winter solstice.

I didn't mean to be gone for this long. We went from G having a sore throat to a roller coaster of scary sick little boy which peaked with the frantic phone calls and urgent care and chest x-rays and febrile seizure...pneumonia. My sweet boy has been very sick. After a week of medicine, nebulizer and lots of love and rest, he is feeling much much better.


So with all of this we have been home for a while now - G is wrapping up medication that requires he avoid any virus exposure/people. So we will stay home through the weekend with lots of fresh smoothies, games, hugs, and holiday kids movies. Just what we need.


Today is the winter solstice. I am thankful we are all happy and well. I am thankful for a dusting of beautiful white snow on this dark day. And I am thankful that the sun will be staying a bit longer every day. Love and light and peace to you all on this solstice.

sunshine.

During this dark cloudy no snow December we keep searching for the light. MORE LIGHT!

We follow the sunshine when it does show up, even for a short time. We dance and play and lay in it.

G loves to scoot the trampoline along, following the trail of sunshine, jumping jumping jumping in the bright golden rays.

"I'll tell you how the sun rose a ribbon at a time."

~Emily Dickinson

soaking up the rays.

I hear ya. All the blogging out there about the winter doldrums, cold, and desperation for spring. But we have a while to go - winter has a lot more to dish out.

So some January freeze eye candy. Warmth, home, sunshine, blue skies and pretty clouds.


Everything and everyone loves to soak up the sun when it gets this cold. Cats,


kids,


birds,


plants, and ... me.

And that is what we need, when we start feeling funky. Sun.


Well, that and garden dreaming.


Tonight we will hit -16º below zero with -20º to -30º windchills. But that is OK. We are safe and warm, and enjoying the sunshine and blue sky.


What do you do to lift your spirits in the mid-winter?



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doldrums schmoldrums.

As soon as the holidays end many people start talking about the winter doldrums. I say doldrums schmoldrums. I love winter. There are so many things to appreciate, enjoy and which inspire this time of year. Sure, some can be enjoyed year round, but there is something special, simple, and particularly fulfilling about them when it is bitterly cold outside. Here are a few things that caught my eye today that made me think...I love January.


trays of sprouts, piles of books, crunchy snow underfoot,


sunshine streaming in the windows, the smell of the cold clean air as it blasts into the house when the door opens,


wheatgrass, hot tea, birds, how the previously chilly house feels steamy when we come in from outside,


seed catalogs, garden planning,


knitting and crocheting, music,


baking and cooking from our winter stores...home.


As the cold settles in and the holidays are over and days become more peaceful, these things make the winter a comfortable warm place to be.

In fact, my list goes on and on (and on). ;) I think I'll be doing more of this throughout the 'winter doldrums'.

"Hear! hear!" screamed the jay from a neighboring tree, where I had heard a tittering for some time, "winter has a concentrated and nutty kernel, if you know where to look for it."
~Henry David Thoreau

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What inspires you in January?

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snow!

"Oh the snow the beautiful snow filling the sky and earth below. Over the house tops and over the streets, over the heads of people you meet.


Dancing flirting skimming along. Oh the snow the beautiful snow how the flakes gather and laugh as they go. Whirling about in their maddening fun it plays in its glee with everyone.


Chasing laughing hurrying by it lights on the face and sparkles the eye. And even the dogs with a bark and a bound snap at the crystals that eddy around.


The town is alive and its heart in a glow to welcome the coming of beautiful snow."


Bon Hiver!


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