The passing of these cold days is made easier by moments of color. These are the ones that have swept me up in their coming.
The gorge is at its finest in winter. The collective evidence of entropy is softened beneath the snow. You can hear the water rushing under its arrested surface. The slow rhythm of these short days permits me to visit the edges of our farm, the places where our will is not evident.
Have you been making sweet potato pancakes? If not, I encourage you to try. Grate 1/2 of a peeled sweet potato and mince some onion finely. Mix them together, add an egg with some salt and pepper, and pat the mixture flat into a hot pan that is well greased. Fry each side until it is crisp and lightly browned and then top them with savory things of your choosing. Below is an avocado with melted cheddar, but I have taken equal pleasure in cream cheese, avocado and bacon, and of course cream cheese, dill and smoked salmon. It is nice to have something orange when the world is composing variations on grey.
And for the grand finale, I was doing yoga one morning weeks ago when I saw a red pigeon flying with the flock of soot colored ones. I ran downstairs to catch Garth before he left for chores, pointed the bird out, and then we marveled at it for some time through binoculars. We felt pretty certain that it was indeed a pigeon, but then we didn't see it again. It was more than a month before Garth saw it a second time. He brought the camera out and managed to snap this photo. If you click the image it should enlarge. Which one of these is not like the others? Does anyone else know of a completely red pigeon? How lucky are we to have something red in the winter sky?
- Alanna
