Bluffing

It is Monday March 17th, Saint Patrick's Day. We stir in the early morning gray light, as we lay next to each other in the warm bed. Yet I'm cold. I stir a bit further and realize that all the covers are gone, sinking to the floor on the other side of the bed. He may or may not be guilty of hogging them. The alarm on his phone rings and the lack of covers, the irritating ring of his alarm reverberating in my head make me grouse and grumble in an unfriendly way. I'm a day person. I like day. I like to begin my day at day. Not in the early morning and sure as hell, not in the dark of morning. I don't like to be up past midnight and I love to be woke by the sun lightening the room in gradual shades.

Alas, today Nicolas is off to work at Central Nursery in Ellensburg. He gets up early to have some quiet time, a cup of coffee and peruse the internet. I linger in the warm bed, planning to ride my bike to Roslyn Fitness and start working out again this week. Committing to doing it today. I wake again an hour later and it is seven, the house is still and quiet I can sense that Nick has left. I get out of bed and put my slippers on and confirm he is no longer there and head back to the bathroom thinking I still have plenty of time to linger and enjoy the morning and the house to myself before I change clothes and head to circuit training. I ponder the puddles of water that are laying below my feet in the bathroom and wonder why, but still in the throes of sleep the thought skitters away.

Returning to the kitchen I push the switch on the Krups water machine... then I catch a glimpse of the trees across the street. They are covered in white fur."What the hell," I say out loud in the silent house and move across the room to look out the window. The ground, the trees, the air is covered in snow. I take a step back from the window as a strong breeze swirls and streams snow past me on the porch. Shivering in response, as if I was outside in it feeling it rush against me. Glancing down at the 'kids' sitting on the table near the window. Their green heads peer out of the dirt, they are safe and warm inside the house. Nicolas has started gardening and the brussel sprouts, basil and other seedlings are nestled safely inside the house in their pots just like me.

Spring was a bluff, winter is back.

I turn away from the whiteout and pick up my new book from the kitchen island, by my favorite author titled "The all you can dream buffet," and head back down the hall and crawl back into bed with it. Winter has called my bluff. I will start working out again on Wednesday. I cannot ride my bike in the snow. My new goal is to finish this book this morning in the warmth of my bed, or make it the finish linger over a cup of hot tea in my house. The book is set in the Northwest, and as a Washingtonian born and bred I'm thrilled to be in Oregon this morning amid the lavender fields and getting to know a group of strong creative woman who also blog.