Snow!

My incantation worked, even though I only wrote the definition and thought a little about it. I wonder what will happen if I actually try to cast some spells...

I am reading Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard. It is a beautiful book about seeing. Dillard loves nature, and she is acutely aware of the most minute details around her. On a page I just read, she says, "But the artificially obvious is hard to see. My eyes account for less than one percent of the weight of my head; I'm bony and dense; I see what I expect." These words inspired me to walk outside and try to see what I don't normally even look for. I walked across my street and searched, and I found something: a dead leaf that had fallen months ago, nestled in gray, cold branches---the only one in the immense tree. Then I looked up to a tree I couldn't touch, and I saw more leaves. This was not even a minute into my small journey.

I am grateful I've found a book that may deliver me from the low times I have before experienced in January and February. Hopefully it will keep me from seeing only what I expect.