Lady Margaret sat at the end of her bed,
Combing her long yellow hair,
When who did she spy but sweet William and his bride,
Nearing the church yard here,
Well the night came on,
And the darkness fell,
And most of the men were asleep,
When lady Margaret appeared all dress in white at Williams bed feet,
She said how do you like your bed,
And how do you like your sheep,
And how do you like your fair young bride,
Sitting in your arms asleep?
Sweet William said, Very well do I like my bed,
And better do I like my sheep,
But most of all I like that fair young girl,
Standing at my bed feet,
Once he kissed her lily white hand,
And twice he kissed her cheek,
Three times he kissed her cold corpsy lips,
And fell into her arms asleep.

So last night I decided to have a fire since it was 10 degrees outside. Actually, the ten degrees has nothing to do with it. Mostly, I think that it is time for a fire if it is 50 degrees outside. I am just not an individual that likes to be cold. I am a summer baby who believes in the summer heat that comes from the hot summer sunshine. Oh, but winter brings on some of the most unusual things. For instance, no one is here as a tourist. There is hardly any traffic no matter which city you are headed towards. The town of Helen has all but rolled up their carpets and gone home. The shops in Sautee have signs on them that say: Gone home for winter, Will reopen in the spring. Thank goodness the coffee shop is open though. I don’t think I could make it without my coffee shop. The other thing that you see is everyone’s house. During the rest of the year the trees cover everything up and now that there are no leaves on the trees, you can see folks walking around in their underwear inside their homes. JK, but it seems that way. I do hope that it snows soon. That is the coolest. The animals get all freaked out by the snow and sit down. That is how you can really tell that winter is here is, strangely enough, that the cows lay on the ground. It’s because their bellies get cold and it is warmer on the ground. Deer in the snow is always cool. I am going to pet sit tonight for my girlfriend who has a house in Batesville, which is north of me, towards Lake Burton, and I get to stay at her house, which just happens to be gorgeous. It is a three story cabin. It’s three because the basement is built into the mountain and gives the appearance that there are 3 floors from the road. It has two fireplaces and a big screen TV with satellite. Yeah, Thursday night NBC here I come. I haven’t seen that since I was in college so I hope that it is still that good. I feel like a true mountain woman when it snows. It is fun to get trapped in the house for a few days and have a cozy fire with no power and candles. Makes it feel like……..makes me feel real and alive. Sometimes I forget what that feels like because there is so much in the way of electronics in my life. But when the technology goes, peace sets into the countryside and alarm clocks don’t go off or lights come on and things like old books who were once friends, come off the shelves and decks of cards get put back into use, people congregate at the warmest home and ………….I remember the snow in VA when I was little and I remember we had an homemade ice-cream churn from which the snow turned into vanilla ice-cream. I remember Joe and Midge being there and black chairs with a wobbly table. It was cold. Lots of snow. Winter is so winter.