Christmas cookies

Today is the winter solstice, and so I decided to spend a few hours reading Rosamunde Pilcher's Winter Solstice.  The wood stove is lit, the front room is toasty warm, and there are ice cubes in my glass of wine.  The dog is restless as we did not go for a walk after work, so she gets up periodically to bark at the reflections the lamps are making in the windows. 

A vehicle pulled up in the driveway and I kept reading thinking it was our neighbor who lets herself in without knocking on the door.  Instead, there was a knock on the door.   The dog barked, so I got up to see who was bothering my quiet evening.

A young man and a small boy stood at the bottom of the steps.  He introduced himself as Greg W.... and his son Seth.  They are our neighbors who live two miles down the road and 3/4 mile north.  He expressed remorse for not stopping by earlier to introduce himself as he handed me a beautiful tray of Christmas cookies.  We had a nice short visit and I invited them inside out of the cold.  He indicated they had other trays to deliver but that we should get together in the future. 

We wished each other a Merry Christmas as they got in their big white Chevy Suburban and they drove away. 

All day long, I have been doing a very good job on my diet.  My weight loss goal established on 11/1/10 is attainable by 12/31/10, but difficult at this time of Christmas goodies at every turn.   All day long, I have turned away the cupcakes, cobblers, and high calorie free lunch until this beautiful tray of handmade goodies showed up at my door.

I'm sure that Christmas love has deleted all of the calories in the chocolate dipped fudge balls, and the white almond bark coated crackers with peanut butter between.  I'm even more sure there are very few calories in the rolled out sugar cookies with blue sparkles and the chocolate coated mint graham crackers.  Even if there are a thousand calories, the tray brought back memories of the many years I used to bake endless batches of cookies and distribute trays to our friends and neighbors. 

Calories don't count tonight.  My heart is glad with holiday giving.

Peace for Christmas

This year, I'm trying something new for Christmas. I know, Christmas is all about traditions, but it seems to be a good year to try something out of the box and get out of my comfort zone.

Traditionally, Ken and I go to our river property to select the best possible red cedar tree to decorate for Christmas. Grandma and Grandpa used to decorate red cedar trees and the smell brings back memories of Grandpa’s chewing gum and favorite dollies from Santa. Red cedar trees are considered weeds and are typically cut out of pastures. They are prickly and have meager limbs. It is challenging to find a tree that is nicely shaped and has enough branches to support decorations.

Since Ken isn't much of a tree person, I end up decorating by myself and have to listen to whatever football game or NCIS episode happens to be on the television instead of listening to Christmas music. I also end up enjoying the tree by myself, since he doesn't think that sitting in front of my glowing cedar "bush", is entertaining. The more I decorate, the more he detaches. As I considered Ken’s dislike, the freshly steam cleaned carpet and the work required to cut, decorate, water daily, keep the cats and dog out, and undecorate seemed to require more effort than I could summon. So, there is no tree nor holiday bling in our front room.

When I got home late from work tonight, supper was ready in the crock pot and Ken was out hunting. I made a cup of tea, lit a fire in the wood stove, and sat on the couch. Maybelline, the youngest of our cats, purred on my lap. It was peaceful. It was warm and relaxing. I read my entire Better Homes & Garden magazine. It was a silent night, a holy night. .

From the quietness of my evening, I wish you peace.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is an amazing day. Today started with such vision, such a to-do list, so much excitement for the day ahead. This excitement has been building for weeks. I knew that we were going to host Thanksgiving dinner for our family in September and so I knew there were things I wanted to get done before everyone arrived - steam clean the carpet, wash the windows, etc. As November approached, I started getting things done and the lists started getting longer. There were many details to be done, yet there needed to be a great deal of flexibility in the plans as I wanted to make the day special for everyone, no matter what the request.

As planned, people started arriving shortly before 11:00 this morning. The turkey was cooling on the counter, the potatoes were cooked, ready to be mashed, the table set, the cranberry relish made, the butter softening for the rolls, the bar set up, the dressing in the oven. As people arrived, more food dishes arrived and the kitchen got complicated. The potatoes got mashed, the turkey got carved, the gravy got made, the food got put on the table.

As we neared the time when we could dish up our plates, it was time to say our prayer and thank God for our blessings. I had planned this part during my walk this morning, but I was so excited and things had gone so well, that I felt the need to stand in our kitchen, hand in hand with our family, and thank God for his gift of family and our many blessings. The prayer I offered wasn't exquisite, and it wasn't wordy, and I felt like so much more needed to be said, but my husband saved me by saying Amen, and we started to dish up our food.

The food was amazing. There was a more than a family of 10 could eat, but we ate well, and we had a good meal together. We had three kinds of pies for dessert, so after we got done eating, we decided to take a break and have pie later. Everyone helped with the dishes and putting away the food. Eventually, the men broke away and went to Ken's man cave to watch football.

After the dishes were done and put away, the rest of us went to the front room to watch a Charlie Brown Thanksgiving. Unfortunately, we had recently gotten a different TV, and the DVD was not set up properly. Even the two technical people in the room decided it would take more time than we wanted to devote to this, so we sat, talked, and munched on snacks. Some break from food eh? Soon enough though, it was time for pie and coffee. It was so good, and we were so stuffed when we were done.

Again, we did dishes and cleaned up the kitchen. My Mom and Step-Dad left, my brother-in-law, niece and nephew watched football in the front room and my sisters and I sat around the kitchen table and watched my older sister learning to knit. Eventually, we had another cocktail (Jamesons from Ireland to remind us of the trip we took together this spring), as we continued to visit.

I'm not sure why all of these details are significant, but they are important to the story. They are what people do when they are close - when they are family. We cook together, we eat together, we do mundane tasks like dishes, we talk about our lives, we practice new talents, we drink and relax together.

When everyone left, it was not yet 6:00 pm. My very full heart was suddenly empty and sad as they drove away. The richness of my blessings had come, visited, shared their time, then had to go on with their lives. I too went back to the everyday activities of my life, throwing a load of laundry into the washing machine, doing another batch of dishes, and pouring myself another cocktail. But it was important to catch the essence of this feeling, to catch the importance of the day, to share the love of my family.

Thanksgiving is an amazing day. I am blessed with family that I love and who want to share their time with me. Thank you to my family for sharing your time, your love, your generosity and yourselves.

A moment in time

As Abbie and I walked on this beautiful autumn morning, we reflected on how catching a moment in time is such a marvelous thing.

A plane was doing touch and goes from the small airport a mile down the road. With the bright sun shining at a challenging angle for my camera viewer, it was difficult to view the image of the plane in the screen, so the fact that I finally caught the moving plane is a tribute to technology and a stroke of good luck.

I also tried to capture the moment in time showing Abbie in mid-stride as she catapulted down the road in front of me. Since her feet are not touching the ground, you can start to imagine how fast she runs.

Today's pictures of our glorious fall weather are posted in hopes that you will be able to enjoy the same moment in time that we enjoyed this morning. As you look at the pictures, imagine the cool breeze against your face, so cool that it brings tears to your eyes as you walk into the wind. Imagine the sounds of the soon to be harvested corn stalks rushing into each other like the leaves of the cottonwood trees next to the river, a constant whispering that is comforting like the waves of the ocean. Imagine the birds twittering in the trees as they wake and offer up their songs for the day.

I hope the fall weather in your part of the country is as glorious as it is in the midwest. I hope you are able to get out into the great outdoors and talk a walk with your dog, with your friend, or with your own company. I hope you are able to enjoy a moment in time that is yours and yours alone. A moment that is as glorious as the fall day we enjoyed today.

A New Day

So today, I woke up all crabby and mad that I haven't won the lottery yet and that I had to go to work again. The drugery of it, the stupidity of it, the people I don't like to work with, etc. etc. etc. You get the picture. I definately woke up on the wrong side of the bed.

Since we have established our habit, Abbie and I went for our walk. They have been harvesting soybeans around our house, so the fields no longer have the beautiful drying soybean plants with their colors changing daily from green to gold with the tops a nice shade of reddish purple. Now the fields lay flat, endless to the horizon. It is still beautiful, but different.

I was happy for the farmers this fall. It has been fabulous weather for harvesting - quite different from last year when it was so moist - then the snow fell and never let up until April. Being happy for them made me feel a little bit better.

I realized I need a dream - something to look forward to. It needs to be a long term plan, something I can work toward and keep my mind off of the drudgery of work. I also need to keep my mind off the fact that my 50th birthday is 6 months away - that my eye doctor says he has the perfect bi-focal set-up for me - and that the only thing I'm really looking forward to is retirement (aka not having to go to work).

So I was thinking about my writing and how I could make that a goal - a dream - maybe an income producing type of activity. I had two thoughts - one was to continue writing about our walks on County Road 15 and make it a motivational type of document. The other is to seek out others who have turned 50 and see what their journeys were like. The documentation of these stories might be helpful to others as they find their way in the same place.

Now I have a plan for a plan. I am not so crabby, but I could still use some work on my attitude. Thanks to Abbie the dog and walking, I will be more agreeable to my co-workers.

Taking yourself (less) seriously

Yesterday was stressful at work. When I got home, my husband was cutting down a tree to make way for the new DISH satellite - so Abbie and I decided to go for a walk to get her out of the way. As we walked, she started to play in the rainwater ditches on the side of the road. I walked, musing about my day until she got my attention with her shenangans. To amuse myself, I picked up a rock from the road and threw it in the water in front of Abbie. It made a nice sized splash and got her attention. So, I picked up another rock and repeated the process. This time, Abbie got spooked and jumped backwards. I started to laugh silently, and looked for another rock. We did this for 15 minutes or so, me laughing so hard I could hardly keep it quiet and Abbie trying to figure out what was splashing in the water.

I love our dog. She takes my mind off of what is absolutely not serious and makes me take myself much less seriously.

Still looking for a reason to adopt a dog? Want to find a good playmate? Check out the Humane Society in your town. Go for a walk and play with a dog. It'll do you good.

Morning walk motivation

Fall in the midwest is truly here. The colors of the soybean fields are absolutely stunning as they turn colors from dark green to gold and even a bit of lavender on the top.

As Abbie(our dog) and I walked this morning, we wanted to share our morning motivation with you. This summer, we decided to start walking in the morning before she had to go into her kennel for the day (when we leave for work).

Both of us have come to enjoy our time in nature so much that there is absolutely no excuse that will keep us from our morning walk now. Sometimes we even go for the same walk in the afternoon when I get home from work. We have done a lot of bonding and training on our walks. It is so much fun to see her puppiness as she jumps in the water puddles and stretches out her legs when she runs. You can tell when we've had a good training session which we do during the walk (come, touch, heel). She will bound down the road, tail high in the air, showing her pleasure that she did the right thing. It makes me smile - a lot.

So as we move through the beginning of fall (and contemplate winter's excuses not to walk), this is a great time to start a walking habit. Please consider contacting your local Humane Society to see if there is a puppy waiting to be your morning walk motivation. Our local Humane Society has an over supply of dogs right now - and are having an adoption sale. I wasn't a dog person before Abbie - but I have learned to love her and am so grateful that she makes our morning walk a necessary pleasure in our life.

The Good Life

This morning I was reflecting on the fact that the common things are the most interesting.

The walking shoes that I just bought this summer - but are already dirty.

My jeans from Goodwill that are a bit too long, but fit great otherwise.

The sunflowers that only recently started to bloom on the side of the road. No one intentionally planted flowers on our road, but it seems there is always something there to adorn our walk.

The fact that our dog can run like the wind and is beautiful in her actions.

My co-worker was bragging about her half million dollar home the other day. I would not give up any of the above for what she has to put up with in her home.

This morning it felt good to be grateful for the common things in our life. I hope you enjoy the images from our rural good life.

Prayer Walks

During this summer, I started walking two miles with our dog before I went to work and before she went into the kennel for the day. During those walks, I moved my daily rosary prayer from the drive to work to the walking time. It seemed more spiritual to be praying in our lovely rural setting, rather than in the Honda amidst all of the other drivers who were commuting to work for the day.

Today's walk was absolutely beautiful. The low hanging clouds formed a blue and purple ceiling in the horizon while the sun was trying to peek through those clouds in the east. The cool morning air smelled of early fall and was crisp and clean in my lungs.

Today's prayer - the Glorious Mysteries - began with the prayers for faith and hope as we meditate on the resurrection and assumption of our Lord into heaven. The blue sky provided an clear invitation to open my heart to the gifts of the holy spirit.

As I strive to utilize the gifts God has provided, I write this post and commit to writing on a more regular basis.