This journey...

"...miles to go before I sleep..."

This is my jubilee -
the beginning of the second,
better half of my life.
Let what small wisdom
I have gained to this point
guide my path.
Let me love more,
want less,
live NOW
giving thanks
for all the beauty there is
in my world...

One happy cow...

Yes, this cow is smiling… Let me tell you the story…

A couple of weeks after I came back from Ireland, I was talking with my brother about my trip. I told him one of the things that surprised me was how good all the dairy products were there. Cheese, yogurt, ice cream… I loved them all! I speculated that it all tasted so good because the cows there were so happy.

He scoffed at me, and I showed him one of the many pictures I’d taken of cows while I was there. Around here, most cows are penned up in feedlots in mass quantities, and do NOT look happy at all, so I was fascinated by all the contented bovines I saw in pastures all over the Emerald Isle. Looking at my pictures didn’t even convince him – he said, “Nope... I want to see TEETH on those cows before I’ll believe they’re happy!”

Later, I was showing some friends my Ireland scrapbook, and telling them what my brother had said. One friend offered to doctor the picture for me, and you can see the results. He did a good job, didn’t he?

I emailed this to my brother last night, but I haven’t heard back from him to find out what he thinks. Oh, by the way, here is the original picture:



Does this not look like the picture of contentment?

A bad case of cabin fever...

In the midst of winter, I dream of green...

Last week at this time, it got to be almost 50 degrees outside. I spent the afternoon on a lovely walk in the canyon along the Snake River. Next day, the weather started changing, and now we are in the 6th day running of cold and wind…

After reading about what others around the country are enduring, weather-wise, I realize that my whining about a little cold and wind is pretty self-absorbed. It’s barely half-way through January, for heaven’s sake! What should I expect?

There was a time when the weather outside wouldn’t have affected me much at all. Those were the days when I worked indoors all day, for someone else, and it was my occupation, and not the wind, that held me hostage within four walls. I didn’t have time to revel in the changing seasons at close range – just watched them pass through a window, or while driving to get from point A to point B.

Now I work for myself, and my time is (mostly) my own. I guess what I have is a bad case of cabin fever. I want to ride my bike somewhere! I want to get my hands in the dirt and plant something! But it’s currently 14 degrees with a 20 MPH wind – so I’ll set those longings aside and be happy with what is. I have a free afternoon with all sorts of possibilities at hand, and I don’t want to waste it…

On a cold winter morning...

frost tips every branch
and blade of grass
above, the sun shines
in a cloudless blue sky
in the cold, two squirrels
frolic and forage
in the tree just outside
my window – bright-eyed,
they face the day –
and I shall do the same…

Surprise!

My friends got together on Sunday night and threw me a surprise birthday party! First one, then another friend or family member arrived, until there were 18 of us gathered together. It was truly a surprise, because my birthday was on December 23rd - over two weeks ago!

The cake is homemade - a delightful concoction of white cake and cream cheese frosting, with apricot brandy filling. Yum! I'm not sure of the significance of the 7 candles on the cake - I am neither 7 nor 70, but somewhere in between... :)

There was also homemade soup, and wonderful bread, and lots of wine and good cheer all around. It's been two days, but I am still basking in the glow of such a lovely gift - the gift of loving friends...

Waiting for the Wise Men...

As I write this, a few lazy snowflakes are falling. Five minutes ago, I could barely see across the street – five minutes from now, it could be the same. Just now, though, the sun is trying to shine…

That’s Idaho in winter (or any other time of year) for you – if you don’t like the weather, wait a minute.

I was reading a reflection this morning on a website I visit regularly, written by a priest in County Cork, Ireland. In it, he lamented the fact that just as everyone is putting all their Christmas decorations away, the feast of Epiphany is upon us – the time the Christian church celebrates the coming of the Magi to the Christ Child. Sort of like showing up at a big party just as everyone’s leaving…

I haven’t put away my Christmas things yet. I got a late start on decorating this holiday season, because the first half of the month I spent every spare moment I wasn’t working studying for a big Latin exam. I took the test on December 12th, and it was only after that I started preparing for the season in earnest.

Then, too, I have had many things to celebrate lately – and the festive air around me here reflects my mood: the lights, the candles, the spangles I don’t have up any other time of year.

So for a couple more days, it will still be the Christmas season here for me. I will wait, and journey with the Wise Men – rejoicing all the way…

Brrr....

It's windy and cold and miserable outside today -hard to imagine that next month, I'll be starting seeds again. The seed catalogs have been coming for a month now, so I think I'll warm myself by looking through a few of them and thinking thoughts of Spring...

in the midst of winter,

wind moaning through barren trees,

dry desiccated remains

of last year's garden stand, shivering

in this early-January desolation

there blooms inside me

Spring - tender, green shoots

just beneath the surface

waiting for time to blossom...

picture of Johnny-jump-ups from my garden a couple of summers ago

Sea verse...

Whitby

the sea goes on forever
gray sky and dark water
meet on the horizon
gulls turn and cry
overhead – adding their music
to the waves crashing below
I watch, and listen,
and feel I've been here before,
if only in dreams – standing
on the shore of forever
there is only the sky
and the infinite sea

Starting the year right...

Picture of Caedmon's Cross - taken at Whitby, England

I've heard it said that whatever you spend New Year's Day doing, you're likely to continue doing all through the coming year. Since I spent the day visiting with several friends, I hope it means that my year will be filled with lots of camaraderie and good conversation! I also managed to eat an inordinate amount of pie... so I'll have to take care that future pie encounters don't cause me to lose all self-control!

Caedmon was the first Christian poet to write in English (although it was Old English, so difficult to read). He lived during the last part of the 7th century in Whitby, England. Caedmon loved to hear stories told, but he was terrified of being in the spotlight himself - until a miracle occurred, and he began to write beautiful poetry in praise of God. Someday I'll write his complete story...

I've always felt an affinity with him, because I'm not fond of getting in front of people and talking, either...

Like Caedmon, I stand back
and let the light fall
on others – myself,
I’d rather retreat into the shadows
to rest with mute beasts.
No glory,
but no expectations, either.
Will an angel come down
and tell me my place?
What shall I say
if he tells me I must speak?

This Is My Song...

We sang this song at Mass this morning:

This is my song, O God of all the nations,
A song of peace for lands afar and mine.
This is my home, the country where my heart is;
Here are my hopes, my dreams, my holy shrine;
But other hearts in other lands are beating
With hopes and dreams as true and high as mine.

My country's skies are bluer than the ocean,
And sunlight beams on clover leaf and pine;
But other lands have sunlight too, and clover,
And skies are everywhere as blue as mine.
O hear my song, thou God of all the nations,
A song of peace for their land and for mine.

Words - Lloyd Stone ** Music - Jean Sibelius

Whatever skies you're under, I hope you have a peaceful New Year!

Picture taken at Silver Creek, near Sun Valley, Idaho