Winter Peace

I do know my blog still exists, but an update is beyond me at this point. Today, I wrote to a friend and will just quote myself here in lieu of a real post.

"We loved getting snowed in for a couple of weeks before Christmas. With family in walking distance, we staved off cabin fever and pooled our pantries for meals. It was a blessed time of rest and a reminder of true things: family, quiet strength, God's gifts to us.

January has brought the beautiful experience of being present with my dad as his mom went home to heaven and an extra portion of patience as I heal from a shoulder injury. If I sound like I'm sugar-coating these events, I'm not...but only by God's grace have I been able to accept them as true gifts. Though I'm getting a cold today and I want to stomp my foot and refuse.

I've also been experimenting with new art forms and new ways to pray. And I'm inspired by the Emily Dickinson quote, 'To live is so startling that it leaves little time for anything else.'"

And then, just for fun...
My "25 random things" list from Facebook...in case you don't go there.

1. My favorite shape is a spiral

2. I hate rogue spray nozzles in my shower head and scrape at them until they behave

3. I'm fascinated. About everything

4. I carry emergency tea the way some women carry lipstick

5. and a book...because you never know

6. and a pen/paper...same reason

7. I hate water on my face (see #2)

8. My glass is half full; can I share some with you?

9. Boot-cut pants!

10. I feel anxious about forgetting breath-taking poetry and delight in finding it in used book stores

11. I have been mocked for my favorite color...white

12. I bake something for breakfast almost every morning (on a mission to prove that woman may just be able to live on bread alone)

13. I ogle old women with long hair in hopes of figuring out how to be one of the elegant ones

14. I'm less than 9 months older than my brother

15. I think lamps, shoes and replacement razor blades are overpriced

16. I love to wield a broom and hate the noise of a vacuum cleaner, but my house has wall-to-wall carpeting

17. I have a glass dip pen for fancies, but keep a box of black uniball micro points on hand at all times for everyday--they're know 'round these here parts as "trusty pens"

18. If I hadn't gotten contacts when I was 8, I would have gone blind by my teens

19. I own a pair of blue suede shoes (not overpriced)

20. I smile back at characters on TV

21. I love linen with crisp edges (but I hate setting up the ironing board. Not ironing, just setting up the board)

22. My favorite scents are citrus and apple, lavender gives me a headache and vanilla makes me hungry

23. I wear my great-aunt's black leather gloves in the winter to think of her

24. Fall is my reward for making it through hot summer days

25. I want to live on a small sailboat and in a large intentional community, though not at the same time


I hope you're finding peace in the winter stillness.