Pioneer woman

I have learned over the course of the last couple weeks (and the 2 blizzards they brought) that I am much stronger than I thought. I was always glad that I wasn't born in the olden days because I was sure I would've been one of those women who swooned in the parlor and had to carry smelling salts everywhere she went...I have often felt too delicate and even at times just plain weak. But after ripping out the bathroom floor and shoveling several feet off the walkway, caulking the window to keep the melting snow out and carrying bucketloads of demolition trash down the stairs and outside, scraping heaps of snow off the roof and fixing the mailbox by bungee cording it back to its stand after the snowplows knocked it down the street -- I feel like I actually would've made a pretty good pioneer woman. And for that I am very thankful. It's not often you get to change your perception of yourself -- but being tested and finding you can actually ace the test -- well, it's a pretty cool feeling. Of course, now that my hubby is home, I am thankful that he can take over the heavy lifting...I'm strong, but I'm also smart;)

Fearless

I took this picture today and it brings me such joy I just had to share it. It makes me happy for several reasons --
1) I love how the color of the kitchen walls pops out in such a vibrant way
2) I love that I have cards and pictures from people who love me to put up on the fridge
3) I love how fearless my cat Amelie is. She is my hero with her intrepid spirit and I am constantly amazed at how nothing intimidates her. She believes in her core that she is the queen of the universe...and she very well may be. I would like to be more like her -- the way she studies the world with such interest, the way she can never leave a place unexplored, the way she never backs down from what she wants -- all while maintining silky smooth hair:)
4) I love that her new plastic claw covers keep her from ruining the couches -- and how adorable it is that they match the kitchen walls. My cat has a manicure! And she is the only one I know who can get away with green nails:)

Racing Trees

The snow looks like
racing stripes
stretched up the sides
of the slender tress
making them look very fast
like they are only still
when I am looking
just waiting for me to turn away
so they can run free
trees are sensitive to the fact
that we humans are terrified
of the unexpected
but the birds place bets
on the birches
they are not limited to logic
or our species' great need
for things to make sense
of course when I think of it
nothing makes more sense
than trees racing

Bridled Majesty

I just watched the movie SECRETARIAT and I have to say, there are few things that call to mind such unbridled (or bridled;) majesty as a horse at full speed. What an awesome creation horses are -- sculpted so masterfully, with their lean muscles and gorgeous manes, and those large liquid eyes framed in long feathery lashes -- they seem to know exactly what the score is in this world. They are magnificent creatures that I have loved my whole life...from the time I was a little kid and my imaginary horse Orion would walk beside me in the grass, to the times Dad would take me for special trips to go riding across big empty fields for getting all A's on my report card, to all of the countless times I've stood in the fields and walked along fences hoping the horses would come near so I could feed them apples and tell them stories. (Horses happen to be very good listeners.) It doesn't surprise me at all that my ancestors were alleged horse thieves:) I won't be stealing any, but I do hope some day I can have a horse (or ten) of my own. Until then, I will live vicariously through movies that show them in all of their thunderous glory -- and I will rejoice just knowing such beings exists on this earth.

Belated Life Lesson

I am also grateful today to have learned a very valuable lesson -- never take a shower in an old house while you are doing laundry. Not sure how I've gone thirty something years without knowing that, but I now know that your shower can suddenly become that dreaded camp shower with no "hot" nozzle in a split second, which is exactly the amount of time it takes to get the shampoo in your hair. Yep, lesson learned:)

Ellen!

I can't believe it's taken me this long to write a joy blog about one of the people who makes me smile on the most regular basis -- Ellen DeGeneres. I can remember being a kid, sitting on my Nana and Papa's thick golden brown rug with the raised shapes (were they diamonds?) watching the giant television encased in shining wood, and somehow, Ellen was on -- I can't imagine I was alowed to stay up late enough to see her on the Tonight show, but since it was Central time and an hour earlier, maybe Mom and Dad let me. Anyway, I remember laughing harder than I'd ever laughed and I was astonished because I never knew there was such thing as girl comics -- and from then on, I was hooked. I watched her sitcom after that and always laughed at her killer delivery and perfect timing. Then when she got her talk show, well, it seemed like just the perfect fit for her and her good-hearted and kind sense of humor, mixed with her humanity and joy at being able to make people happy every day, by dancing or telling jokes or playing silly games, or by changing viewers' lives with much needed gifts. I appreciate her humility and genuine spirit and I think she has the greates theme song of all time -- have a little fun today...give a little love away! I also have a wonderful memory of getting to go to her show for my birthday a few years ago, and the joy in the audience was palpable as we all danced and laughed and had more than a little fun. Oprah gets a lion's share of the press, and has done many good things in the world, and given away alot of great stuff over the years -- but Ellen, Ellen always makes me smile, and that is priceless.

Home

I had a meditative meal night tonight...no TV, books or radio, nothing to distract me from appreciating the food and my present surroundings...and it was wonderful. Not only did I recognize my love of spinach, but in the flicker of candlelight, I fell even more in love with my quirky little home and it's crooked doors that never close quite right and it's scuffed floorboards with the giant nails embedded in them. I love it's heart-shaped door locks and the old windows that make the outside world look like mirage. I love the tapping of the shutters outside as the wind rushes by and the random creaks deep in the joints of the place. It all points to the lovely fact that this house has really lived, and I'm thankful I get to share in that life:)

Strong to the finich...

Tonight I'm thankful for spinach. I wonder if that sentence has ever been uttered before? Perhaps by Popeye:) I used to hate the stuff, but now I love it -- in a salad with walnuts and cranberries, mixed up in mac & cheese, scrambled with eggs and mushrooms...yum! It's a good thing too, because for a mostly vegetarian (darn you scallops, you magnificent mollusks!) spinach is a great source of iron and all kinds of other good things. So I'm glad that along with fine wine and stinky cheeses, I have finally acquired a taste for it. Perhaps there's hope for Brussels sprouts after all:)

Hush

How strange that Clive
chose the White Witch
as his villain
I could never see anything
but goodness and blessing
in the earth as it is reflected
through a multitude of crystals
Winter would surely be the heroine
in my book
as her cold fingers gently prod us
to gather together
shoulder to shoulder
huddled in our humanity
around fires and traditions
as much for warmth
as for connection
and so she ushers in a time for Spirit
both holiday and brewed
as well as the kind that you find
when you are stripped bare
to the core
she makes us remember
only what is necessary
sturdy bark, deep roots
Watch as she causes peace
to drop soft and slow
from the heavens
reminding the whirling world
to be still
as she tucks us under
a blanket of pure silence
it is the Sabbath of the year
time to rest
Winter whispers
and the creek slows
saving its strength
for the rush of spring
but that is a long way off
no need for hurry now
she knows this is a time of gestation
things growing in the darkness
hidden but present
just beneath the surface
Winter is the queen of what is unseen
as she makes time for Creation
to do its work in secret
Winter is no gossip
she knows the virtue
of a sweetly sustained
Hush
listen and you can be
a keeper of the secret too

Christmas in January

What joy! I had a Christmas in January moment today and it was wonderful. All of my held and forwarded mail finally came and I had a big old stack of Christmas cards and two, count 'em, TWO of my very favorite postcard stories by Jack Cobb. It was so amazing to get them all at a time where I could truly take the time to appreciate them -- and to see them all at once in a stack, well it made my heart swell at least three sizes:) Usually when Christmas cards come in the flurry of the season when you're worrying about the cards YOU still have to send and the presents you have to buy and the travel plans you have to make... they can get lost, or just glanced over. But today I luxuriated in them...took in each smiling face, drank in each wish for "Love" and "Merry merry", and just made sure to say a little prayer of thanks for each person in my life that I am lucky to call my friend. Thank you all for the postal hugs:)