Full moon tonight.

You know it's winter in Seattle when one night it's clear and cold and sparkly and beautiful. The next is cloudy, windy, spotty. Then it's back to dumping rain. And the next it's snowing, full and light, quiet and swirly. Then we're back to rain again.

You know it's winter in Seattle when the mice move in and the basement is too wet in which to do laundry. You know it's winter in Seattle when all the cups in the cupboard are dirty after two days because of all the cups of tea, cocoa, coffee, hot lemon water, and soup and you keep forgetting your new habit of rinsing out the same cup after each use so you don't have so many dishes to do.

You know it's winter in Seattle when you don't want to wash your hair as often because the house is cold in the rooms that don't have a woodstove and you want to spend your hard-earned pennies on good coffee and not on heating the walls. You know it's winter when your husband is trying to help you have a better day and he points out a great blue heron IN THE DARK as you cross the Willow Causeway to his place on the lake. He knows I love blue herons.

You know it's winter when your heart jumps at the chance to plan your next runaway to the beach with Mary J. for winter storm fun. You know it's winter when you never seem to wake up and it's a pleasant surprise when sometimes you do and you find you are out walking with your dog and it seems you have been for the better part of an hour.

You know it's winter when you want to keep playing all your Christmas music and your new ipod won't cooperate. You know it's winter when you think you keep seeing your spirit-dogs out of the corner of your eye and you could swear you have heard, smelt, and felt them over the course of these long, but not long enough dark nights.

You know it's winter time when you are more interested in prayer than in the latest who wore what at what celebrity event. It's the quiet sacredness of this season. I cherish it. And it's bedtime. I know it's winter time because sleeping is about all I want to do.