Another Year...

Another year has come and gone
and still here I am sitting
everything else seems to change,
but not my books and knitting

Perennial friends they are to me--
constant companions...waiting
for all that must be done to be done
but no more hesitating

This year I shall live for joy--
let the dust bunnies have their way
because at the end of this new year
I don't think I will say

"I wish I'd done more dishes
I wish I'd made more beds
I wish I'd left my knitting
and cleaned the house instead"

I don't think I will regret
the hours in books I spent
I don't think for love of laundry
I'll sing a last lament

But I know I'll wish each silent hour
spent in work and worry
had been filled with yarn and music
and hadn't gone in such a hurry

Snowed In-Happily

Perhaps if I had to be somewhere today, it wouldn't be so great. Thankfully, I work from home and my daughter is on winter break.

"And since we've no place to go, let it snow, let it snow....."

Plenty of yarn, books, dvds, and tea...what could be better?

• yarn--brown fleck, V-Neck knit sweater in an easy rib pattern for my girl
• books--New Moon (#2 in the Twilight series) by Stephanie Meyer

Died in the Wool by Mary Kruger

Chicks with Sticks (Knit 2 Together) by Elizabeth Lenhard

(I rarely read just one book at a time!)

• dvds--All Creatures Great and Small All 7 series!
  
  Bliss!

Snowflakes

The old fashioned way with real paper and scissors is best, but this does away with the need to vacuum afterward! Make-a-Flake

Snow Cream

Most days in the city I wouldn't try this, but with over a foot of new snow, one can be fairly certain that the snow is clean--

Dip a big bowl of fresh snow

add sugar, vanilla, and evaporated milk

stir it up and enjoy!

Sorry, no exact amounts-enough milk 'til it looks like ice cream, sugar 'til it's sweet enough, and about a capful of vanilla. Watch out for brain freeze!

Joy is Like a Rainbow

Joy is like a rainbow.......
just as fleeting, no less glorious
a moment never captured
only felt and perhaps remembered
but never with the same intensity

Joy is like a rainbow
a bright spot in a downpour
requiring only my attention
and presence in that moment

Joy is like a rainbow
although I know the conditions that must be in place
I still have to look for it
and each time I am surprised

Joy is like a rainbow
turning me magically, instantaneously,
from a cynical, world-weary traveler
into an awestruck child
who can still get misty-eyed

Joy is like a rainbow
it can't be bought or sold
it is not reserved for those with money for the ticket
nor denied to the least among us

How many rainbows have formed and faded
just outside my window
while inside, all I noticed was the rain---
unseen, casting a magical glow of color, giving me a glimpse of heaven
while I rushed, cursing, with the bucket to put under the leak in my roof?

The world with all its troubles may seem like an endless rainy day--
where selfless love and human kindness are as rare as rainbows--
but simple pleasures and good friends still make it all worthwhile.

I cannot solve the troubles of this great big lonely world,
but I can make my own small corner a place where those fleeting,
joy-filled moments will not pass unnoticed.

You are invited, warmly welcomed, to share some of the things that revive the child in me-the curiosity, the wonder, the fits of giggles....you remember-when Mom called out from her bedroom, You girls, quiet down now, and get to sleep-- and that only caused yet another round of badly suppressed laughter. No matter the headlines-with all their gloom and doom-no matter what the experts and pundits and naysayers and critics think or foretell, there are still moments--each and every day--of pure, absolute, and unexpected joy.