HOLD MY HAND

Since my dad died about 6 years ago, I’ve tried to visit my mom a couple of times a year, one of them on her birthday. This last birthday was number 84 for her – she kept telling people she was celebrating her 21st birthday for the 4th time. This was something her physical therapist joked with her about and so she passed it on. Late January is not an ideal time to visit north Texas, as they are prone to sleet and ice storms around this time. I, myself, was born in an ice storm in early February a few hundred years ago. But an 84th birthday is a pretty big deal, and so plans were made and flights booked and car rental was finalized.

I really do like to travel, but only by air. Not a fan of the car trip. But, do love to fly. I think I like it because I love to watch the people in the airports and on the plane. For instance, while waiting to check in in at SJC, there was a woman and 2 small children just in front of me in line. She was thin, blonde, and grim. She had a baby in a Rolls Royce stroller and a toddler and was clearly anxious about things going ‘just so’ in the check-in process. Before too long a tall, thin man appeared and was animatedly apologizing and explaining and quite cheerful about being late. She was completely unamused and irritated. Too bad. He seemed like a nice guy and she seemed like a complete bitch. That’s not fair. Maybe she was just stressed about traveling with 2 small children, lots of bags and an expensive stroller. Anyway, I felt sorry for her husband and hoped for his sake that the trip went without incident.

Once to the gate, I found the Starbucks, the news stand and acquired a signature hot chocolate and a copy of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, in that order. Sat down at the gate and started to read the new book – until a woman sat 2 seats down and whipped out her phone. She was blathering on about a race and how she wasn’t sure the person she was talking to was ready to actually participate and how they could prepare………I gave up and moved. I found that I quite liked the new book – it was entertaining and well written. Across from me was a man and his son. They were both wearing turbans but dressed in very American duds. Dad wore a striped shirt, khaki pants, topsiders and a jacket. Son wore a very cool t-shirt – skull or something on the front – jeans and patterned vans. Son had his guitar with an Obama cinch around the case to keep it closed. They both wore simple silver bracelets. There was a brief discussion, money handed to son, and then son walked away. He returned with a copy of Time and handed dad the change. Inquiries from dad to son regarding what he would like to eat – sandwich from Starbucks, discussion about tomatoes and dad opens his half of the sandwich to receive son’s portion of tomatoes. They both had full beards, the dad spoke briefly about work on a Blackberry and had something of an english accent. I was struck by the diversity on the surface and by the father/son relationship that seemed so easy and warm. I hope they had a good trip.

A stranger asked me what I was reading and I told her. Did I like it? Yes, actually, I do! Good! She needed to read this book for her book club and rushed off to buy a copy once she knew it was available in the airport. We talked about books briefly and then I saw her sitting a couple of rows over eagerly opening the book.

Once on board, I picked a window seat and settled in and went back to my book. A young woman asked if the seat was taken – no – I thought she would take the aisle seat but she sat down next to me and then said, “I hope you won’t think I’m crazy, but will you hold my hand when we take off?” Oh, honey, of course! She said she was, “just a student,” and didn’t know much about traveling. I confess I scolded her for saying JUST a student and told her she was doing the most important work of her life. She had on a hooded sweatshirt with a small crucifix hanging out of the neck, jeans and was generally unkempt in that her hair was just pulled back into a pony tail and she was a bit disheveled. I asked her where she was going to school – 3rd year at Stanford. Just a student. As it turned out, Simone was a scholarship kid from Roseville High School, lived in Antelope and she came from a single parent home. We had the best time! I held her hand the entire flight to LA and we talked non-stop. We discovered that we both loved Lois Lowry’s book, The Giver. Lots of other topics were discussed, including Condie Rice and whether she just gave in and drank the KoolAid early on or was really a tool of the administration from the get go. When we landed and were standing waiting to leave the plane, a black woman behind us said she wanted to come up and join our very interesting conversation……her seat mates concurred. It was really a great time and we hugged once in the terminal and wished each other well. Gives me great faith in the future to know there are kids like that out there waiting to take their turn.

I found a salad in the LA terminal, wolfed it down and then headed to the gate where my flight left for Dallas with stop in El Paso. On my way, I understood in a flash why people commit armed robbery! I saw a man wearing a leather coat – a caramel color that looked like it would feel like butter to the touch – it hit him at mid-calf and had a small mandarin collar. The best part was the lining was a wonderful sweet pea green! It was simply gorgeous and I was as green as the lining.

Kind of boring flight from there, but I had good reading material. It was freakishly warm there with the typical gale force winds that seem everpresent.  Thankfully, the road work on Mockingbird Lane was completed and I was able to get my car and slip right out to the highway without the confusing detours of the past 2 trips.  I saw my all time favorite neon sign again – just north of the Mockingbird exit on Highway 75 there is a building with an enormous neon sign that reads:  CONDOMS TO GO in bright red letters several feet high.  I am not making this up.  This trip, a few exits to the north, there was a new billboard inquiring:  GOT HEMORRHOIDS?  Again, not making this up.  Texas are so crass.  In CA we have Jiffy Lube.  In Texas, it’s Grease N Go.  Painful.  Funny but painful all the same.

I arrived at mom’s just after 10pm. The temperature had dropped about 30 degrees in 2 hrs, but I was not expecting to be outside again until I left 3 days later.

Before leaving, I had checked the extended forecast and was assured the highs would be in the upper 50s and so, clearly, I needed no coat. They failed to mention that small ice storm that starting bearing down on us on Monday night…..it was literally nipping at my heels when I left on Tuesday morning. I left an hour early to allow for ice, wrecks, idiots on the road, etc, only to find that while a bit wet from a heavy mist, there was no ice nor much traffic. So, I stopped in McKinney and spent a lovely hour and then some with my dear friend from childhood, Cheryl. I sure wish we lived closer or had more time to visit or she would fly or, well, you know how it is.

I left Cheryl’s a bit later than I thought was prudent, but pulled into the car rental lot right on time. I was grateful not to have lost fingers to frostbite while filling the car up with gas before turning it in. There was a powerful Texas wind and it was stirring up a good rain storm. The terminal at Love Field was warm as toast, tho. Let me just say something here about airline terminals and food. Cinnabon is the bane of my existence! The aroma is a siren’s song and I swear they must have some system that sweeps the scent throughout the whole terminal. I can’t eat the damn things without paying a price – and I have paid it from time to time – but just cannot while traveling. I was assaulted by the smell in each and every airport of the trip.

From Dallas to El Paso and on to Phoenix. Change planes. Enjoyed the long walk to the next gate as I had been sitting for 3 days on the couch staring at the TV (sans TiVo) or reading. I was happy to have been able to finish the last 2 editions of The Sun and my book, but I dearly wished for some exercise. Taking off from Phoenix, I looked out the window and saw the most stunning sunset I’ve ever seen. I don’t know if I can even begin to describe it, but there had been a lot of clouds on both legs of the trip – some that looked exactly like mashed potatoes, some like white cotton candy, some like driven snow. These clouds were in layers. The bottom layer was the color of molten lava – brilliant red, scarlet, golden and glowing. The next layer was a light bottle green with striations of dark gray running horizontally though the green. Above them was a sliver of a moon. I couldn’t look away and wished the pilot would just make a slight right turn so I could see the part that was a bit wider. It was absolutely spectacular. When it finally was dark, I went back to my Sun and finished up the stories, letters, etc. What a great publication – some of the entries make may you uncomfortable, but it’s good to stretch your mind and emotions. I was particularly taken with a writer who said that while he had not lost his faith, it was, he feared, seriously misplaced. Amen to that.

Landed right on time at SJC, bag arrived quickly, as did Husband. Home again, home again, jiggety jig. Good to be here and particularly for a 3 day work week before going off to Yountville on Monday to celebrate a birthday for 3 days. I’ll be sure to charge the battery on the camera – it’s a pretty place to be, Yountville, and lots of good (and naughty) food awaits!

AWAY

I’ll be away for a few days – to Texas to see my dear old mother who is celebrating? her 84th birthday on the 26th.

For my birthday coming up, we are going to spend a few days in Yountville.  I promise photos of fun, food and lodging.

A QUICK TRIBUTE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPYMaF2vAmg

You just have to see this.  Maybe I’ll have more to say later about the most stellar events of yesterday, but this.this. is so wonderful.

I’m a sucker for a good love story

THE NEWBERRY MEDAL

Long ago but really not that far away, I used to work in a children’s bookstore.  I had been working in a small firm that practiced civil litigation for an associate who was, well, a bitch.  I liked her some of the time and I totally understood the challenges in her life that resulted in what was pretty much a “&)#_  you” attitude a lot of the time.  But, a person can only take so much.  So, I gave them notice that in 2 weeks (when I finished the trial exhibits) they could take my job and shove it.  This was not the most economically sound decision I ever made, but I made it, nevertheless.  For a time, I delivered a Wednesday newspaper that was really sort of a glorified classified ad.  It was fun – miles of walking through nearby Los Gatos – which I enjoyed.  Didn’t pay very well at all, but there was very little stress.

One day, I decided that I would stop by the children’s bookstore in Los Gatos and just inquire.  I loved children’s literature and was very well read in my own childhood and I had made sure my own children had all the classics and more.  As fate would have it, the weekend before the manager of this store had been rather rudely dismissed after a VERY long tenure.  I was given a part time position which I filled with great enthusiasm.  During the time I worked there, I was on a first name basis with all the great characters of children’s literature and loved to direct young and old to the perfect book for the child or situation.  We enjoyed many visits from famous authors and illustrators and attended conferences that required a ridiculous amount of hard work – we literally transferred a smaller version of the store to a different location.  Still, I did so enjoy the work and being so closely associated with so many wonderful books and people who loved books.  I loved reading advance copies and then giving “trailers” to eager customers of things to come.  I especially loved the guessing games that are inevitable in a bookstore:  do you know that book about the people who fell through a hole in the earth?  Sometimes the answers were simple, but sometimes the plot that was related sounded like it had been through several versions of “gossip.”  I loved story time and reading to the little kids.  

So, you may ask, why did you leave such a workplace heaven?  Well,  a huge Barnes & Noble moved into the area, then the owner of the store suffered a stroke and completely lost track of the concepts of both time and money.  I could read the handwriting on the wall and when an attorney for whom I had worked some years before called to entreat me back to law, the money was too good to pass up, particularly knowing that the store was not long for this world.

The impetus for this stroll down memory lane was an NPR piece about the Newberry Medal that is to be awarded in the next week.  They interviewed several people who are associated with choosing the winner and discussed children’s books in general.  The interviewer was clearly not familiar with children’s literature, seeming to think its purpose was primarily to entertain.  Well, sometimes.  But the woman who is in charge of the panel who makes the Newberry choice (and I’m sorry I don’t remember her name) was quick to set him straight.  There are children’s books that address every issue a child might experience in their lives, both good and unthinkable.  It is so very important for children to know the are not alone in hardship, that they can find others (even if fictional) who have suffered the same or similar situations in their lives.  There are books that educate children about history and those people who made it – books about the Japanese internment camps, losing parents, pets, friends, the holocaust, summer camp, being a sole survivor of a plane wreck in the wilderness, siblings both crazy and endearing, and on and on.   Wandering around the children’s section in one of the big chain stores is like visiting old and dear friends, only I find lately that there are fewer of them to be found.  There are so many new faces and unfamiliar stories now.

I do so miss being up to date on the latest in children’s literature.  Hell, I miss being up to date on any literature these days!  There is little time to read in my schedule as it is presently constituted.  Someday, I will retire and read and read and read and travel and travel and travel.  Someday, I will lie about the house with a big old dog and a good book both in my lap, I will work in the garden and cook and fill countless jars with a myriad of delectable jams.  And, I’ll catch up with those kid books!

For now, I will eagerly read about the 2009 Newberry winner and buy a copy for my grandchildren.

HAPPY ENDING

Well, not in the way you might think………..but as far as the earring story, anyway.  I went to Nordstom today in search of a duplicate pair – totally unrealistic but in the spirit of the new beginnings all around, why the hell not?

I found a similar pair, by the same artist, I’m pretty sure.  Only this pair was, like, supersized.  Larger, with 2 inside hoops and sort of tweaked – not flat like the others.  I like them – they are more in your face – more of a “statement.”  But, get this, the very best part…..small gasp…..MATCHING BANGLES!  There were other serendipitous shopping events:  a beautiful blouse at Crew that actually cleared my ass and was on sale; the last pair of size 10 jeans at JJill in the color and style I wanted and $10 off; a pair of perfect green cropped pants that with final markdowns turned out to be, like, $7; the PERFECT scarf to go with the very orange sweater/jacket; a new Shun 5″ santuko (with a gift card from work); a lovely tunic from Tibet and some ethnic earrings.  Nice day, all in all.  

Consider it my contribution to the country’s economic recovery.  You are most welcome.

PAYING IT FORWARD

Last Saturday afternoon, Husband and I sat in a darkened theatre waiting for Milk to begin. We made small talk between ourselves, traded snarky remarks about the previews and I sipped my hot tea. The theatre began to fill up and soon there were only a few scattered seats available. I started to notice the sounds around me. There was a veritable cacophony of coughs, sniffles, snorts and the other various and sundry noises people make when transporting snot along the myriad passageways in their bodies. I had that sinking sensation that you get when you KNOW something (not something good) is about to happen. I turned to Husband and said, “I hope we get out of here alive.” We did. But we also brought god knows what kinds of critters along for the ride.

On Monday, we both began to spew and cough and snort. By Wednesday and Thursday we were downright pitiful and in the throes of The Winter Cold. Husband always passes the nasal involvement and goes straight to rib-shaking, chest-rending coughing. I, on the other hand, get to enjoy a day or two of concrete in the sinuses before the critters move south for the lungs and bronchial tubes. During the sinus part, I morph into a dreaded mouth-breather and develop painfully chapped lips. Because my lips and tongue are so dry, I consume gallons of water, which means I am in the bathroom several times an hour. Husband does not attend the gym and I miss my yoga class. We are not happy.

We have a plan. If we can drag ourselves to the movie theatre on Saturday afternoon late and maintain an upright posture for a couple of hours, we plan to go to see Last Chance Harvey and pass the gift we received last Saturday to other unsuspecting and equally deserving individuals who find themselves trapped in the small and airtight space that is call a movie theatre.

MESSAGE FROM BEYOND

As I was getting dressed for work late last week, I pulled on a cashmere turtleneck sweater that I hadn’t worn for awhile.  There were 2 small holes right in the front.  A few days earlier, I noticed that there was a very small hole in the gray cashmere cardigan I had worn to work that week!  That hole was very small and located just behind the shoulder seam, so I thought I could fix it up well enough to keep wearing.  I really love that sweater.  So, fine.  I start pulling out the cashmere sweaters and four of them have holes – including the cardigan.

Now, before you start thinking – cashmere?  Well, now, isn’t that just TOO BAD!  Let me say this – my skin and wool do not mix.  If I wear wool that isn’t lined next to my skin, I’m clawing at myself all day.  So, over the years (and I do mean years), I’ve assembled a small collection of cashmere.  A lot of them came from Costco and the rest were only purchased when on sale.  When I cleaned out my closet recently, I did give some of them away.  I do have one black turtleneck that is what I consider a “good” cashmere sweater and, thankfully, it seems to be intact.

I was sad for a little while but, really, there are people who have nothing – refugees, homeless, jobless – so I say to myself very sternly, “Shut.Up.”

Then, Saturday night, sometime after we left the movies and while I was grocery shopping, I lost one of my very favorite earrings.  It wasn’t expensive – just costume jewelry, but they went with everything and were just the right size.  A rough hammered gold hoop with a rough hammered silver one inside.  I confess this loss hurt my feelings.

So, I figure the Universe is trying to get my attention:  Cindy!  You have TOO MUCH STUFF and you put WAY TOO MUCH STORE in it!  I confess it’s true….on both counts.  If I am sufficiently humbled, can you leave the rest of my stuff alone?

Resolutionaries

My pilates/yoga teacher, Leigh, calls them, “resolutionaries.”  People who make resolutions for the New Year to:  get fit, lose weight, shape up, tone up, slim down.  You know.  She warned in late December that we would be crowded for the first few weeks of the new year and then things would get back to normal as the “resolutionaries” gave up.  

Tonight, standing and waiting for the class before our pilates class to finish, a “resolutionary” asked me how long I had been taking this class.  I said, “A year.”  Wow!  I’m not sure if it is actually a year, but I know I started in January or February last year taking the Monday pilates/Thursday yoga classes.  When I think back to Tuesday and Friday mornings after I first began and remember the sore muscles and aches in places that had heretofore gone unnoticed, I can’t believe it’s been a year.  I will say that when I began, I performed better than I thought I might.  It hurt like hell, but I finished each set for the most part.  Well, let me clarify that.  I do not move as quickly as I am supposed to.  25 reps for the youngsters in the class is more likely to be 12 or 15 for me, but I get them done.  It’s better to do them slowly and finish with the class than lie still on your mat while others around you are flailing about.  And, it takes more control.  That’s my story and I’m stickin’ to it.  

I laugh at myself every class, be it pilates or yoga.  Invariably, when we are supposed to be breathing in – I’m breathing out and vice versa.  In the beginning, the whole “breathing” concept was lost on me.  How the hell can you actually breathe while doing this?  Now, I just breathe when I can and how I can and do whatever I’m supposed to be doing.  

I have a spot on the back row.  I’m very territorial about it.  For awhile, there were some girls (and I do mean GIRLS) from the aerobics class before us who would stay for about half of our yoga class.  They were in my spot on the back row!  What was incredibly irritating was that they would take my spot and then LEAVE part way through the class!  Cripes – stay all the way through or don’t stay at all and GET OUT OF MY SPOT!  They didn’t last, however, as I believe the power of my “hate rays” got the better of them.  

Tonight, as predicted, the class was full of new faces.  There were giggles and whines and gasps and the sounds of bodies collapsing on the floor galore.  I remember being one of those.  I still gasp when we are supposed to be “swimming.”  That’s just deadly for me.  I can do plank for a full minute but I just cannot “swim” for more than a few seconds.  There were the regulars, too.  The woman with the green nail polish and nasty feet was right beside me – at least her feet weren’t in my face this time!  Once, I saw a young woman with only 4 toes.  I thought I was seeing things but she was missing a toe on each foot.  My friend who is recovering from cancer hasn’t been in class for awhile.  But she only comes to yoga, so maybe she will be there on Thursday.  She’s studying for the LSATs – she’s nuts!

I am the oldest person in the class most of the time.  Not all the time, but most of the time.  I like that. Lately, I’ve been going to the gym with Husband on the weekend days, so I’m getting 3 to 4 hrs of work out per week; two hours of pilates and yoga and 45 minutes per day on the weekends on the eliptical.  That damn machine makes me sweat buckets.  I hate to sweat.  I’m intending to keep up the pace this year but, note to self:  Do not eat black bean soup for lunch on Mondays!

WRAP UP

Let’s see……….Christmas has come and gone.  We had our family on the day after – 38 of them.  We were blessed with good weather so the kids could play outside, the boys in particular with their new rip-sticks.  Apparently, this is the most recent version of skateboards – 2 separate foot pads with one wheel each connected with a bar that torques.  Interesting.  Christmas Eve afternoon after I got off work and Christmas Day was spent cooking and cleaning and doing all those pre-party things that need doing.  The day was more pleasant than some of our other family gatherings and we had a couple of welcome new faces.

I made a dozen gingerbread boys – it was fun but I was unhappy with the quality of the bought icing; too sloppy but I was too lazy to make royal icing from scratch.  And, I couldn’t find any red hots for buttons. Nevertheless, I think they were cute and although the kids didn’t seem interested at first, they did mostly, eventually, disappear.  I usually buy various meats and cheeses and make up trays myself, but this year I was trying to save a little effort and decided to buy trays from Costco and Safeway.  The cost was considerable in the end but I think the food was good.  It would have been less stressful had Safeway not lost my order and actually had the trays ready when I arrived to pick them up.  But, they put them together quickly and I went back again for them.  I swear I must have been at some grocery store or another several times a day for a couple of days!  I did, however, balk at the price for fruit trays and made my own.  

Here’s one view of the table with most of the food – the fruit isn’t there yet and more food was brought by others.  I didn’t take a photo of the Sugar Offerings – they were laid out on the bar in the kitchen.  I can highly recommend Starbuck’s Cranberry Bliss Bar, by the way.  Husband produced a 3 lb See’s box, and the gingerbread gang was joined by brownie bites (always a favorite).  We went through 8 bottles of Martinelli’s – the kids really do love it.  I suspect the older kids would have appreciated some stronger drink, but they didn’t complain.  Here’s the view from the other end of the table:

There are 3 of us for whom gluten is something of a poison, so finding decent gluten-free crackers is always part of the shopping experience.  I’ve located at least 3 that are pretty good.  I did, I confess, stand in front of the gluten-truck and let it run me over that day.  Croissants are too hard to resist.  The next day I paid the price, and I think it was worth it?  We were so happy to have Jay and Staci from OR with us that day and they spent the night before going home on Saturday.  We had a fun breakfast of baked eggs, sauteed mushrooms, scallions, chives, white cheddar and gruyere.  I found some little egg baking dishes at a pottery sale awhile back – you put some butter in them, add 2 eggs and some cream and bake for about 15 minutes.  Then, add whatever toppings you like.  We had left over fruit and toast and OJ.  Coffee for them made in a french press I bought for the occasion.  Next time they come, we’ll be ready for coffee.

So, now some odds and ends:

*Down the street from us is a palm tree that gets dressed for the holidays every year.  I just love it so I tried to take a photo to share – it’s hard to appreciate but here’s a couple of shots:

This is the top – I was coming back from the grocery store and thought I’d just see if I could get a picture. It’s not great but you can get the idea.  I’ll post the other photo, but you’ll have to put your head to one side because I forgot to rotate the photo and I can’t seem to get back to the place to do it in IPhoto.  I’m technically challenged on a good day, and it’s probably a very simple task (like replacing the screw in the medicine cabinet) but it’s beyond me right now. So, if you care, take a look.  If not, skip it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

*I was raking leaves in the backyard the other day and was scraping across the patio and thinking, WOW, there sure is a lot of bird poop on the grill cover and patio.  This morning I happened to look out the backdoor window and looked at the top of the tree.  I think I’ve found the culprits………

That annoying vertical line is a utility line – the weather was just damp and cool enough that I didn’t want to go outside to take the photo.  And, I didn’t want the birds to fly away if I came outside.  Before I raked, I cut back the blackberry canes.  Filled a big container with cuttings.  I did that on New Year’s Eve after I got home from work – the fog finally lifted and it was sunny and kind of warm.  It occurred to me that NYEve was an appropriate day to cut away dead and overgrown canes.  I hadn’t realized how far some of the shoots had grown – several feet and through the fence.  One even reached through the fig tree and into the next bush.  It’s hard for me to cut things back – I tend to be a chaos gardener.  Just let things grow as they will but I did learn you get more berries when you whack the canes back each year.  We had a bumper crop this year and hope for the same this coming summer.  Makes incredible jam.

*We’ve had some good rains recently and I am happy to report that the lavender is happy, too!

We had a couple of very cold nights that froze the coleus in the porch pots – they collapsed!  But the lavender didn’t seem to mind.  I realized the other day that the hedge roses on the east side of the house really must go.  They’ve been there probably 20 years and are just needing to be replaced.  I’ve tried cutting them back – an arduous task – but I think it’s time they return to their mother earth for another try.  I can’t replace them as they don’t seem to offer Dream Cloud hedge roses anywhere, so that’s a decision that will nag at me this spring.  The rosemary likes the rain, too:

Blooming rosemary is beautiful but the dickens when you want to cook with it.  It’s hard to find stems that don’t have blooms all over.  I made rosemary cashews last night – it was tedious.  Actually, I made them TWICE because the nuts in the oven that were supposed to get warm got, well, burned.  Husband offered to go get more and he probably won’t do that again as they are $8 lb!  Cait took some up to Berkeley for the evening and we had the left overs with some other small snacks for NYEve.  We aren’t party folk so we rented 4 movies for the weekend.  Started with War Inc but couldn’t finish it.  Too bad, I’m a John Cusack fan but, sorry to say, that movie just sucked.  So, we watched the new Narnia movie, Prince Caspian.  I like magic stuff.  Tho, I need to look it up and see which came first Narnia or Lord of the Rings. Trees to the rescue were in both plots and I wonder who thought that up first, Lewis or Tolkien?

*The drive to work on New Year’s Eve was remarkable.  We had heavy fog so all the lights, both traffic and Christmas, had misty halos around them.  The bare trees were stark against the gray skies.  There were few folk on the road and my usual morning phone call to my mother was suspended so she could get her hair done on Wed instead of her regular Thurs appointment.  I turned on my dear friend Tony Bennett and his Duet disc – it was a lovely and serene drive into town.  Whenever I experience weather like this, I always think of one of my favorite poems by Thomas Hardy: 

The Darkling Thrush

I leant upon a coppice gate
When Frost was spectre-gray,
And Winter's dregs made desolate
The weakening eye of day.
The tangled bine-stems scored the sky
Like strings of broken lyres,
And all mankind that haunted nigh
Had sought their household fires.

The land's sharp features seemed to be
The Century's corpse outleant,
His crypt the cloudy canopy,
The wind his death-lament.
The ancient pulse of germ and birth
Was shrunken hard and dry,
And every spirit upon earth
Seemed fervourless as I.

At once a voice arose among
The bleak twigs overhead
In a full-hearted evensong
Of joy illimited;
An aged thrush, frail, gaunt, and small,
In blast-beruffled plume,
Had chosen thus to fling his soul
Upon the growing gloom.

So little cause for carolings
Of such ecstatic sound
Was written on terrestrial things
Afar or nigh around,
That I could think there trembled through
His happy good-night air
Some blessed Hope, whereof he knew
And I was unaware.

    -- Thomas Hardy

I’ve rambled on enough, but want to say that I hope we all have our own little thrush to cheer us on this year.  I’m encouraged for the first time in more years than I’d like to remember – things are going well with Husband and our family looks forward to a happy increase in the spring.  

I have a pot of black-eyed peas ready so now I think I’ll go whip up some gluten-free cornbread.  No self-respecting Texas would let New Year’s Day pass without black-eyed peas!   Blessings and love to all.