Winter love affair

I am in love with winter.

Sure, the other seasons are nice. Summer is easy, with its barefoot strolls and cricket calls. Fall bombards the senses with colors and smells of burning leaves and wood stoves fired up after six months of dormancy. It's easy to love other seasons.

Winter is for quiet. Winter is for those who love solitude. Give me a cold day, the kind that keeps others indoors. It is then you'll find me among the icy shores.

Miles walking on the docks, frozen lake in the background

The best moments of my life have been outside. Nature has been where I have sought solace for as long as I can remember. But, right now, my body is in revolt. It is June, and nature's procreating like a dog in heat. Hot and horny, she is throwing her pollen into the air like so much snow, plant life fornicating wildly. I am reminded of one thing I can't stand about summer: allergies.

Some seek closeness with their Creator in a chapel. I feel closest to Him in a green cathedral

But my body is launching a full-fledged attack on the outside world. Or, rather, it is pulling out all the stops to build up a fortress against the outside world. A fortress of snot. Itchy, weepy eyes scream "keep out!" My sinuses, with their constant sneezing, shout "stay back!" We will have no plant fornication here!

Despite doses of extra strength 24 hour allergy medicine, I still sneeze. Yesterday, my 10-year-old daughter asked what happened to my eye; it was so irritated and stuffy and puffy, it looked as if I'd been socked.

It is probably not wise, then, that someone with these types of allergies live in the hay field that is the Ranch. It is so beautiful here. How can my body reject such beauty?

One of the apple trees silhouetted against a fantastic sunset at the Ranch

Others are happy for summer, I'm counting the days until fall!