiers out that night and finished 2 loops before we came in to warm up. The areas will need some snow to recover from our rain on Sunday but be sure to join us soon for an evening outdoors. There’s something magical about being out in a winter night. As hard as it is to motivate myself to get dressed to go out I’m always glad to be there.

As you finish up your holiday preparations and get really busy with family committments I hope you’ll find the time to get outside and breathe deep the cold, clear air. Give yourself the gift of time outdoors among all the busy doings of the season. Let the peace of the natural world bring peace to your spirit.

Joy to you all!