HAPPY New Year!

Am heading off to Brother Atlasta's for a quick vizzie & to see chiro-sister & do some hypnobirthing. So I won't prolly be blogging before M&M Monday. Unless I am. In the meantime, Mum called me when she was on Overall Bridge to wave at me from across the river. So I took her picture & thought it was an appropriate illustration since I'm about to get on the road.
And when I get back, I'll have a surprise . . . not a surprise to some of you . . . who think I'm nuts, but nevertheless . . . HAPPY New Year, everyone! :-) H.

Quotes for the day-year-decade

I want to write something mind-blowingly enlightened for this last day of the year/decade. But there are people out there way more el-O-quent than I. Here's an everyday quote I have posted at my desk when I feel myself getting pulled into the time-sucking Twitterverse or Blogosphere or cute puppies on youtube:

And:

Seth Godin wrote a fabulous post today, linking back to a previous one. He's in the marketing world, but I appreciate his philosophy which translates to any world:

I'm late on the boat for recently discovering Tina Seelig. She has an enthusiasm & passion that is infectious. I was watching her Creativity & Entrepreneurship video & she tells the story of a man who started with trading a paperclip, & he traded his way up to a house! This was one of many quotes I wrote down:

Then I took a Sharpie marker and wrote it on a tissue box, because why not? Just thinking outside the box. Here's to a new year of purple cows & light bulbs & FABULOUSNESS.

Fleeting

Here it is . . .

Red-purple-pinkish sky . . .

gone.

Back to wintery-silver.
You wouldn't know it was ever there if you weren't looking for it.

Where Heaven & Earth Meet

This a.m.'s sunrise.

I've had this phrase in my head for a while: where heaven & earth meet. Native Americans say Father Sky & Mother Earth. Another way of looking at it is where do spirit and matter meet?
In the center. In the heart. HAPPY 5th Day of Xmas. :-)

M&M Monday

These girls are very comfortable in the snow!

Millie peering around the corner of the house.

Margaret plops down.

Peering & plopping.

Millie had a vet appointment to look at her eye. She had been rubbing it and then scratched it. Dr. Clark gave me some ointment for it. We also started both girls on Deramaxx for their hips. It's really helped; Millie is even waggier, now!

I did the usual back-the-car-to-the-hill thing to load Millie into the car. I brought her out onto the back porch & closed the door with Maggie in the kitchen. Millie looked at me and then looked at Maggie thru the french doors. And she would not come off the porch. And Maggie was standing in the kitchen looking at us. And then she started. Howling. HOWLING. So I ended up bringing Maggie with us, because Millie wasn't going anywhere without her. It makes me think how either of these girls is going to be when the other one is no longer with us. And then I don't want to think about it because whenever that is, it will be too soon.

Day of Rest

HAPPY 3rd Day of Xmas!

Sunset over Overall Beach.

HAPPY Boxing Day

Yesterday, I went to Christmas dinner to Lena & Gareth's. This was my gift to them:

I fashioned a gift bag out of a PG Tips tea box. This is the family-size, industrial tea box! Being fans of PG Tips, I knew they would appreciate it. I gave them a labyrinth steno notebook, homemade trail mix, and a set of microfiber towels. Love those! I have one by the door for when the dogs come in all wet.

Here's the view crossing over the river a couple miles from their house:

Rather a grey day.

You know when you walk into a house and you feel all warm and welcome? It was just a really nice gathering of friends--and dogs, of course. Mum was there and when I walked in, was helping Lena's daughter sew a sew-your-own-bear bear. Lena had provided lots of GF options, even a GF stuffing. And delicious bread rolls. Heaven!

It started to rain, but it wasn't freezing. I had wanted to get home before dark, but left a bit later. Heading home was a bit treacherous on the paved part of my road. But then. THEN! I've never been so alternately scared and focused behind the wheel. See this hill looking all springy & innocent?

You know those ski ramps you see in the Olympics? The ones where the skier goes straight down? That's what this road was. I thought, "I'm never going to make it down this road without turning sideways & possibly going off the side. And even if I do, how am I going to make it up and over the mountain? I'm either going to go off the side of the mountain, or plunge into the freezing river." I was really getting a bit frantic. And I said out loud, "All right angels! I need some help here because I can't do this alone!" And then I heard my father's voice telling me to tap the break and inch my way down. "Don't let the car gain any momentum. Just go an inch at a time and you'll make it down." At first I was banging the break really hard & realized, I just had to tap. I noticed my left leg was all tense & I had this funny thought, "What are you doing all tensed up? You're not even doing anything." I had to remind myself to breathe, because I was holding my breath. I finally made it down the hill & along the river.

The next part was over the mountain and that's a bit tricky even in clement weather. I called Mum & told here where I was. I told her to give me half an hour to get across & if she didn't hear from me to call the police. Ha! Like she would. Oh, you'll be fine. I said, "I'm joking about it, but I'm really not." Again, I inched my way down. Thankfully no one else was on the road. I thought, "Who would be out in this kind of weather?" Who, indeed.

I called Mum after each part. The last part was making it up my driveway, which I did. But Neighbor Chuck's deer were sprinting about. Really, guys? I make it all the way home and I hit a deer? But I didn't. I made it home safely. My legs were noodles. Firewalking has nothing on driving on ice. I'm not going anywhere until the spring thaw.

Special

I had an epiphany yesterday. I was doing a deep clean with the expectation of Mum visiting. I hadn't done anything Christmasy. After all, it's just me. But this is what I realized as I was cleaning: I really like Christmas. I like the music and the movies and the *l*i*g*h*t*s* I like giving gifts, especially ones that have meaning. One year, my brother gave me my favourite dental floss & post it notes--I love that. I think about him everytime I floss. I like the family getting together and reminiscing about past Christmases and watching the nieces & nephews all excited. I love how my sister brings her portable adjusting table and the kids crawl all over as she's adjusting one.

When I was out in the world on Wednesday, I made an inpulse buy of Christmas lights. Yesterday I rearranged the living room and brought up my plant shelf from the basement. All the plants I have are ones that people have given me since I moved here. And they've grown! So here's what I did:

Christmas is year round now.

There's Dobson Frog holding a card, and my labyrinth angel blowing a kiss. I'm rather thinking that I might just get more lights and twinkle things up around the whole house. :-) Do I need to? Prolly not. There are things we do for physical comfort and survival. And then there are things we do for our souls. Beauty feeds the soul. Merrie Christmas, everyone. May today be a day of special new memories.

Cafe Press Calendars

I've been working on 3 different calendars for different friends. Here's a sneakpeek of the cover of one. It's photos from this year that I've taken along my road.


Photo on right is the beginning of our road. There's Fisherman Willie on the top right, and just below is the back of his wife's head as we were heading back from picking blackberries. Summer seems very far away right now!

This is a shot from across from where Fisherman Willie fishes. In the summertime, people hang out on that little peninsula. My friend Paula-of-Overall calls it "Overall Beach." I'm thinking I'll get some summery photos next season and make postcards. Greetings from Overall Beach. ;-)


The next calendar is for my friends who own the Chestnut House just up the road from me. They also own the house I live in. So I did a combination of photos from the first calendar with ones of the house thru the seasons.



This is an animal collage that I didn't use, so I'm posting it here:

There's the baby woodpecker I rescued after it flew into my bay window. And the motherless fawn who came to visit, and the bear is on the lower left. No, really! That's a bear! If I can figure out how to add the calendar to my Cafe Press Store, I'll put a link on the side bar & have these available to buy.

More Snow Pix from Monday

Not too shabby for a sunrise.

Walked down to postbox. I put a box of truffles & Xmas card for our postal gal, Candy. Anyone who travels down our road everyday deserves some sweetness at the end of the road!

Duct tape. Is there anything it can't do?

View on the way out, past the postboxes.

On the way back up my driveway:

Neighbor Dave!

Snow remover & pothole preventor. THANKS, Dave!

Confederate Snowstorm 2009

Went for a walk Sunday a.m. Neighbor Dave plowed on Sat. so it was only a foot to walk thru down the road!

Down my road.

What you don't experience is the exquisite silence. Snow softens and blankets the noise.


So that when I stopped to take this picture, I could hear the creek across the river babbling.

Down my road . . .

to the river. BEAUTIFUL.

M&M Monday: Snow

Millie looking out the window

Maggie plops down in the snow.

Millie likes to sit on the porch & oversee her domain.

Day of Rest: Snowy Sunrise

View off back porch overlooking clothesline.

*S*N*O*W*

'member my snow pix from a coupla weeks ago? That was just a practice run. This. This is the real thing! It's that steady, dry, whispy-powdery snow. At this writing, I think we have about a foot. We were supposed to do our family Xmas today, but of course no one's going anywhere. Mum called me on Thursday to say we were getting a snow storm this weekend. I don't like to use weather as an excuse not to do something. "How bad?" I asked. She said, "Well, it's coming from the south, and snow is always the worst when it's coming from the south." I don't know how she knows this or even if it's true. I said, "Yeah. Stupid confederate snowflakes!"

The weather channel is calling the snowstorm the "Winter Wallop." Of course, I'm calling it:

Confederate Snowstorm 2009

Here's the view off the front porch:





I was on my way to the river to take a few pix, but the flash goes off so that I've got snowflake orbs in my photo:

Years ago, I went to an Ansel Adams exhibit. It was one of those sticky-hot summer days. I walked into the exhibit and there was a giant triptych of snow in the woods. The visual frostiness took my breath away! So I want to get Ansel-ish by-the-river photos.

The last snow I remember like this was when Remi was a puppy. We were coming back home from the bay house and the last mile to our house was snowed in with snow drifts up to eight feet. We followed a fence line along the road and each step I would sink down to my hip. Barkley led the way, followed by my husband, then Remi & me. I still remember Remi's snowy-frosty nose. Every so often, he would trot back to me to make sure I was keeping up with the pack! He used to love the snow. :-)

And here's someone else who loves the snow:

Maggie plops down this a.m.

Right now we are all cozy in the living room, listening to 40's music. The girls are having their mid-morning nap, and I have a veggie soup simmering on the stove. Here's to Confederate Snowstorm 2009!

George Bailey Song

Carolyn Sills popped by for my It's a Wonderful Life blogpost. She has an AWESOME song, so here it is:

Thank You for Not Stinking

I went to a new chiropractor's office last Wed. I was looking FW to it because he had been practicing acupuncture since 1974 & worked with hormonal issues. The front desk was AWESOME; friendly, knowledgeable, efficient.

I have just removed a rant about migraines. You're welcome.

Back to the new doctor: I walked into his office and was greeted by a toxic cloud of Glade plug-in room deodorizer. I was already in pain, but this pushed me over. Instant migraine. And yet. I tried to make it work. I took my paperwork and stood outside & filled it out. I held my breath as I went in. And then finally, I apologized & said I couldn't stay, I was allergic to the smell. I apologized. My question is this:

What smell is so bad that you have to cover it up with noxious chemicals???

Which makes me appreciate this:

This is from Dr. Steve Thaxton's office. *sigh* 5 hours away. But worth the drive.

I have just edited out more grumpiness. You're welcome.

2003 Flood

Neighbor Dave sent me these really cool photos of the last BIG flood. Where the water meets the grass is where the road is. Sorta.

Mailboxes!

Here they are normally; different angle.