winter is coming...

you know we had to. sometimes they even stop us at the airport and at border crossings and smile, laugh, and ask us if it's our real name. (uhh yes, it is, border control officer.)we've stopped telling them that we've never even watched the show to which we owe such adoring admiration from strangers across the globe. it feels like it's like blasphemy to them, somehow.to make / warm maple-bourbon-apple-cider (recipe here - it's a treat)to daydream / the next adventure (oh, the places you'll go)to quote / this year i had a plan to read this one book slowly over the course of the entire year, because the book itself spanned all the seasons, but i petered out around the end of spring. maybe i still have time to pick it up again. it is winter proper; the cold weather, such as it is, has come to stay. i bloom indoors in the winter like a forced forsythia; i come in to come out. at night i read and write, and things i have never understood become clear; i reap the harvest of the rest of the year's planting / annie dillard, from pilgrim at tinker creekso yes, winter is coming, it's maybe already here. happy winter. may you stay cozy and warm. may your days be filled with sounds of falling snow, of crackling fires, of sweet holiday tunes on low, or just quiet.love, the starks.