We have frost this morning and the wind is very fresh and very cold and out of the south.
When I was a child I loved the smells that the wind carried. I loved the smell of rain and that warm heady mixture of cattle dung and dust that is so Africa before the rains come, and the concretey asphalt smell of a city and waxy smell of acacia thorn bush in the lowveld and the papery smell of mopane scrub and the vivid tang of elephant or water hanging in the air.
The southerly wind carries for me the ice cold sharpness of the Antarctic snows.
Much as I love still the smells borne on the wild wind, the smell of the Antarctic is one that usually only makes me hunker down and grit my teeth and hold on to the hope of summer heat. This morning as the wind has finally swung around to the South, bearing winter with it I consider opening myself to a different perspective. I can't quite bring myself to enjoy winter but I consider what joy I may find. Warm fires, snuggly warm bed clothes, hot porridge, hot chocolate drinks, three cat bodies cuddled in close. And other than the theme of being warm I see that winter in Zimbabwe is about being close, cuddling and snuggling.
And I think, maybe winter isn't all bad.
indeed. summer is here where I live, but it's an odd one. Blasting hot one day, cold and rainy the next....and the wind blows from different directions here in my new home...but I do like all the seasons, each for their own gifts - summer for the heat and ease and cold beverages. winter for fires and snuggling, sweaters, and hot beverages.
ReplyDeleteI love the idea of elephants in the air...