These are vintage (1923) descriptive essays about life on a pony farm during a winter that the author spent living and running the farm by herself. It was a time when the only way to reach her mailbox or town was by riding or driving her ponies and she was often cut off from the outside world by snow. She took care of livestock, cooked on a wood stove, and lived by lamplight.

I wish I had the exact quote, but she was a disciplined writer. She would sit down to write a descriptive sentence or two about her day, which would turn into a paragraph; a number of paragraphs would turn into a chapter and a given number of chapters turn into a book. This technique explains why each chapter is almost a stand alone essay.

Lovely descriptions, but somehow they left me wanting more details of her feelings – she seemed determinedly cheerful throughout the winter. Did she really feel that way or was it just the convention to never admit to being down or lonely or exasperated when the ponies once more broke through the fence? I was also curious about the circumstances that caused her to be alone that one winter ( )

This was a delightful read, a journal by a woman who chose to spend an entire winter alone on her farm, set in the mountains of Vermont.

While I generally don't particularly enjoy "descriptive" literature (James Fenimore Cooper comes to mind), this work was fun to read, as the author described not only the beauty of the seasons, but the wildlife, the farm animals, and the mundane issues of her home as well.

She was an artist with her choice of words. Recommended. ( )