~we can only hope~

After spending a week in the high desert country of sunny California where the temperatures often pushed past the 80 degree mark each day, it seems strange to realize that there is a chance of snow for the next three days in this valley that we live in.   Yet this is the state of Colorado and the calendar still says that the month is February.  We should expect to see at least a few more weeks for the chance of winter weather.  Spring is now less than a month away according to the calendar and so I hold on to the hope that we can sooner or later put away the winter coats, gloves, scarves and hats.  

We can only hope.  
And dream.

I've been trying to do a better job of embracing the winter weather and the accompanying cold and snow it always brings.  This winter along the Rockies has been a much milder one, well at least for our side here on the west.  There has been minimal snow and very little sleet/ice in our immediate area and although that is nice for a person who doesn't prefer that kind of stuff all that much, we still need the moisture.  Come the springtime when the water is turned on and farmers begin to irrigate the crops in their fields, the water will be used quickly.  The melting snow from high atop the mountains will make its way down into the streams and rivers below.  The more water there is available, the better it shall be.  

It seemed so strange that while we were in Joshua Tree, California last week we came across a pair of snowshoes for sale in a thrift store along the way.  I'd been looking for some since I got here but I just didn't want to give the money they were asking for them new in the store.  All last winter we checked online and in local stores around here but to no avail.  Mike and I caught sight of this pair immediately as soon as we entered the store.  It was as if they had been placed there, just for me to see.  The price tag was right ($35) and they were a good brand in excellent condition.  At first I said "no", not wishing to spend the money on them that day.  Yet Mike kept insisting that they were good shoes and that we would never see them at that price again for a long time.  

And so he bought them.

Sometimes that picture reminds me of the old adage, "it was an accident waiting to happen" but 
what the heck?  I'm going to try it anyways.  If by chance we should actually get any of that forecast snow for tomorrow,  Mike and I will test them out around the farmyard here.  Somehow, jumping a curb while riding a bike still seems much more dangerous of an attempt.  

We will soon find out.

The sun has not come up yet on our part of the world but soon it shall.  In an hour more that golden orb that we all so look forward to will begin to peek over the mountains and a new day will begin.  I woke up this morning and if you are reading this, then so did you.  There is a reason for us to be here and no accident in the planning of it all.  We never know what lies ahead and a darned good thing that we do not.  May whatever you encounter this day be something very "good" and if it's not so good, may you have the grace to deal with it.  That's what I wish for you.

It's what I wish for myself as well.  

The view out of the kitchen window just now.  Morning has broken along the Western Slopes.