Weblog 205

January 10, 2010~ 1:45am
It's been a frigid, snowy week. Lots of folks were talking about this past week feeling like the movie 'Groundhog Day', because every single morning felt the same: more snow, more shoveling and worry about the roads, and overcast skies. It's tough to start the year this way. So this week will be dedicated to marvelous things instead. Wonders.......whimsies. Cats. (lol...Beethoven is still watching over me, I can feel it.)



He's grinning down, protective and watching.

Just like Alice's cheshire, I see him in every tree.

And speaking of things in trees.....



....here's my bosses' backyard, tucked into the hillside, sea grasses waving in the chilled air, and birds clinging to winter-stripped bushes, waiting their turn at her feeders. (Her husband calls that part of the yard, 'the reception area' because it's where all the birds collect and wait their turn. LOL!) So pretty, those soft little daubs of browns and grays against the white snow.

Snow and critters make for such lovely pictures...(I guess that's why so many Christmas cards feature deer and cardinals, squirrels and bunnies huddled in the blue-white hush of drifts.) A co-worker sent these pictures via email this week, showing a 'TRAFFIC JAM' on a snowmobile trail, Ski Run Rd.- Mancelona , Michigan. Deer and man, having an eye to eye.



The whole trail is covered with what looks like a great deer migration. Those fellas are smart. It has to be a lot easier to walk down the mountain that way, path cleared....



...and boy, they kept a-comin'! What a picture....goodness! Looking at such things is good for the soul, I think. Perked me right up on Friday.

Tonight, I was admirably 'perked up' by seeing little Kay and Bill, first time since before Christmas. I got to look over all their loot, see Kay's newly pierced ears now adorned by lovely peridots- (my birthstone too. We're both August babies.) She was SO PROUD!! I got a call on my cell phone on the way home from work on Wednesday. The battery was nearly dead because I'd forgot to charge it, and all I could hear was, "Gramma! I'm getting my ears pierced!" I said, "Oh, Kay. That's exciting...." then the phone died. When I called Holly back when I got home, she told me Kay said, "I told Grandma I was getting my ears pierced, and she said, "Oh." Why she do that?" LOL!!!...tyke thought I'd hung up on her.

Here is my Christmas gift from Holly, a hand-crafted ring of layered decoupage, decorated with images she knew I was sure to enjoy.



(And look!- there Beethoven!) That sweet message was folded and tucked inside the ring. The ring box lid said, "Celebration ring crafted by Holly". What a kid! I LOVE IT!! Here's a close-up of its images.



This is a gift I'll treasure and wear proudly too! (I have to remember to remove it when I wash my hands. Perhaps I should tie a string around another finger just to be remind myself. I do tend toward absent-mindedness, Lord knows.)

I also received my son Matt and his wife Nicky's Christmas gift for both Wayne and I, and it's terrific! A hardbound copy of "Shenandoah 1862: Stonewall Jackson's Valley Campaign"- a printed map and itinerary for a trek through the Shenandoah valley, as well as a generous one night's stay at a motel of our choice! This is exciting! We both love battlefield tours, and having seen only Antietam and Gettysburg, and a visit to Andersonville several years ago, this will broaden our horizons. We both jump right into a subject when we love it, and I can see a spring trip coming up, having read the book and eager to see the ground for ourselves.

Winter won't last forever....spring will indeed arrive, but it's a time of reflection for me. Winter always feels more spiritual to me with its two-tone colors and austerity, which lend themselves to simplicity of soul and a more focused outlook. (Easy to slip into depression as well because of the lack of distraction) --but it suits me. Even the melancholy at times.....it's necessary. Life can't be all high notes-- and it's often in the simplicity of the sparce colors, in the vast expanses of white, we see the single dot that is ourselves. Time to study it in depth. Try to puzzle how it all fits together.




January 12, 2010~ 8:00pm
Good GRIEF!! The "scoop" of the day is that Sarah Palin has a spot on Fox.....in news commentating. LOL!!! Better get that eyeglass prescription filled so she can read the teleprompter. "SAY GOODNIGHT, GRACIE"....."GOODNIGHT GRACIE!"

And this time, she'll be able to KEEP her wardrobe and everything! She can pay off her lawyers! She can lead America! --(at least, the bovine part of it and the NRA )-- and she can put a brand new stained glass window in her fundamentalist church for when they exorcize her of demons next time, and it'll look like this



showing the deep and abiding love she has for what is the deepest hunger in her patriotic, god-fearing soul. Yah...that looks about right. (For some serious thoughts on this carnival act, read this article from Time.com).

"Her substantive deficiencies, even more dramatic than those that had previously been reported: her lack of understanding about why there are two Koreas, her ignorance about the function of the Federal Reserve, her belief that Saddam Hussein was responsible for 9/11."

This is not a Saturday Night Live sketch.....this is the real bimbo, in real FOX AMERICA. She's the choice of jingoists and inbred mental defectives across this land. (And she'll have her own hair-stylist and make-up person! She'll make, like, a gazillion dollars!...what else does a girl need?) LOL!!! (I'd put this in my other blog, but that's not the place for jokes....this one is. :)





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