January 8, 2025
The winds have been crazy over the past few days… so many, I’ve lost count. There are a lot of different factors that contribute to wind, but I won’t pretend to be a scientist here. All I do know is that the wind feels like a wild horse kicking up its heels here in New England. It is hard to leave the house without umpteen layers of clothes for protection. Today for my walk in the forest, I had two cotton shirts, a wool sweater, a down jacket along with wool socks, mittens, scarf, hat and boots. It took almost as much time to dress as it did to take the walk.

Unfortunately, we are not the only place to be experiencing this wild and windy weather. We look to our fellow citizens on the West Coast and shake our heads in disbelief. The out-of-control fires caused by the Santa Ana winds are heart stopping to watch, and I feel glued to the updates though I know that I cannot do much about it at this point. The power of nature is tremendous, and the winds will continue to blow as they will despite our best efforts. Watching and thinking about all of this makes me realize that a wildfire can come to any town if given the right conditions. And those who have lived through extended periods of drought know how powerless we feel when the ground under our feet feels positively parched. We look to the sky day by day for relief and go to bed at night wishing for rain. Imagine how we would that feel if the drought continued for many months or even years? It makes me feel feeble to be even complaining about a windy day. All I can do is keep hope in my heart that a better day will dawn soon for those suffering.