Winter’s Reach

As temperatures dip, I reluctantly embrace the seasonal cycle of gathering and sorting my summer apparel, to stow away for the winter. Yellow walking shorts are replaced with warm, fleece leggings, cotton tank tops make way for hand-knit pullovers, and sexy sandals are supplanted by snow shoes, and water resistant footwear.

The choice is difficult, as I methodically create piles, carefully segregating what must be put away from what can stay in my winter closet. Old habits die hard, and I attempt to lessen the impact by silently extolling the virtue of seasonal changes, until I face up to the reality that there is an ever-widening, undeniable gap between the sweltering days of summer and the fast-encroaching winter.

As I drown in self pity, my faithful Cavalier King Charles Spaniel cleverly takes solace and comfort by seizing one warm boot, and dragging into the bedroom and yanking it up onto the unmade bed. Clearly he is not suffering as he’s positioned his treasure snugly beneath him

I, on the other hand, am frustrated, in my frantic search for the missing boot.  After a few minutes, I suspect his misdeed and begin my search anew, checking all of his favorite stash bins. But he is hiding in plain sight atop my unmade bed. However, his impish behavior will be his undoing: He knows he’s been found out and stares back at me plaintively, with his large brown eyes.

But I am a firm and fair master. This infamy cannot go unpunished. I retrieve my ultimate weapon for such transgressions and I shoot…photo after photo, until his guilty innocence is captured for posterity.  Winter cannot reach the special warmth that this moment captures!

Written for the Sunday Whirl and Photo Friday (Winter’s Reach).