12 X 12 for January

Yet Another Mosaic--The Best So Far!

Week Two of 2012

Ah, what a week it has been!  Loving the wildlife around our house, still enjoying the Christmas tree, experiencing the first real snow storm of the new year--though it is really quite a horror.

Yesterday, the day started with freezing rain causing most schools in the State to call a snow day. It progressed to rather heavy snow right through until late evening. Daughter stayed home from her job since the roads were so terrible.We had a wonderful day--playing Parcheesi, in which she JUST beat me twice, Uncle Wiggly, which I won and Candyland. I then went to my scrapbook workroom to start some absolutely necessary organizing while she watched TV. She also, in an effort to not rush me from my task, made dinner of pork chops and corn. She did a great job--delicious. I cannot believe she will be 26 in a few months. Where has the time gone?

Bill said they were awful going in to work but not bad when he returned home at 9:30. Betsy had gone out on the porch around 8 pm and said it was relatively warm and truly beautiful with a clear sky and starlight. I was watching TV by then so opted not to join her.

Today's is a bit scary. In the early morning we had torrential rain on top of yesterday's 4 or so inches of snow. Then it turned to sleet. By the time Bets had to take Bill to work it was snowing.  By noon, before she got back, the snow was heavily descending in huge flakes. She said the roads weren't that great coming home. Eventually, everything stopped and the wind rose to roaring. Then sleet and rain. Now, the wind is blowing and again the precipitation is doing a cycle--rain, sleet, small snowflakes heavily blowing. I wish she didn't have to go out again, first to work and then to pick up Bill. The only hope is that the road crews are keeping ahead of it and drivers are smart enough to know that four wheel drive or studded tires does not mean they can fly at 90 miles an hour safely. But, I promised not to be negative this year or dwell on stuff and worry so, on with the project report.

I  started playing with making a collage of my approach to Picture of the Day yesterday, which was to take 12 pictures on the 12th. I'm still not totally satisfied with the result, though I do like the shots.

Today for the 13th I decided to focus on finding a shot of something lucky or unlucky, hoping for the former.  I think I was pretty successful. And I also kept to my goal of more me pix this week.

This guy just keeps me so amused all the time!

Love the way this tree was sheared. The cone to the left off center almost looks like a real candle.

Someone needs to tell this flock of robins that it is January and this is Vermont!

Before the snow the lower field looked like early November--love the truck tracks from wood retrieval and the deer tracks to the apple trees.

Sailors take warning!

One attempt at the collage of 12 on the 12th

A really LUCKY shot. Junco through the snowstorm!

 All in all, it has been a pretty good week in every way. I'm happy!

The original shot of the Junco--I wondered what the smudge was.

Another attempt at collaging. I like the other one better but don't know if I want to shell out $40 for the software.

These are the single twelve on the 12th

Looking through the lace curtain of the bathroom window with the glow of the Christmas candle.

The first real snow of the new year. Actually the first real snow of the winter. Even though winter starts officially on Dec 21 or thereabouts, here in Vermont we think winter has begun once all the leaves have left the trees.

Playing with "pieces of me " in the bathroom mirror.

Betsy feeling pretty fine by beating me.

C'est la vie, I always say!

Checking out the backyard before tackling the housework.

What a mess!

Somewhat better--at least there is a surface on which to work.

Stamp sets labeled so I can read them.

The chef! Tres bon!  Bonne?

A New Year Brings a New Project

Though I have not kept up with my writing as I promise myself I would I did finish my Picture of the Day Project for 2011. The last of the pictures have been ordered and I'm sort of in the process of straightening up my scrapbooking room enough to actually get them in an album.  On January 1st I embarked on the same project for 2012. This time I signed up for a class at Studio Calico and am using Shuttercal.com as well as Facebook to save the pictures and journal at the same time. I'm loving the class--it is amazing how similar the objects we photograph out of our lives, no matter our age, occupation or location. The feedback is fun and the comments are so encouraging and inspirational. Of course, this means I spend even more time on the computer,which really isn't a good thing. As one can see--I have not yet read a book and a week of the new year is almost gone.

Well, I'm going to try to post my pictures here,too and hope there might be some comments from my followers. I am planning on getting back to my writing, too and my reading and my traveling and my cooking and and and.....

New Year's dinner

Bill and Misty reading directions for metal detector

Somebody's New Year's resolution

The end of the New Year's ham

Looking over pix from 2011 POD

Kings' Day, Twelfth Night, Little Christmas, The Epiphany

One of my goals is to take more " me " pix this year. The photographer is always missing and with the use of a timer that shouldn't happen. But it is hard to think of oneself as a worthy subject to save for remembrance. I'm going to be more aware of that .

Reading Challenge--I made it harder and got a B- !

Well, here it is the end of the 52 weeks. I'd set a goal of a book a week and exceeded that by August. Foolishly, with less than six months left I doubled my original goal. Now, I finish the year having read 83 books--80% of my goal. Well, in grade terms that is a solid B--well a B-,  and I will have to work harder in 2012 to achieve an A. Or, I could, as so many do in education to improve scores, lower my expectations. Say, maybe 75 books in the year. But, never having been a subscriber to that manipulation, no I shall challenge myself once more to 104 books in 2012.

PS--Oh,no, I only completed 79%  That is a C+ !!!!! Awful!

What a Difference a Day Makes

One Tuesday, December 13, our daughter got a call at work telling her that a former roommate in Montana had dropped dead while snowboarding in Colorado the day before. 25 years old and his heart just stopped. She was devastated and called us crying heart wrenchingly.

We never met this boy but he was one of the first people she met when she started Freshman year at MSU in Bozeman. Within the first few weeks of school she emailed me pix of new friends and scenes. One was of her dancing and laughing hysterically with a husky blond boy with impossibly beautiful blue eyes. I wrote back and among my comments was how much I loved them. When we talked several days later she said he'd laughed when she told him since they were contact lenses.

By the end of Sophomore year she decided to move off campus and join him in the apartment he'd rented at the start of the year. She left her things there and came home for the summer but several times he called to chat and when she wasn't here he was happy to chat with me. He loved to cook, steaks in particular, so at Christmas I sent him some Elijah Craig marinade and basting sauce. He loved it. When she was getting her first cell phone he assured me that working at Verizon he would make sure she got a good and not horribly expensive plan. There was absolutely no romantic involvement between them but they were really close friends. Sometime during that year, another girl and her boyfriend moved in with them to further reduce the rent and expenses. The boyfriend was unemployed and non-contributing so eventually he was invited to leave. And then many months later some disagreement erupted among the remaining three and our daughter and the other girl departed to a new apartment and the friendship was ended.

She never shared with us what had happened only that she was never speaking to him again. I was sad because we were going to visit Bozeman and I'd hoped to meet him at last. Considering the rift and the fact that he was her friend, after all, we didn't press to meet him. Especially, not knowing the circumstances, the meeting may have been uncomfortable for him.  But friendships come and friendships go and it is part of life that some friends are lifelong and others are transitory, no matter how strong they may have once been.

Several years past, graduation came and went and she returned to Vermont for a year. Then she returned to Montana and they ran into each other and at least resumed speaking though the friendship never regained its former strength. At least the air was cleared and they were happy to see each other when their paths crossed. We never had contact with him again but were glad that such a happy go lucky guy had been returned to her circle, if only peripherally.  She returned once more to Vermont in October and this was the first she'd heard of him since then. His heart stopped while snowboarding in Colorado!  What a tragic end to such a young man. Even her parents grieve for the loss of one so young. At this time of year.

Thinking of his plans to go home to Montana, the gifts he may have bought for his family, those for him. All the holiday excitement and anticipation of family gathering. It is beyond the imagination. The devastation at a time meant to be joyful and happy. How sad for all concerned.

And then on Wednesday, Dec 14 and again today two articles in our paper about another 24 year old young man snowboarding in Colorado. He was making his runs at the same time our girl was receiving the bad news. Was he on the same slopes less than 24 hours later? Kevin Pierce, a boy from our area, returning to the snowboarding world two years almost to the day of having suffered a severe brain injury preparing for the Winter Olympics.  How bittersweet in light of our news.  How we wish our friend could have been there watching Kevin regain some of his ability. But then, maybe he was.

Christmas Cards and Other Correspondence

I'm pacing myself this season and may not have everything done by the big day. After almost 50 years of having my own home and, therefore, decorating, shopping, wrapping, getting dinner ready and writing cards pretty much single-handed, I've passed some of the chores on to the daughter and others I've scaled back. A LOT.  One  thing I've always enjoyed is sending and receiving beautiful Christmas cards.

I grew up in a family where birthdays were always remembered with a lovely card, almost always Hallmark, and definitely specific: To my Mom, For a Special Daughter, To the Best Sister Ever, etc, etc. I've continued that within my own small circle of three and to my one Aunt remaining of seven and my Sister. I had extended it to the in-laws but, except for one, it isn't anything they have the time or inclination to do.

But I digress. Today, I was home alone for much of the day. The daughter and husband having gone to do their shopping for me. So, I decided it was perfect time to do my favorite thing. I got out the special Snowman box in which I keep my cards, return labels and lists of what cards I sent to whom last year. I hate repeating them since I have a selection of beauties and I like to vary them. I write just a one line personal greeting and our name and off they go.

Cards go to relatives: the aforementioned Aunt and Sister and their children, one sister-in-law and her husband ( the other two and the brother-in-law don't send cards ), cousins on both sides of the family. One cousin beats me to it every year--she writes the cards on Thanksgiving Day and mails them on Friday. We've laughed about it for years--I've told her she will ALWAYS beat me--I like to write when I'm in more of the Christmas spirit. With hot chocolate and Bing Crosby crooning by my side.

Next come the friends: Some have been in my life for 40 years or more, others are more recent and a few are former students who have now grown up, started families of their own and call me by my first name, now. I use my address book to make sure I have all the kids names right ( I put their names in the space reserved for email addresses! ) and that I'm using the most current address. There is always a pang of sadness as I move from one letter to the next---the relatives and friends who are no longer with us and won't be sending a card this year. That list gets longer each year but the list of new friends and acquaintances also grows, though not at the same pace or number.

Today, though I knew last year that I needed more cards, I ran out at the G's. Darn! Like my Mom before me, I always buy Christmas cards in January, when they are half price. Buy them now and pay full price?? Well, yes, because I love to send cards and love to send beautiful ones. So off to the web. Neither the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, nor the Metropolitan in New York City had yet lowered their prices. Too many procrastinators out there--so they know these cards are still going to sell. Besides, there are always dummies who forgot to buy them cheaper last January,too, and they will run out. Well, I think not.

 So off I went to the Lang site. Ah, look---some cards already half price and 40% off the whole order besides!! Fill up that shopping cart, girl and so I did. Buying cards is almost as much fun as sending cards. Oh, the selections!! Snowmen galore, Santas of every shape and size from Woodland Santa to Peppermint Candy Santa, Country Scenes from Barnyard to Bringing Home the Tree, Snowy Driveways leading to Log Cabins, White Clapboards, Elegant Bricks, Angels, Nativities, Poinsettias, Kitties, Puppies, Candles, Churches, large and small!!!!  You go, Girl!  Fill up that Cart!!! And so I did. But then reason prevailed. Just how many more years will I be around to send Christmas cards?  And what about that deminishing recipient list? So, back to the cart and culling. Out went those that I really, really liked But Did NOT Love. Then on to checkout and payment. And waiting. Hopefully, they'll get here in time for me to mail the rest before the actual day.

After that flurry of excitement I found that Bing had finished and my hot chocolate was gone. With time on my hands I found myself thinking about Christmas cards and letter writing. Before the days of " free " long distance calling and email my family, friends and I were prolific letter writers.  Stationery was an important purchase and it was always selected so carefully. The color, the embossing or border, the weight and feel. There was always a box of white or beige linen texture for business letters.  I loved setting time aside to get out my stationery and sit down to write a long newsy letter to someone. My hand was usually cramped up but it felt so great to correspond.

Then the anticipation of the response would carry one through the next week or two. If the wait was any longer, patience would start to fray but oh, the joy of finding an envelope with the return address of someone dear. Sometimes, frenzied, the flap would be torn raggedly to get to the news immediately. Other times, the letter would be placed tantalizingly on the table or in one's purse ( does anyone carry them anymore??) to be read when there was time to leisurely peruse it. And then, as they say, the ball was in your court.

I wasn't always a prompt responder--though frequently I'd put pen to paper immediately upon finishing. Many times, though, my response began with a heartfelt apology for being so long in answering.

I wish I had some of the correspondence now, especially the letters I exchanged with my Mother. I have only one and it is a single page saying not very much. There were none of mine amongst her things. She knew she was dying of cancer and so she destroyed letters and pictures since she didn't think anyone else would want them. She chose to throw them away herself. I wish she'd told me--I would have loved to have them.

When I look at the sole note from her and see her familiar handwriting, it brings her back to my mind's eye and as I read her words I hear her voice in my head. There is a book about things that have been used as bookmarks and some of the things are letters. What a clever use for a special note. It would be so nice to have some of mine to show my daughter.


She has only written me, perhaps, three or four letters so far. She calls frequently and we used to IM when she was away in school. I wrote letters to her but she never answered them in writing. Friends email now all the time but never are there letters. Some friends don't send Christmas cards at all. For awhile I continued sending to them but somehow the lack of response in kind made it less enjoyable. A let down, if you will,like calling someone with the excitement of speaking to them and getting no answer, or worse, a generic machine message asking for your number and name. If I don't just hang up, I just say, hi, thought I'd chat for a bit and then hang up. Sometimes, if they aren't too busy, they call back. More often I get an email. Grrrr.

I can't decide what to do with the stationery in the desk drawer that is faded and dusty with age. All the cute note cards. The stationery folder that my Mom gave me, beautiful red leather, with the blotter that was my Gram's and the fountain pen. Parker, you know. Can you still get INK for that? Oh, well, at least at Christmas the excitement of a personal letter in the box returns. Sometimes it requires me to respond and sometimes it is a response. Either way, I love it.

The beautiful card, the handwriting, the gorgeous stamp and the feel of the envelope. And I imagine the sender sitting and writing just to me and my family and I am happy and thankful for that moment in time.