A Quiet Winter

At the start of January, as I reflected on what I wanted 2026 to look like, I realized I wanted a peaceful, quiet year full of small, magically mundane moments (can we all take a quick second to appreciate the triple alliteration here?). I’m happy to say that so far, winter has been just that.

Reading & kitty snuggles

January finally brought our cold winter weather, so I’ve been enjoying curling up with my little creamsicle cat Paul and a good book. So far, I’ve read:

The Winternight Trilogy by Katherine Arden. This was a reread for me. I thought this time around I’d read slower and really savor the words. Nope, inhaled it, staying up till 1am repeatedly to do so.

Hemlock & Silver, The Hollow Places, The Seventh Bride, all by T. Kingfisher.

And yesterday, read in one day: Bear, by Julia Phillips. That book caught my eye in a Barnes & Noble, as it takes place in the San Juan Islands, WA, not too far from where I grew up. It definitely left me with some feels.

Winter hiking

Cold weather means no motorcycle rides, so Chris and I have been trying to get out hiking instead. We hiked Roan Mountain, which felt like ascending into the realm of the Snow Queen. The balds were bare and windswept, and a layer of ice encased the grass, trees, and bushes, sparkling when the sun peeped out through the clouds and mist (I posted a few pics in my previous blog post).

We also did a shorter hike somewhere in the Appalachians on an unmaintained trail (at the start I joked that this was the start of our horror movie because it VERY much felt that way). The hike took us up over a forested ridgeline to then wind it’s way down to a river, where we took our lunch.

On a cold, windy day, we thought we’d try Grandfather mountain, but the weather meant it was too dangerous and so they closed the hike. Instead, we did a few hikes around Linville Falls, which was gorgeous and delightfully quiet (I’m sure it gets real crazy during tourist season!).

On another winter weekend, we also found a local trail only 10-15 minutes from our house, where we finally got to hike in snow. The mist moved in through the trees, and for a little while it felt like hiking in a watercolor painting. The trail hooked up to the Appalachian trail, and so we took our lunch in a log cabin-style shelter.

My biggest winter hike to date ended up being a solo hike on Baxter Creek Trail in Tennessee. I intended to take an easy 4-mile meander along a river, but when I arrived at the trailhead, a different trail called to me. It began with a inviting bridge across a rushing mountain river, where the narrow trail ran along the bank to disappear into the shadowed hills. It promised a harder workout and potentially more adventure. So I went back to the car, grabbed my hiking poles, and set forth.

I found myself mostly alone for the entire day. The start of the trail took me through a forest of tall, bare trees intermixed with some pine. Dry brown leaves coated the forest floor, and given there was no underbrush, I could peer through the tree trunks for a good distance. Which I liked, because although I think all the bears were hibernating, there was a very robust sign at the start of the hike warning against leaving food out, lest we hikers and campers provoke an attack (and it went on to describe such an event).

So at the start of the trail, I got a little jolt when I looked up from my feet and an older man was right there, hoofing it towards me. It was only 10:30am and I did not expect to meet anyone coming down. He wore a flannel over a hoody, a beanie, and a floppy backpack like the kind I had in middle school. We said a quick hello, and I wondered if he had come up super early to catch the sunrise.

Much later in the afternoon, where I thought was near the end of the trail but in hindsight was just over half-way, I ran into three young guys hiking down. One guy promised “It's a gorgeous view up there!”

At this point I was huffing and puffing my way up the trail, so I think I panted something like “oh good”.

The trail was lovely and peaceful and golden with winter sunlight, until the sun began to rest low against the ridge line. The shadows grew a little longer, and I started to remember all the folk tales about the Appalachians. I kept pushing myself to go just a little farther, for the light over the ridge kept (falsely) promising that gorgeous view. So in this way, I accidentally hiked much farther than intended.

At the base of the trail, the plaque for the hike indicated a 12-mile roundtrip. Having gotten such a late start, and being fairly out of hiking shape, I figured I’d just do a portion and turn back. When I finally looked at my phone around 1:30pm, which surprisingly had signal, my map said the car was over 4 miles away. I gave up on the view and decided to turn back.

I will say, there were glimpses of gorgeous mountain views through the trees, and plenty of good scenery to look at. It’s just I had already hiked so far, it was hard to turn around mid-trail and not see what was just around the next bend.

Coming down, my knees started to hurt and my legs wobbled. I admit, I did keep looking at the trail behind me, on the off chance anything had popped up, human or otherwise. My imagination tends to get the best of me when I’m alone.

On the final descent, when I was fully in shadow in the forested valley near the beginning of the hike, an odd noise rang out from the hilltop to my left. It almost sounded like a person coughing, but there were no people on the trail. I froze like a little bunny and stared up through the trees to the ‘too close for comfort’ ridgeline.

Silence.

I turned and hobbled more quickly down the trail. I reached a small stream and, ridiculously, felt better after crossing it, as though moving water would deter anything living in the hills. As I approached the river, I kept thinking Please don’t let my car be the only one in the parking lot. I felt pretty dang relieved when I reached the river, and there were three older couples dispersed along the bank.

I really want to go back.

Writing & editing

I’m pleased to report I finally got my act together with developmental edits on my second book, which is a prequal of sorts to LISHKA…of which I wrote the first draft in 2019-2020 (oops). I suppose it’s still going quicker than LISHKA did. Once I wrapped the developmental edits, I sent the book to my kindle so I could do a user read-through for pacing, consistency, overall plot and vibes. This is the first time I’ve edited using my kindle, and I absolutely love it. When I send my Word doc draft to my kindle (using the kindle specific email you can find in your kindle settings), it actually formats like a proper kindle book! There is something so much more rewarding about reading my book in a proper format. The words on the kindle screen clip along quicker, versus slogging through a full Word page on a laptop.

Now the book is off to a few friends and family for the first Beta reads. Once I get their feedback, I’ll do any final edits, then hopefully hand it over to my editor for line edits and fine-tuning (I should probably check her availability soon).

While I wait, I’m also trying to start writing LISHKA 2. I’ve thought about it a lot, plotted out a rough outline. Now I just have to sit down and write the dang thing!

House progress

We slowed down on house decorating and renovations during December and January, to enable relaxation and, quite frankly, to get our financials under control. With the start of February, the birdies are chirping a bit more and so a little energy is coming back into this household. Chris decided he was ready to tackle his office! He’s doing the molding himself, and it’s turning out so good. I’m so excited to see what it looks like once he paints it a beautiful dark green.

Yesterday, I also put on makeup (gasp), jeans, a bra, aka real clothes for the first time in maybe… a month? And ventured out with him for a lovely brunch in Black Mountain. Then we skipped over to my favorite antique store, Buckeyes, where I scooped up a smaller version of our large oil painting by the same artist. We keep calling our art finds our ‘pieces’. It’s so much fun collecting fantastic oil paintings for the house. I just need to frame it, then will hang it up in our bedroom.

I keep trying to talk to Chris about plans for our guest bathroom, which I’m desperate to renovate, but alas we need to save up funds and energy for that. Anytime I bring it up, I get THE LOOK and a comment around how much is already on his plate for the house (I mean, fair). I’m still hoping ‘we’ can get it done in 2026.

All in all, it’s been a lovely start to the year.