Frost and other wonders

Our first frost for the winter this morning - the merest dusting over the valley.

""Just a minute," said a voice in the weeds.

So I stood still

in the day's exquisite early morning light..."

from Mary Oliver's wonder-full collection, Why I Wake Early

So the dogs and I stood still, let the chill settle on our noses and ears and listened to the birds sing up the day. 

Now the sky is clear and the sun mellow on my face. How I love winter in my part of the world! I suspect I would not be so enthusiastic if I lived in harsher climes. Here frost and snow are a surprise, an unexpected gift; for others they are a trial, something they barricade their houses and minds against.
A friend of mine who spent a couple of winters in Germany finished many cross stitch masterpieces despite bearing two babies in that time. Perhaps I should adopt the mental state of being snowbound, stay still at my keyboard and write a masterpiece or two...
I have a full day ahead to fill my mind with beauty and translate it into words, or better, sentences (thank you Stanley Fish for drawing to my attention that words mean nothing unless ordered into sentences and related to other words!).

Skin Divers

I introduced my sister to the delights of Canberra's Canty's Bookshop this afternoon and was thrilled to find Anne Michaels' poetry collection Skin Divers squeezed between the great males.  Her poetic prose enthralled me late last year when I discovered The Winter Vault  and then devoured Fugitive Pieces on an international flight.  I read it at a more leisurely pace crammed in an apartment in Paris, revelling in her expert layering of meaning and image.
In one of the Canadian bookshops on the Left Bank I hunkered down under the table and savoured some of her verse, unable to afford the $A50 plus price tag on our limited travelling budget.
So ... I could hardly believe it today when my eyes fell on the pristine copy of Skin Divers at a price I could easily manage.
Good old Canty's has done it again!