SoCS cozy — 12.23.22

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “cozy.’” Use it any way you like. Have fun!

Currently, in upper New England, we are having 50°F (10° C) with high wind and rain. It is gray and gloomy. The snow that was covering everything is a melting mess, and we will have below freezing temperatures in a hurry and soon, which translates into: everything will be an ice skating rink, on hills! Yay. It is rather the opposite of cozy. It makes me yearn for a nice crackling wood fire, a big mug of Ghirardelli hot chocolate with plenty of mini marshmallows, and a good book. In pure bah-humbug mode, the closest I can get to that is to curl up on my couch with my Kindle. It kind of lacks the ambiance and romance that I associate with cozy.

This got me to thinking, “What are some memories of truly cozy times?” It has been a while. Cozy? If I cast my mind way back, I land in a few beautiful bed and breakfast places smack dab on the Mendocino coast in northern California. For those of you not familiar with northern California, its coast is nothing like the sprawling, white sand beaches of Malibu you see on TV. North of San Francisco, it is steep cliffs, rocks, dramatic outcroppings, crashing waves and pure dramatic bliss. The inns were perched on the cliffs, the ocean booming incessantly, and the atmosphere outside was moody, but inside? Inside were rustic but plush surroundings, that crackling fire, either in a stove or fireplace. There was plenty of wine, possibly some pot, my ex-husband while he wasn’t my ex, nibbly excellent snacks, blankets for snuggling. That qualifies as cozy, I think!

There are memories of another, in another part of the country, in a modest apartment, at night with all of the lights out but a candle or two as a source of dim illumination, while sitting curled up side by side under a quilt, sharing a pint of delicious local ice cream, listening to music, and talking quietly about nothing and everything.

Now things are even more sparse than that modest apartment. I’m alone. I see from my thinking and writing that cozy equates in my mind with “a special someone,” some kind of fire (including a candle), food (!), and snuggling under some kind of cover and softly chattering.

Now I’m smiling broadly. You know what? I have been recently doing cozy! It’s a little on the weird side, but so what else is new? There have been many nights in the past few months, where I’ve had a candle or six bathing my room with soft, warm light. I’ve curled up under an old Pottery Barn chenille throw. I’ve had wine and maybe even a chocolate or two. To make it truly cozy I need that “special someone” and these days, for now, until I get on that plane to Scotland, David and I snuggle up with the minor inconvenience of an ocean between us instead of an ocean crashing mournfully outside our inn’s windows. We softly chatter into the wee hours of his mornings, via me having a headset plunked on my head and he having the same on his. On a good night, I can feel his arms around me as we talk about the day’s events.

I’m very happy to know I can still do and have cozy in my life, albeit long distance. Thanks for this prompt, Linda, to make me realize this. Heh, and thank you to things like Discord for providing the technology that is making this kind of cozy night into a weird sort of normal for all sorts of people all over the world for free. (It ain’t just David and me doing long distance, thank you COVID apocalypse?)

Happy Holidays and a Joyous New Year to all of you out there in this small blogosphere. ♥