The Walk of Winter

This morning as I sipped coffee and stared out into the stark and gloomy scene of a November landscape, I noticed the first vestiges of the dreaded winter that was descending upon my yard. Small frosty flakes were silently falling in skips and beats under the mournful melancholy rattle of the crispy brown leaves that clung to the oak outside the window. A shiver went through me, as the water banged through the pipes in the old house I call my home. It's here... my bones told me as I creaked my way into the warm comfort of the couch, with the exuberant weatherman predicting a day of "unusual cold and flurries". "Hat, coat and gloves"... was all I heard as I settled in, slumped against the armrest, and folded my cloth clad legs beneath the warmth of my robe. Alright... I'm ready to hunker down, I thought, as I sneezed  and reached for a tissue. The sun came and went several times behind the cold, grey, mottled sky that I spied through the latches of blind, and the haziness of curtain. Later in the day, I was lured into the delusion that somehow I was going to enjoy the walk to the store, as I grabbed my all weather coat and headed for the door. As expected, I was hit in the face with an Arctic kiss of air that watered my eyes, if only for a moment. A burst of sun greeted me briefly, as if to egg me on, as I trudged down the street, kicking the withered brown leaves out of my way, as a petulant child would when there is no one to play with. The bare stark tree limbs swayed silently, as the sparse brown leaves whispered in the wind. Occasionally as I walked, my hair was swirled around my face in a tangled frenzy, as the frosty air nipped at my ear tips. I secretly wished that I had at least worn a hat, as I stuffed my frozen fingers into the cool pockets of a jacket without fleece. Occasionally I spied a tease at seasons past... there a yellow dandelion, or a bud of an azalea, or there a small tree that clung to the colorful leaves of yesterday's past. All taunts, I thought, as the wind whipped the crumpled leaves that seemed at times to follow me on my journey. My bones seemed hollow as I gazed up into the angry clouds tinged with gray and charcoal. Unseasonably cold.. or the start of winter... I was happy to hear the dainty chimes that welcomed me back to my own front door, and I thought of the teapot that would be singing for me in the next few minutes... leaving winter safely behind me for a while.