She brings her own music. She comes and goes – and stays – whenever and wherever she will. It’s her orchestra, her production, and she ever compels some of us to join her dance, no matter what our plans might have been otherwise. When the lady of the north visits, we drop whatever we are doing to embrace her frigid melody. We break out our heaviest parkas, lug heavy bags of wild bird seed, to prepare our very lives around her stay. We quickly learn all the steps to dance with her once again.

Today is the onset of the big winter storm the weatherman has been telling us about and here in the Ozarks it’s 3F and snowing. My daughter and I brought in lots of firewood over the last few days, so we should be about as ready as we can be. I have to go up the hill to the chicken and goat pens and take them water and do it a couple of times today because it freezes so fast in this cold. We must always accommodate the lady.

Sometimes I watch You tube videos of those country folks over in the Russian north and it’s amazing to me that even the old folks living alone in that climate can manage as well as they do. I guess if it’s all they’ve ever known it’s just a way of life, but still, it speaks volumes for the character and resilience of those people in that they survive, even thrive in that cold and ice. Here in the US, we get all freaked out over a cold spell that would actually be warmer weather than what they experience every day in the winter. I mean, it’s 3F here and we are pretty much at a standstill, and in Siberia -40F is the norm. Say what you want about Russian people, but I have a ton of respect for their tenacity.

I suppose that us folks here in the Ozarks could compare in some ways to those Russian country folks in that we are mostly dispersed around the country and the backwoods and do a lot for ourselves, cutting firewood, growing gardens, and tending the land, but we still are able to jump into the car and make a run to Walmart when we run out of something or other, but those folks on the Siberian Taiga don’t have that luxury. Still, I sometimes find myself in envy of them for what they are able to do to survive even though it has to be a tough life out there.

Another thing that catches my eye in those Russian back country videos is that those folks in the Russian Motherland invariably have tapestries, portraits, or other images of Jesus hanging in their homes, and they are not the least bit shy of showing them off. They seem to be a very religious people and that’s refreshing to someone who is a believer but is used to living in a society that seems to be losing it’s spiritual footing.

As the lady chooses her partners – for now it looks to be the people of the southeastern US – even though we try not to make eye contact with her, it’s of little use because she always knows with whom she will dance and weather forecasters are getting pretty good at figuring out just who will have to take the floor and who might be able to sit this one out. Alas, it’s our turn this weekend, so we might as well get the shovels ready and put out lots of bird seed and get dressed in our finest insulated coveralls for the ball.

Here’s a little bonus for the cold spell:

When the Lady of the North comes down to dance

Lookin lovely in her white chiffon and riding on the wind

Her entourage of snow clouds thrill the heart

Creatures of the woodland pause and wait with bated breath

Her icy embrace when those north winds start

                                                    (but for the grace of winter coats they’d chill the very essence of the heart)

When the Lady of the North arrives at last

Light a fire and keep the cabin warm; it’s best she stays outside

To play among the barren trees in snow

And whisper songs of icy stars in vales of moonlit peace

O’ hear them in the trees as cold winds blow.

                                                 (songs of stars and moon above and creatures in the snow fall down below)

Now the Lady of the North comes around each year

She sends the geese south on the wind to herald her return

She always seems to make it ‘ere the Yule

And Christmas wouldn’t be the same without her frosty air

And children singing carols after school.

                                                (walkin’ in the snow and singing carols in the merriest of moods)  Jingle Bells…

When the Lady of the North’s been here a while

And we’ve heard the red bird sing its song and watched the waxwing fly

And she’s dusted all the holly trees with snow

Her work won’t be complete until the lake is frozen o’er

And young ones with their skates away will go.

                                                (and spend the day on ice in awe of every wonder in this world of snow)

To the Lady of the North all bid goodnight

And sit around the fireplace while she howls outside the door

Telling stories of how reindeer learned to fly

And little ones with sleepy eyes get tucked into their beds

To dream of Christmas Morning’s pumpkin pie

                                                (the Lady of the North keeps dancing in the ice cold winds that blow outside).

Mike Kitchens

18 December 2016

So stay warm as best you can and only dance with the lady when you have to, and by all means get back inside and warm up at every opportunity.

MK