A Little Excitement Coming

I usually don't go to the stores unless I need something.  I had to buy a present for a family member.  I was working my way back to the electronics when I spied a rack of Valentine items.  In case you forgot, Valentine's Day is my favorite holiday.  They had these cute baby bibs, "I love Mommy," and "First Valentine's Day."  I fell for the second one.  The baby doesn't need it, but I had to buy it.  And later, after finding out that the electronics thing wasn't going to come through, I found on another rack by the bibs an assortment of  baby socks.  I was torn between the kind with the knit or print that makes them look like little black ballet shoes and a white pair with a red ruffle.  The ruffle sold me.  I'm prttty sure these will get used. 

I had forgotten, that around all of the white of snow lies a holiday with red piercing the ice and making its mark.  A red rose in winter is Valentine's Day to me.

I finally got my decorations up for the day and they look so bright and cheerful.  My heart just bursts with life when I see all the reds and pinks.  I love pink and red and white and purple together.  Valentine's Day is a fancy ladies' "day, a romantic day.  I love those black silhouettes of people doing the minuet.  I used to make cutouts like that.  Such a feast foe the eye is there if only you look in the right places.  And if you gaze outside, yo might just see a cardinal sitting on a bare branch or fluttering by.

I'm getting ready for the groundhog and Abraham Lincoln and George Washington and a short month and red and a little spring thaw.  Oh, so much excitement.  And that's just the externals.  Inside, all is well and so I hope with you.

Warm Words For a Cold Morning

Time to dip into my quote envelope and share a few treasures.  I can't get over how inspired I get every time I go through the packet and see how a little thing like words on paper can inspire, equip, encourage, teach, or just show off their beauty.

Here is one from The Hound Of The Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle:  "a dabler in science... a picker up of shells on the shores of the great unknown ocean."

From The Coach That Never Came by Patricia Beatty: "Some people come along at the right time.  Others are too early or too late to fit their eras."

Marlo Thomas: "If it comes from the heart it works - if you try to figure out what others want, it almost never works."

Little Chores

Does it ever seem like you spend most of your life in grooming?  And when you are, say, brushing your teeth, does it seem like it is always teeth time?  As if you just did it and here it is again?  I use an electric toothbrush because of my gums.  It isn't timed so I need to count thirty seconds for each quadrant of my mouth.  That means that for two minutes I can't think about other things at all.  I can't multitask when counting.  And then there are the nails to do.  I do mine weekly in a clear polish.  Then there are showers, drying hair, shaving, and cleaning off your shoes.  It just takes so much time.

Then when I saw and heard the horrible things that happened during hurricane Sandy, I started to cherish hot water and clean, cold drinking water and the ability to do laundry and brush teeth and any manner of grooming.  Suddenly those chores turned to luxuries.  So for about two weeks, I was very grateful for all of my blessings.

Now, I am still grateful, but I wish we didn't have to start and end the day (just before prayers) with so many little little things to do.  But then again, my grandpa and uncle used to get up at 5:00 every morning to do farm chores and they did the same chores every evening (outside!)  So I guess I'll just be happy that I can look and smell as good as I can and enjoy all of the time in between.

Are You Enjoying Winter Yet?

I managed to get my Christmas decorations put away yesterday.  I was going to wait, but I had time and so took advantage.  I left out my little wooden pine trees which I put on top of my antique secretary.  They just look so simple and primitive and outdoorsy.  They remind me of the page in the children's book The Polar Express where a few wolves roam in the nighttime amidst tall pines.  It's lonely, beautiful, and just the tiniest bit scary.  That is my favorite page in the book.

I think it is also the reason why I came to Michigan from Ohio 44 years ago.  My family was headed up to the Mackinac Bridge.  We traveled through all of the lower peninsula to get there.  I remember seeing row upon row of nothing but dense pine trees on either side of the road.  It was so gorgeous, so pristine.  The radio signals were very clear.  It was then that a love for this state first came upon me.  Little did I know that Michigan is suited for people who love the outdoors.  As far as that goes, I love sitting in and looking out.

I'm usually not a big fan of snow, but yesterday, as I left my church, the snow was coming down in such pretty flakes that it almost took my breath away by its beauty.  My heart burst with joy and I started singing Winter Wonderland.  The couple leaving with me joined in.  There is just so much fun to be had.  Hope this winter weather is a very good thing for you.