I Prefer

I prefer winter and fall, when you feel the bone structure of the landscape - the loneliness of it, the dead feeling of winter.  Something waits beneath it, the whole story doesn't show.

~ Andrew Wyeth

Januweary

The color of springtime is in the flowers, 

the color of winter is in the imagination.

~Ward Elliot Hour

After the hustle and bustle of Christmas, January is typically my quiet month; a time to recharge before Spring brings forth the joys (and work) of gardening.  This is the time of year to rest and relax in front of this...

"The happiness of the domestic fireside is the first bone of Heaven; and it is well it is so, since it is that which is the lot of the mass of mankind"

~Thomas Jefferson

January is the time to enjoy as much of this as possible....

Strange how a teapot can represent at the same time the comforts of solitude

and the pleasure of company.

It is the time to enjoy as many of these as possible...

"You can't get a cup of tea big enough or a book long enough to suit me."

~ C.S. Lewis

And, if all else fails....stay here until Spring....

"The feeling of sleepiness when you are not in bed, and can't get there,

is the meanest feeling in the world."

~ Edgar Watson Howe

I Am Thankful

I sit in quiet contemplation of the last year and breath a sigh of relief. Having made it through the year with only minor injuries, I look back and know that I am blessed.  We survived  moving three times in a 9 month period; making us feel like a band of traveling gypsies. You should know that my personality is not one suited to living out of boxes. : )

I am by every definition of the word a homebody. Home is being surrounded by my most cherished possession. Home is knowing every nook and cranny as well as my own face.  It is being able to close your eyes and seeing the exact pattern the sun will make on the floor at different times of the day and the moon at night.  Home.  The word alone feels comforting.

"I am thankful for a lawn that needs mowing, windows that need cleaning and gutters that need fixing because it means I have a home.... I am thankful for the piles of laundry and ironing because it means my loved ones are nearby." ~Nancie J. Carmody

Nine months ago I packed all of my belongings and left my home in the hands of a realtor.  I, along with my family, set out to make a new home in another state.  I will spare you the details...it did not go as planned  Having, now, returned to our home, we have a greater appreciation than we've ever known.  The front door that swells during the winter isn't the bother that it once was, nor is the telephone booth sized shower.  Yes, the door still swells and the shower is still terribly small, but our perception of them has changed.  Instead of nit picking, I now chose to smile and love it all, for I am blessed to have a home so sweet.