Can spring be far behind?

“O, wind, if winter comes, can spring be far behind?” ~ Percy Bysshe Shelley

Yes, we have had quite a winter here in the northeast USA.  I’ve decided to go into my archives and pull out a few spring flower pics to remind us that

spring is on its way.

Eating dessert first...

"Seize the moment. 

Remember all those women on the 'Titanic' who waved off the dessert cart." 

~ Erma Bombeck

I should have been emptying the dishwasher or folding the laundry.  Instead, this morning I decided to mess with my camera.  It was just one of those things.

I happened to go into the living room because that is where the light is best in this house.  While I was snapping a few odds and ends, I spied some tissue paper that I haven’t put away yet from Christmas (I know, I know….another chore I should have done…) and decided to play with it.  I like what I came up with.  What do you think?  You know, the dishes will eventually get into the cupboard and I will have to fold the laundry or start wearing dirty underwear, but who knows when I will have the opportunity to play with tissue paper and my camera again.

Winter Stories

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

I find the patterns of winter alluring, the way the ice forms stalactites along the gutters, the way frost cleaves to the old windows, the way the snow ends up in graceful mounds on the earth.   Those are stories in themselves. 

Melting the snaws of age....

I know his birthday is January 25, but we are going to a Burn’s Night Supper tomorrow night to celebrate the bard’s birthday...weather permitting.  Of course, everyone knows about Robert Burns.  He’s the Scottish poet who lived in the 1700s and is best know for his poem  

Auld Lang Syne. 

The Burn’s Night Supper is a grand way to celebrate.  Our friends who organize it here even have a haggis flown in.  So it’s from New Jersey not Scotland.  Who cares?  It will still be “warm-reekin’, rich.”   Let me assure you, the whiskey is the real thing and it flows and poetry of all sorts is spouted.  Whether or not one is a fan of Burn’s poetry, a Burn’s Supper is a bit of warmth to “melt the snaws of Age.”

Greg and I had a wonderful opportunity to spend two weeks in Scotland last year.  We saw natural beauty beyond imagination and took quite a few “cups of kindness” with new-found friends.  So here’s to Robbie Burns and Scotland

for auld lang syne!

“Then catch the moments as they fly,
And use them as ye ought, man:
Believe me, happiness is shy,

And comes not aye when sought, man.”

The Royal Mile, Edinburgh

Sunset in Oban

Boats on the Isle of Mull

The Rugged Skye Landscape

For Auld Lang Syne

Using the whole box of crayons....

Today is the kind of winter day that makes people hate winter.  It’s grey and overcast, damp and cold but not crisp.  I can certainly see why people would get sick of this kind of weather. 

Personally, I like winter…or at least I don’t mind it.  The cooler weather energizes me whereas heat and humidity just slows me down and makes me feel like I have to push my way through the atmosphere.  But, on a grey day like this, I understand the need for color. 

I’ve been messing with some photos I took on St. John USVI last year for my sister Judy.  The vibrant colors do make me wish for a little spring or summer,

I must admit. 

RuPaul said, “Life is about using the whole box of crayons.”  I agree.  But today messing with these photos, I want to put my winter crayons down and dive into some summer colors.

Ahhhh.....

Looking down at Trunk Bay

In a fog...

It’s a beautiful, sunny winter day here but I woke up in a fog.  Sometimes I have days like that, as I suppose everyone does, when things just don’t seem to penetrate to the core of the brain.  Somewhere around 2 or 3 o’clock, I will finally snap out of it…probably it just takes longer some days for the caffeine to set to work. 

So I guess it might be appropriate for me today to post some photos of fog and mist.  Maybe that will help clear the cobwebs from my brain.

The Hang of Thursday...

“It must be Thursday.  I could never get the hang of Thursdays."

~Douglas Adams

It’s Thursday, indeed, and we have survived the big Nor’easter that came through yesterday with no problem.  Today came up sunny, calm and beautiful…  Most importantly, it came up sunny.  So, since I, much like Douglas Adams, have never quite gotten the hang of Thursdays, I just spent a little while playing with the sun.  Here’s what I came up with.

Activating my happiness gland...

“I'm not a doctor and I don't know the technical terminology, but I do know that sunshine activates our happiness glands.”  

~Jessi Lane Adams

The sun shines a lot in New England in the wintertime which makes it particularly beautiful after a snowfall.  I managed to get out after the last snowfall to take some pics on a gorgeous sunny day.  We are expecting a full day of snow tomorrow.  I’m looking forward to getting a sunny day after that.

It will activate my happiness gland.

"Shhhhh….can you hear them?"

“The trees are whispering to me, reminding me of my roots, and my reach... shhhhhh... can you hear them?  Selflessly sharing their subtle song.” 

~Jeb Dickerson

On our walk today, Olive and I stopped to admire one of the birch trees that stands near Walker Pond.  Well, I stopped and because her leash attaches her to me, she stopped too. 

I love stopping and touching birches.  They have such a wonderful chalky texture.  Olive probably thinks I’m a nut or some kind of tree hugger or something but now and then I just have to do it.  I have to stop and closely contemplate a birch tree.  I am not sure if there is a more beautiful natural thing on earth. 

 

…In Bed

Last night Greg, Evan and I went out for dinner at Dynasty, our favorite Chinese restaurant in Southbridge.  Before we got there I decided I would challenge myself and use whatever fortune I got as a theme for this blog today.

 

 Well, here’s my fortune: 

You are a practical person with your feet on the ground.

 Brother!  See I was expecting something like “You will live long and prosper” or “You never know the weight of water till the well is dry” or even “Plan for many pleasures ahead.”  But instead, I am a practical person with my feet on the ground.  Oh, well…

But actually, that works pretty well for me because I like to walk my dog with my feet on the ground and being a practical person, when I walk her I take my camera along just in case there is something I don’t want to miss.  So it makes sense to post pictures I took while walking pug Olive.