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“Surely everyone is aware of the divine pleasures which attend a wintry fireside; candles at four o'clock, warm hearthrugs, tea, a fair tea-maker, shutters closed, curtains flowing in ample draperies to the floor, whilst the wind and rain are raging audibly without.”
― Thomas de Quincey, Confessions of an English Opium Eater

(Dec 21, 2017 05:34 PM)Magical Realist Wrote: [ -> ]“Surely everyone is aware of the divine pleasures which attend a wintry fireside; candles at four o'clock, warm hearthrugs, tea, a fair tea-maker, shutters closed, curtains flowing in ample draperies to the floor, whilst the wind and rain are raging audibly without.”
― Thomas de Quincey, Confessions of an English Opium Eater

And living in an era where electrical power loss and potential piped water deprivation for days or weeks from ice or heavy winter storms was irrelevant. As well how the car would ever get out of the driveway, much less manage at a snail's pace through a roadway obstacle course of stranded vehicles.

To be equipped with all the alternative gadgets, methods, provisions, and skills of yesterday! Not that they aren't still available today if so desired. But it's more awkward and expensive or "acquisition-intensive" when the surrounding world isn't accommodating such a lifestyle. Even Amish communities probably have their annoyances when it comes to interfacing with and being temporarily commensurable with facets of the contemporary world. That is, those who haven't mediated the gap by surrendering to traveling the highways with tractors, planting solar panels on the roof and using propane-fueled electricity generators. (The latter isolation 'cause otherwise you'd be sharing a power grid with sinners, outsiders / the English.)

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“He rose and walked to the windows. The moon reflected the pristine whiteness blowing into shadowy silvery mounds beneath the stars. It spread out before him, all pure and flowing and sterling. There'd always been a gentle peace and welcome solitude on a wintry night in this house. A place of memories and innocent times; a place for new plans.”
― Dee Holmes, All I Want for Christmas

"Dusk fell
and the cold came creeping,
came prickling into our hearts.
As we tucked beaks
into feathers and settled for sleep,
our wings knew.

That night, we dreamed the journey:
ice-blue sky and the yodel of flight,
the sun's pale wafer,
the crisp drink of clouds.
We dreamed ourselves so far aloft
that the earth curved beneath us
and nothing sang but
a whistling vee of light.

When we woke, we were covered with snow.
We rose in a billow of white.”
― Joyce Sidman, Winter Bees & Other Poems of the Cold

“It was truly an abomination of nature that one always found the most comfortable spot in the bed five minutes before one had to leave it.”
― Mia Ryan, The Further Observations of Lady Whistledown

“A moment of peace and silence, breathing in and out the frigid air, watching daylight seep into the forest, hearing the first chatter of distant crows, the wind sighing over the snow and through the fir and pine branches and the twittering of chickadees as they flitted in little tribes from tree to tree.”
― Mike Bond, Killing Maine

“This is the new year the new you. You can pass through another year, coasting on cruise control. Or you can step out of your comfort zone, trying things you have never done before, & make 2018 as the year that you elevate from where you are & soar high. Make it happen!”
― Pablo

“In the deep dark silence, my mind dances with the moonlight and feels the joy of this precious ephemeral life.”
― Debasish Mridha

“At the center of your being
you have the answer;
you know who you are
and you know what you want.”
― Lao Tzu

“There are three things all wise men fear: the sea in storm, a night with no moon, and the anger of a gentle man.”
― Patrick Rothfuss, The Wise Man's Fear