America? Or Venezuela?

 Dear Gussy, Molly and Moses---are we in America?  Or are we in Venezuela?  Randy said it would come to this.  I could never envision this day.  But here we are.  So how did this happen with such ease, when since 9/11 no one can get near this area?

January 2, 2021

Christmas Day 2020 photos

 

Happy New Year -- 2021

 'Another Year'  2021    

"The old year is gone, the new year begun, and those of us who set store by the calendar draw a line to sum up a total, since it is man's habit to count the minutes and the days and try to map time.  Nature, of course, has her own map of time, and although man's calculations may approximate it, they miss the mark repeatedly.  If we insist on starting the year in mid-Winter, the solstice would be the logical moment, and the solstice occurred nine days ago.  The ancients, being practical people, started their year with the vernal equinox, the beginning of Spring.

But, being insistently illogical, we follow long habit and ingrained tradition and give this day unwonted significance.  We draw a mythical total line, hoping somehow to stop time long enough to sum up.  But even before we have totted the first column, time has gone beyond us.  Time doesn't wait for totals.  Only the tax collector can command time, and even he can't check the sun in its course.  The sun already leans toward Spring and another Summer.

A new year begins, as we say.  And the latent bud on the branch doesn't stir one whit, the blossom in the bulb sleeps undisturbed in the frozen ground.  The woodchuck's hibernating pulse doesn't quicken one beat, and the deer in the thicket is just as hungry as he was yesterday.  Man is the only animal to whom this new year is important.  All the others live by the day and the season.

The old year passes.  We draw up the totals, and the stars wheel and the sun slowly widens its arc, creating their own years.  Spring is already on the way, the Spring that knows no calendar."     Hal Borland, Sundial of the Seasons

Sending wishes and hopes for a kinder, healthier New Year--for us all.

Serenity Prayer

 Grant me the serenity

To accept the things I cannot change,
The courage to change the things I can
And the wisdom to know the difference.
Living one day at a time,
Enjoying one moment at a time,
Accepting hardship as the pathway to peace,
Taking this world as it is,
Not as I would have it.
Trusting that Spirit will make all things right
If I surrender to Spirit’s will
That I may be reasonably happy in this life.

December 2020

 

Thank you, Sweet Julie

Sweet JulieK totally surprised me with this beautiful quilt that she made.  How blessed am I to have a friend as sweet as this woman is.  She is a prolific quilter, as well as a devoted nurse.  Words cannot express my heart's feelings.  Thank you, my beautiful friend.

 And the people stayed home...

They read books, and listened, and rested, and exercised, and made art,

and played games, and learned new ways of being, and were still.

They listened more deeply.

Some meditated, some prayed, some danced.

Some met their shadows.

And people began to think differently.

And the people healed.

And in the absence of people living in ignorant, dangerous, mindless,

and heartless ways, the earth began to heal.

And when the danger passed, and the people joined together again,

they grieved their losses, 

and made new choices, and dreamed new images,

and created new way to live and heal the earth fully, as they had been healed.

Happy Halloween! Happy Full Blue Moon

 

The Beauty of Fall

                                                                Birds

 

Such A Vivid, Beautiful Fall Day

 

                                                             Last Night

Early Voting

 

Today was the first day of early voting here in Tennessee.  It was a beautiful day to vote---and I did.

Backyard Walktober

Marlee heard me talking about lovely Princess Katie at Change is Hard joining Robin at https://breezesatdawn.wordpress.com/ who is hosting her annual Walktober.  Of course, Marlee thinks she's a princess too, and wanted to join in.  Our Walktober, for now, is in our backyard.  We may gather photos from longer walks next week.

We are experiencing breathtaking weather this last couple of weeks.  The days have been drenched in sunlight and blue skies and leaves changing colors before our eyes.  The slant of the sunlight through the trees has that distinct difference to it.  It's like no other season's light.  And night draws inky blankets over the day earlier each day, with stars on stunning display.  Lamps are lit and blinds are drawn.  Thoughts turn to gourds and pumpkins, Mums and Jack-o-Lanterns, flannel sheets on the bed and snuggly quilts.  

With leaves turning and starting to drop, can you believe that there is a violet (Johnnie Jump Up) in bloom in the back yard on October 8, 2020?  I have never seen this before.  Curiouser and curiouser.

The Seasons Are Changing

 So, leaves are starting to drop, the hummingbirds have headed out on their journey, there's a definite 'nip' of autumn in the air as evening draws to night, and the sun is waking up the morning.  I scramble for my favorite, ratty jacket to throw on to take Marlee out at night and first thing in the morning.  I've always always loved when the seasons change; I've always been so ready for the summer heat to fade, and the fall air and colors and smells to arrive.  Hmmm, but this year, I'm hesitant about it all.  Maybe it's just that the whole year, so far, of 2020 has been so unnerving.  And the fact that I'm still not really adjusted to proceeding through the world and life without Randy.  I don't know...just a bit hesitant...

Just to add to the complexity of thoughts and emotions this time around with shorter, colder days, there was a knock at my door this morning.  There's a man, I don't know him, asking if I'm _______.  No, I'm not, and I've never heard of her.  I explain that I've only lived in this house for a year.  Maybe she lived here sometime in the past, but I don't know her.  When I finally find out who he is, he tells me he works for a bonding company, and there's a warrant out for this person.  After he is satisfied that I'm not who he is looking for, he tells me that there's a good possibility that there will be a raid on my house.  Excuse me???  Well, just giving you a heads-up that they may come in the wee hours of the morning, come in 'dark', as he put it, no lights and banging on my doors.  Whoa, hold on.  That's quite disturbing.  So I've spent most of the day on the phone with  first the City Police Department, who tell me I need to call the County Sheriff's Dept, who tell me I need to talk to the bonding company.  And along the way, I've had a couple of phone conversations with my attorney, just to make sure he has my back.  It's now after 3 p.m.  The day is shot, but let's hope everyone got the memo that this is not the house nor person they are looking for, and that midnight raids at this address would be a bad thing.