Solid, To Liquid, Handle With Care

Photo by Tess

By Tess

1. We wake to a world encased in ice. It looks like a world of glass.

1a. No school!

2. The rising temperature causes a sudden melt. It sounds like it's raining when it's really only the water shedding from the trees.

3. The friendly UPS store takes my box and readies it for shipment. As I'm walking out the door I have an impulse to turn back and write on the box, "Handle With Love". But it's too late, they've already carried it off.

Being Still, Matinee, Holiday Tradition

1. An ice storm has cancelled everything today. No church, no Lessons and Carols, no shared meal with friends. We embraced the forced isolation and took it as a sign to do nothing.
2. Steve made a most excellent bowl of popcorn and I fixed mugs of sea salt and caramel hot cocoa. Then the three of us watched a movie in the middle of the afternoon.
3. The contrast of spices on flour as I begin a batch of gingerbread cookies. Cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and allspice means Christmas time is here.

Choosing the Tree

1. That was a close call! Someone else almost chose our tree while we walked down to talk to the owner. It would have been fine, really. I'm sure we would have found another tree. Nevertheless, we were relieved when they walked away from it.We had formed a bond with that particular tree. : )
1a. It's good news to hear they have planted more trees. It will be eight- ten years before they're ready, but we can be patient.

2. I always admire this massive tree trunk that stands near the road behind our house. They left about fifteen feet of trunk standing when they cut the tree down. It has wonderful animal holes and gnarly spots.It must have been a massive tree when it lived.

 

3. It was a perfect day to be outside, brisk and chilly with pretty views of the mountains.

Little People, Celebration, Spring Revisited

1. The accident scene involves a pink Barbie convertible and a camo-painted Hummer. The occupants have fled the scene and left their vehicles in this wrecked position in their front yard all week.
2. Two friends have organized a surprise dinner party for a mutual friend's birthday. We dine on take-out white chili and bread from Hollywood's followed by an all-female singing of "Happy Birthday" complete with sheet cake and candles.I haven't chatted with some of these ladies in a long while and it felt good to be in their company.
3. The weather continues to be mild enough to go out without a jacket. It's a weird-but-nice kinda thing.

God makes me smile.  Click  SNOWFLAKES 

Three Beautiful Things and One Negative Footnote

1. My brown wool pants with the lining feel good to wear.
2. A perfect day for gardening. Down on the ground, digging and thinking, thinking and digging. Dig a hole, plop a daffodil bulb in, cover it up, repeat. All the way up the fence line. I think of spring with hopes of seeing these daffodils emerge.
2a. My cell phone rings so I pull off my gardening gloves and lie back on the grass to chat with Claire.
3. Tess and I are still on our Big Bang Theory marathon and loving it.

From Monday: Tess and I went to the mall at 6:00PM. It was peaceful and quiet. We found that every store had 40% and 50% off sales. I refuse to shop over Thanksgiving. There's absolutely no need for it. And I refuse to be a puppet to consumerism, jumping through circus hoops on "Gray Thursday" or "Black Friday"and becoming an embarrassment to all mankind on the nightly news fighting over some electronic.

Thinking of Snow, With Spit, This One?

1. I hear a motor running outside which means he got the snow blower working. He had the engine entirely apart to find what parts were broken. And then we all got to inspect said parts in a plastic baggie all week : ) Who knows if we'll need a snow blower this year, but it's good to have equipment working and ready in case...Of course, if he didn't have it working we would surely get dumped with snow.
2. Jack says, "Puffs" by making a "P" sound followed by raspberries on the end. "Pffthsss" 
3. Steve suggests a walk and the three of us, plus Henri, go. We walk past the Christmas Tree Farm and notice a steady stream of customers. On our way back we hear someone calling to us from that direction. It's some friends of ours and we walk over to see the tree they're considering. After we get home, the phone rings with another friend calling from the tree farm asking to use our truck. The tree they chose is too big for their vehicle. "Griswald" style as she describes it. : )