A Change in the Air

  This is the time of year when the weather can be unpredictable.  Some years the entire month will find us frozen over with temperatures below freezing. There is little snow but the ground is cold and hard, the wind harsh and the days spent inside with a blazing fire in the fireplace.  Other years, we experience an early taste of spring. The weather is balmy and it feels more like April or May than February.  This year has been somewhere in-between.  A few days ago, after weeks of chilly wind and rain we woke up to a morning of bright sunshine and cloudless skies.  We also woke up to first frost we had seen in some time.

 Fortunately, as the week progressed each day got a little warmer giving me a chance to get outside to work in the garden a little.  And boy, does my garden need some TLC.  As you can see, I haven't been out here much in the past few months and it sure shows.  There is much to be done. 

It's hard to get to everything during the school year.  However, with this lovely weather I have managed to spend a few hours getting flower beds cleaned out.  The snowdrops and crocus are making their appearance.

 And buds are popping out on the trees.

This is my neighbor's pussy  willow.  Don't you think the catkins look like little fuzzy caterpillars?

I saw my first robin of the season at my mom's house yesterday and snapped this picture from my car across the street.  This fellow and his mate were searching for worms in the grass.

Today the rain clouds began rolling back in.  Thunderstorms are predicted for tomorrow.  I know that Winter is not quite through with us yet but the wind is a little more gentle and Spring is definitely on it's way. 

 

Happy Valentine's Day

Now that my children are all grown up and with no grandchildren on the horizon, I don't really do much decorating for Valentine's Day anymore.  However, I couldn't let the day go by without putting out a few little touches to brighten the season.

Whoever and wherever you are I hope you felt loved today.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Thankul Thursday - 14

This is the time of the year when it's not always easy to get motivated.  The days are often dark and cold and the leaden skies are filled with a mass of gray clouds.  Even when it isn't raining, the sky can look dull and gloomy.  The other day I asked someone at school how she was doing and her answer was that she was just sloshing through the day.  Sloshing...there's a good word that describes the month of January around here.  

In the ordinary routines of just getting up and going to work everyday, coming home to a house that needs to be cleaned and dinner that needs to be put on the table, it's sometimes hard to capture Eucharisteo but just when I get to the point where I want to put up my hands in despair God reminds me again of the blessings that are all around me when I stop to remember.

I get up each morning to a day that is still black, but as I stumble into the shower and hot water begins to flow down my face I remember the blessings of clean hair and clean clothes followed by a warm cup of tea.

 I look outside and see the pink light of an early morning sunrise peeking through the clouds before everything closes up again and it begins to rain.  In the quiet I can hear the soft song of the wind chimes on the morning breeze.

 And I remember some of the blessings of these past couple of weeks.

1.  A softly whispered, "Good Morning" that starts my day.
2.  The smell of fresh cookies baking in the oven.
3.  Holding the hand of a grieving friend and sharing prayers and tears as we remember together the life of a husband of 60 years.
4.  The flash of  blue as a jay hops from branch to branch in the tree outside my window.
5.  The scream of an eagle off in the distance as I step out my door.



But one of the best reminders of God's blessings came as I was driving to work yesterday.  As I made my way down the hill to the lake road and headed around the corner, suddenly, there spread before my eyes was this reminder of God's majesty and the mighty works of his hands, and I was transfixed with the beauty of it.  I wanted so badly to just stop and drink it all in and let it fill my soul but I was on my way to school and I wasn't able stop.  All morning that's all I could think about.   So I went back out during my lunch with the only camera I had with me.  I couldn't even begin to capture my awesome wonder of that moment and how it filled me up with deep thanksgiving and joy.  God...the creator of this amazing scene loves puny little me...Eucharisteo

 Before the mountains were born, before you had formed the earth and the world, from eternity past to eternity future you are God.

Psalm 90:2