The light is coming back, slowly but surely.
After a month of little opportunity for outdoor time J and I took a 12km walk in the nearby Eifel National Park last weekend. The forest smelled of snow and freshly cut wood and we enjoyed stretching our legs in the squeaky mud of not-yet frozen dirt trails.
Mmh, sawdust and resin – high up on the list of best smells in the world.
January was meh. It started with me crashing my car on the Autobahn after slipping on a patch of ice – first major car crash in my life and it really shook me up. In the same freezing, snowy, icy conditions I’ve braved driving day after day and while of course it’s best to get back into it immediately this business of confronting your fears is exhausting. Adding in a cold and lots of dealing with insurance stuff there wasn’t much time for blogworthy activities in January. So, not sad at all that February is here and the light is coming back, a little bit more every day.
How are your New Year’s resolutions going? I unfortunately had to give up the daily yoga (it made my back much worse) but I’ve taken up a plank challenge instead. I try to do 10 seconds longer each day and am up to 2.5 minutes already.
little home by hand 
Hey you’re back, nice to hear from you. Sorry about your car crash, that must have been traumatizing! It’s good that you drive again though, to overcome the fear. January has been so busy for us, and I didn’t really plan any resolutions for 2015.
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Thanks Ine! Yes, it definitely shook me up but it’s getting better now. I still need to drive every day so I have to work on overcoming it.
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I love those smells too 🙂 I’m sorry to hear January hasn’t been very good for you. Mine had it’s ups and downs too and it certainly is a rocky road to implement my resolutions. I have a feeling it will all get easier once the weather starts warming up and leaves start appearing!
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Oh yes, I can’t wait for warmer weather too 🙂
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I heard driving on the Autobahn is suicide! Is that true? I also heard that there is no speed limit. Is that true also?
Yesterday, I heard a spring bird. But that doesn’t mean a bloody thing. We are halfway through winter. There is still three feet of snow in the backyard. It may be the beginning of April before signs begin to poking round.
We live in a ‘snow belt’. We always get hit with snow whilst it heads east. I am sure old, witchy mother nature has a few more winter storms up her sleeves she has to blow out before she goes for the year. 🙂
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Haha, it’s definitely not suicide, I drive on the Autobahn every single day 🙂 It’s true that in some places there’s no speed limit but of course no one is actually required to drive really fast. Both my dad and my boyfriend like driving fast (above 200km/h / 125 mph) but I would never drive that fast myself. It’s about as dangerous as any road with high traffic. Accidents can happen.
I just had bad luck – a rare and invisible patch of ice on an otherwise fine day in combination with old winter tires 😦
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Yeah, that black ice is killer. Did you get ticketed? I hit a patch of black of back ice with the first and only car i ever owned and crashed into the guard rail. I got ticketed for speed not prudent for driving conditions and no seatbelt for passenger. It was January and the ice and snow storm just came out of nowhere, as it has a tenedency to do here in weatern NY. I think I was going 55. I had a $200 ticket plus a “drivers responsibility” fine to NY state of $200. I still owe $100. My license is expired anyway, so that is $65….
But I am glad you weren’t hurt. My car was totalled. We didn’t know the body was bad on it when we bought it. It was a beautiful silver ’97 Chevy Malibu…I loved that car too.
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I’m so sorry about your beautiful car – still, since the accident everyone tells me metal can be replaced, health can’t. I did get a ticket, like you for not driving according to the weather conditions. I wasn’t speeding and it was a road I’ve been driving weekly for years – it was just bad luck. I did initially think my car couldn’t be saved and it was a near thing but the insurance covered the repair costs.
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Yeah, that black ice is killer. Glad you are ok.
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Car accidents, no matter what, are always SO hard to bounce back from. I try to remember this when I get impatient during my commute to work these days. Things have been getting dangerous.
I’m sorry you’re having some residual troubles from the accident. Hopefully February has been treating you a little better.
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Thanks Lindsay, February is treating me well so far 🙂 I’ve definitely been driving differently (and even more slowly than usual) since the accident and I have far more patience for slow drivers than I did before – who knows why they are driving like they do?
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