Facing east at 6:40 AM. A brief pause before heading to the mail trail. 12.12.25

The mail trail at sunset. If you head towards the light you will drop over a hardwood ridge. The lowland gives way to Tranus Lake. I have collected wild rice on this lake. Never fished it. Sometimes, on a hot summer day I will slip my shoes off, stand in the shallow water, and breathe in the beauty of the tamaracks and spruces growing on the far boggy shoreline. My only regret is I didn't do it more often. With as cold as it is now you might be able to walk across the ice and touch the far off tamaracks. 12.13.25

On reason I like mythology, Greek or otherwise, is there is no arguing with it. It calls us to differentiate and look deeper. Gives us pause. Slows us down.

"How can you be true to your own nature when you try to turn the many into one?" -- Carl Jung

GM! I don't know if it got above zero yesterday. One thing I noticed while delivering mail was how close I could get to deer. One would be at the wood's edge or in a yard eating. It wouldn't run off like they usually does. I assumed it was so cold they wanted to conserve energy. The fur on their faces was puffy. It didn't look like it was lying flat like usual. When I got back to the office, at 6:30, a fellow carrier and I walked in from the parking lot together. He offhandedly mentioned that he pet a deer on Elm Street. "It wouldn't move," he said. "I always wanted to pet a deer, so I did!" I thought of all the times hunting them. Trying to get close enough for a shot, and here he is petting one. It's 17 below out there now. Hayden (16 yrs. old) and I are going to . . . here, I wrote this last night: "I deliver mail. I work with another carrier who is 62. Her husband, who is around the same age, was a mason for most of his adult life. Physical labor is hard for him now. "They have a foot of snow on their roof. My sixteen year old son and I are going to shovel it off tomorrow afternoon, when it hopefully gets above zero. "Looking forward to working with my son and helping out a friend on a Sunday." I hope you have a great day! Morning Fire 64 12.14.25