Winter Sunshine

Winter Sunshine
Winter Sunshine in the Desert

Monday, December 24, 2012

Merry Christmas

DSC_0040 In spite of our slow start to the season this year, Christmas has arrived in full force and I am all the way in the mood.  Something about deep snows and bright bluebird skies does a lot toward making things seem all as they should. Mo is finally over her cold and I am over the dizzies for the most part.  I decorated the house, put up the outside lights and the snow started falling ten days ago and hasn’t  stopped since.  We get a little break now and then, but Mo has plowed every single day but one and we have been shoveling the driveway and snow-blowing the pathways every day as well.

IMG_0420Somehow the snows make me feel all is right with the world.  Climate change is real.  Call it global warming, global weirding, blame it on whatever makes you happy, (I have no idea why this science is colored by politics, but that is another story and I’ll save the arguments for elsewhere) but the real part about climate change is that things will get weird. Things are weird.  We didn’t have any snow at Rocky Point for most of December, and it just felt weird. Now, finally, on schedule, the big snows have arrived.  And somehow it makes me feel that the climate is giving me a bit of a reprieve.  Things are normal.  It is cold.  It is snowing.  I am shoveling and Mo is plowing.  It is a good thing. The weather, at least for the moment, and at least here in the West, is doing what it is supposed to be doing.

DSC_0028 I worked last week, and still managed to get presents ordered and shipped for the great grandchildren scattered around the country.  Presents for my daughters were already taken care of in Prague, gifts to kids and grandkids in the mail.  I don’t do as much as I would like to to, but as much as I can manage, and it is enough.  This week I started cooking and baking, with a few treasures that Mo and I will never be able to eat, so of course we will share with kids and neighbors.  The smell of baking makes things seem all right with the world as well.  It has been a quiet time, and a good time.

Daughter Deborah sent oranges and lemons from Texas to brighten my winter days.  Daughter number two and her husband are doing Christmas in Mazatlan this year, a last minute decision for a much needed vacation.  Son John in Missouri is enjoying his extended family there and we had a nice long conversation the other day.  Thank goodness for telephones and email with family scattered all over the country. I hope that someday I can get everyone together in one place at one time, but for now I’ll be grateful for what I have.

snow on the cabin Mo gets dozens and dozens of cards from old friends and family.  I know I have friends, I know I do.  But I think I get about 4 cards.  My friend Jeanne never lets me down and always sends an amazing photo of herself somewhere in the world. This year her photo was lovely and full of tropical flowers, even though she is now back home in Vermont.  Some of the young soil scientists I have had on my crews are now having families of their own, and I get a few lovely cards with wonderful photos of their babies and families.  I really treasure them.

that is Mo's favorite hat, knitted from baby soft angora, light as a feather and warm  The rest of my friends are just as wonderful as Mo’s friends, but they are all on the internet, hooked up to facebook, and GPlus, and Christmas cards seem to have gone the way of the handwritten letter.  I gave up this year and only sent cards to the folks who sent them to me.  Is that petty or what?!  I had an excuse.  I was dizzy. I didn’t even send out the Christmas letter.  I resort to the new standby…”want to know what I have been doing?  Go read my blog.”

the peach juice from the Sunset peaches is kind of rosy looking.  Yum.It is Christmas Eve.  Tomorrow Melody and her family will be here to spend the day eating, laughing, and sledding in all the wonderful snow.  Last year we went for a walk in the woods without a speck of snow to play in, so we are all looking forward to it.  I'll have ham, a great one from the local “real” meat store, and I made a luscious peach pie from the Sunset peaches I froze late last summer. 

  Mo has been building a big fire in the cabin to try to get the snow to slide off the roof.  Tonight we decided to “go to the cabin” for our Christmas Eve traditional clam chowder supper.  Instead of a long drive to the mountains, we just had to walk down the steps and across the driveway.  I carried our little back porch fiber optic Christmas tree and we opened a great bottle of dry Riesling to accompany our meal.  The cabin was so warm we had to leave the door open.  Turned on the radio for some Christmas music and reminisced about the past year.  It has been a good one with lots of travels and friends, and projects started and finished.  Another year gone by.  I am truly truly blessed.

Mo is still plowing, although it is getting harder for find a place to put it all

19 comments:

  1. A very Merry Christmas to both of you. What a winter wonderland you have there!!!

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  2. Merry Christmas to you both! The house looks very festive and snow is beautiful!!!
    enjoy your holiday season! Cheers!

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  3. Your house is beautiful. Merry Christmas to both of you. Have a joyous season.

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  4. Boy, u DO have alot of snow!!! Lovely pictures & sentiments. Merry Christmas to you both!!

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  5. Merry Christmas to you both, your home looks so inviting, enjoy!

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  6. Your pictures are just beautiful. They look like a storybook Christmas. I too regret the loss of the handwritten letter and Christmas cards. Everyone seems to do Facebook but me. Oh well, time marches on. Glad to hear you like the shoveling and plowing. ';-)). Happy holidays to you both!

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  7. Merry Christmas! Your home looks so beautiful with all that snow. Not that I'd like to have it here, but it is very, very pretty!

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  8. Merry Christmas to you both - wonderful photos of your home with all the snow!

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  9. Merry Christmas to you. The photos of your home with the warm lights glowing is so inviting.

    I hope your dizziness has subsided. Do you have vertigo?

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  10. Merry Christmas from Mazatlan! As you know, in losing Ruth, Keith's Mom at the end of November, one of my hardest moments was going through the cards that she saved for 90 years that she so treasured... It was her way of remembering people, touching and holding people long gone... it is a shame in our electronic world that we have lost such things - even though I am just as guilty.. when the power goes out, or the computer crashes, we will miss our paper memories

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  11. Merry Christmas to you and Mo. May you enjoy a day filled with joy and laughter and love of family. Your friends are thinking of you and sending good thoughts of love. Happy to hear you are both feeling much better. If we had more snow instead of all this rain, we'd be working as hard as you to keep the paths open. I'll happily see it all in your photos, and know that you will enjoy it with family and friends.

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  12. Merry, merry Christmas to you and Mo. Great picture of Mo on the tractor. I love the look of the snow but glad it is there and not here! Reminds me of when we had our cabin in the mountains up off Hwy. 58. We used to get snow like that. Was fun for sledding and snowmobiles. Hope you have a wonderful day.

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  13. Merry Christmas to the two of you. Love the pictures of all the snow and the Christmas lights. Thunderstorms and tornado's in our part of the world for today. Would much rather be enjoying a white Christmas.

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  14. Merry Christmas to both of you. The snow is pretty but I am not ready to live back in a snowy area again. I thought of writing a Christmas letter this year, I previously sent cards, but everything I thought to write was already in my blog. I agree with your thoughts that the changes in weather will just be wacky events happening and not a big warming as most people are thinking.

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  15. Happy Holidays to two wonderful gals. I hope we meet again. Your salmon dinner is a precious memory from this year.

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  16. Your header photo just screams Christmas; a wonderful choice for a wonderful day. I love the visual effects of snow ... but you're welcome to keep it there ;-) ... I'm happy to enjoy it from a distance. Merry Christmas!

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  17. So beautiful. Merry Christmas.

    Wishing you a Happy and Prosperous New Year full of wonderful travel and fresh adventure.

    Blessings

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  18. What a lovely post, so full of blessings and love. Thank you for sharing your Christmas with us.

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