A perfect winter day

No nature writing today, just the chronicling of a peaceful and perfect day.

An overnight snow made driving to our new student orientation event at 7:15 this morning a bit challenging, but I love fresh snow; the unbroken whiteness transforms everything.  After my part of the campus event ended, it was off to pick up a friend to visit the farmers market, where I scored an enormous box of the season's last Gold Rush apples, enough for a winter's worth of fresh eating and crisps.  Speaking of eating, our potluck brunch was probably nutritionally unbalanced, leaning heavily toward carbs and caffeine, but homemade breads and laughter are indeed food for the spirit.

The afternoon brought a visit to the library and a large stack of books that followed me home, followed by an exercise bike session in front of a history DVD from PBS.  The day is ending with a glass of wine and some time with Cranford, Elizabeth Gaskell's gentle series of sketches of small-town English life in the 1850's. The women in her stories are generally short of cash, resourceful, often silly, courageous, and attentive to each other's needs.  They're a lot like the women I know.