Diamond Dogs Racing

"...The winter! the brightness that blinds you,/The white land locked tight as a drum,/The cold fear that follows and finds you,/The silence that bludgeons you dumb./The snows that are older than history,/The woods where the weird shadows slant;/The stillness, moonlight, the mystery,/I’ve bade ‘em good-bye – but I can’t./It’s the great, big broad land way up ‘yonder,/It’s the forest where silence has lease;/It’s the beauty that thrills me with wonder,/It’s the stillness that fills me with peace." -- Robert Service, excerpted from The Spell of the Yukon.

Cool nights pull me outside. The huskies prance again in the yard at dusk, so happy to have cooler temperatures. I am probably one of few people in this area happy to have these nights below 50 degrees. I have yet to hook up for the first time aside from the occasional bikejor, but I can't wait.

The above picture is from Tom's trek to Alaska last spring. He and I met for supper the other night to develop our plan of attack for sponsorship, plan for winter, etc. Sophie and I will make the journey to the U.P. in less than a month for a training weekend with the Stielstras. The cold beckons like an old friend. It is in my blood.

The last two lines of this poem above by Robert Service hit me hard. Anyone who understands my love of silence and the woods -- that Thoreauesque transcendentalist love of nature -- will understand precisely why those lines hit me. Especially that last night, "the stillness that fills me with peace." Life has been so, so hectic lately. My "to do" list is super long and divided into four categories! I feel like my head is spinning lately, like I can't focus because I have so much to do, my mind keeps jumping around trying to tackle it and keep track of it all.

It is only the stillness of the woods, especially stillness of wintertime, where I find peace. The daily grind of life makes me nuts. In the snow, I can regroup and connect with quintessential, life-giving stillness.

I can't wait for snow. I need to defrag.