First a Clipper

Just got out of hot bath with olive oil, lying back gazing out the window full of falling snow. But this is the clipper and fortunately snow has stopped. I pulled the Subaru up behind the Prius under shelter in attempt to keep the windshield clear. Suitcase is in the car. I also put a blanket, some water and nuts - just in case. Alarm set for 3:30 am.
Mojo has taken to following me around along with Mr. Lee. They saw the suitcase yesterday and have been anxious ever since! I know they will be OK, but it is not easy to leave them. I am such a reluctant traveler, complacent in my hole in the hollow and my routine and my wonderful friends. No doubt, I need to get out or I just might atrophy!

Mercy!

Thanks to a Delta Airlines supervisor, I have changed my travel plans, leaving Thursday morning instead of Friday; avoiding the storm headed this way with snow. This will make it possible for Katy to get here without trying to drive through the snow. There is still only hypothetical forecasts, all agreeing that there will be snow, but differing on the amounts, duration and areas of heavy accumulations! Alma says that they are calling for heavy snow which will stress the power lines; I had merely heard that wind will pick up on Saturday which could also cause outages. I hope Katy is ready for the likely possibility of being snowed in, let alone without power. I hope power stays on; I keep adding to the list of things which might need attending to while in the house!  Likely to get 12 to 18 inches of snow here.

Yesterday's snow

Yesterday's hardly an inch of snow has mostly melted; but it is bitterly cold - wind chills in the single digits. I am trying hard not to totally freak about the possibility of a snow storm here on Friday. Now the local station shows flurries for Wednesday and Thursday, with snow mix on Friday. I am contemplating spending the night in an airport motel - but would maybe not be able to fly out of Roanoke on Friday. I don't want to repeat my Christmas journey. I'm a mess. I know it is all out of my control which doesn't help my anxiety at all! Bother!
I did send three poems this morning to Artemis. Now to find occupation for this monkey mind. Perhaps a puzzle. I've already done some qigong. Will bundle up more than I did to open chickens and take the dogs out. Martin Luther King day; a good meditation source.

Sunday, Sunday

Enjoyed reading in the paper that Alma brought with her last night when she came for soup and cornbread, an account of Richard, Larkin and Stefan's TAT adventure of last summer (I had followed Larkin's blog). Reminding me of my need to take on the adventure of life and dampen my anxious stay home mind. I especially liked that the article included a Larkin reminder to BRFWA (breathe, relax, feel, watch, allow!). I do tend to fall into trip mode easily once I am on the road; but I tend to rehearse and repack. Not necessarily a bad thing, planning for the TAT took much thought with such little space for baggage. Often Larkin wrote about drying out what clothes she had with her and rearranging the provisions in the morning. 
And this day I will use to find 3 poems to send to Artemis, an adventure of another sort. Perhaps something with a hollowed out center, covered with moss and lichen will present itself. 

The barkers are loud

Mojo has had a barking binge this afternoon; I fussed at him with little success. I gave in, took another walk under what has turned a dreary sky. Katrina walked with us, well, behind us with meows, up the road to the blue house. The morning walk to the river was quite nice.
Tried to finish packing for DR; the sheets take up most of the suitcase along with a tea kettle i have stuffed with my two bathing suits! Fun to imagine that I will be in the ocean in less than a week with those companions of child hands. 

snoring dogs

The eyes of my potatoes are shooting for light. I figured that I should make more of an effort to eat potatoes every day; today is delicious potato soup with shiitake mushrooms and pesto. Soup sitting well with this cold rainy day. 

My eldest son is celebrating a new job with the company which first brought him to Houston! A company which employed him in Trinidad where he met his beautiful wife in the photograph. Delighted and proud of my sons. Happy mom.

a spring shaft of warm before again freeze

Bounded up at 5 AM which I didn't realize until downstairs looking at the clock.  However the brightness of early mind has diminished and I'm ready for bed at 7!  Yesterday evening when I was driving Alma to dinner at Buffalo and More, I reached up to straighten my glasses and the temple fell off, hinge broken. I managed to tape it back to the rim, but I guess I'll be looking for some new frames in the spring. Maybe I'll go for my first pair of bifocals! I think I should wait until after cataract surgery as I think the surgery can also remedy nearsightedness. Another goody of aging.
Had fun today looking for adult presents at Meghan and Carol's Cambria Station Toy Store. And after thinking that I might have found a home for my nine chickens, I broke down and bought 2 bags of laying mash having given up any hope of Eli coming to pick them up. I am now stocked up with animal feed for a month or two. Here's a picture of the Buddha at the Blue House.

assignment at the blue house

I love Yoda perched in the crooked limbs of the contorted beech - always a treat to walk up thru the pines to the Blue House because there is fun and care and love everywhere. Found Pearl's iridescent blue soccer shorts in the bottom of a dirty clothes hamper - she requests them when I come to DR. I realized when I looked for her star blue jeans, that I had them at home.
The dead fly in the glass candle holder interrupts my thoughts; i pick up the small hurricane glass, realize that i can't just shake the fly out, put it down. Stare back at this page. Mojo walks to the door and whines, ok, i'm up. I had wanted to write about feminism, making some point which i can't recall now! Or just to moan about the failure of equal pay.

Now for Tuesday

A cold wind tumbles thru the hollow, I can hear it over NPR. The dogs and I have walked to the river, and I am weighing another venture out to get the mail. Downy woodpecker pecking at the new suet cake I just put out, flock of gold finch, khaki and brown, at the feeders and my cat sits still on the kitchen counter watching.

Monday post on Tuesday, because....

It was the abrupt news at the Friends of Planned Parenthood meeting that the B'burg clinic will close on March 31st that set me into a tizzy. I finally realized when talking with friend that what I most cared about was continuing to bring sex education to school children, raise money for indigent women who need an abortion, and insuring access to birth control. I am also concerned that chemical abortion will go with the clinic. I would like to insure access to transportation to Roanoke to those who need it. The reasons for termination were that the rent in B'burg was excessive, clients had dwindled to 50 a month and of those half were referred to Roanoke. 
It was a cold day outside also! Cold walk with doggies to the bottoms. Good news that the DR compound now has wi-fi!

a balloon and tulips

Discovered on the way home from walk to the swim hole: mylar birthday balloon on the ground above the wet weather water fall. Perhaps it is Katrina's birthday; we can celebrate no body just as well. On the logging road is a deer foreleg a coyote  may have dropped after discovering the discards of a hunter. Dogs sniffed but left - I would have thought that Mojo would have carried it home. 
I planted my 18 Queen of the Night tulips in the front yard in a spot i am hoping the moles won't tunnel which would bring the dreaded tulip eating voles. I'm also thinking that this may be a last chance to dig in the ground before it freezes. Then again who is to know what this winter will bring.
The river khaki colored with white caps. 

It's Sunday - Saturday failed to get me Here

Saturday began too early: Monty Co. Democrats reorganization caucus. Another meeting wherein I failed to find a replacement for myself, well, for my job as chair of District D. It is more challenging to find volunteers to help elect democrats than it was to find volunteers for hospice patients when i worked as volunteer director. Being with dying seems more attractive that association with political campaigns. From the looks of the Republican roster for Presidential candidate, I'd say that this must indeed be the case. People hate politics and political leaders like they hate to count money. Like they fear and loath the idea of being tarnished by the devil. 
But the day ended with good food and good company at Fran and Henry's. Democrats do enjoy food and company - I hazard that Republicans do also. But I'd rather chit-chat with fellow liberals. And I guess when I try to imagine a Republican shindig it looks like a frat party and the women are all tucked in and coifed. If I go back to my past and look at Mardi Gras culture, it might be the difference between a parade of floats and a parade of trucks. And now, the oldest and most "exclusive" crews no longer parade as they don't want to integrate their membership. It seems a consistent Republican attitude: cut off your nose to spite your face. 

40 degrees plus

I hadn't expected to see the sun or to delight in 45 degrees which after the below freezing past two days, felt like spring. The morning reluctantly spent shopping after qigong was successful - little t-shirts to bring True, dress for Pearl and cotton sheets for DR house. Home, home to wags and barks and meows and as ready for a walk as they were. Quick crackers and avocado and blue cheese and off we went to the river. Our second walk was shortly after the first, to the mailbox where we met Robin. Our phones are out; Robin was able to rouse a technician who is working on the problem. 
Now lazy on the sofa with Katrina and Mr Lee. Made a crustless quiche for dinner with blue potatoes, onions and broccoli, yogurt, eggs and cheese. One of the new people coming to qigong slipped on ice and broke her arm in two places (she was washing her car in the 30 degree weather!). From what Beth said, it sounds like she could use some homeopathic Bryonia for the pain. Bryonia (hops) can be a very useful remedy when there is pain from the least movement, a desire to protect wound from jar. A remedy useful for inflammation, where there is dryness and great thirst; irritability, desire to be left alone. 

about to miss a day

Ok, I assume inevitable; but here I am, after an evening venture into Blacksburg to Lefty's to celebrate with fellow Democrats. I'd had a hankering for calamari and it was on the menu - so I'm happy. Good to see friends on a cold evening, warms the spirit. Did manage two walks with my pals of four legs in spite of the cold (today was warmer than yesterday). And I've a new puzzle which distracts me terribly. 
I have some pictures which i need to send from the phone. Tomorrow qigong and shopping for things to bring to Dominican Republic. 

Light

Silver, beaten into dimpled plate, the river from the logging road looked; golden my son's house and trees behind from my road; the sycamore string of trees on the narrow island, copper blue - all the foil of light. 

Snow Flurries and movie

I almost turned around three times this morning as the snow flurries thickened and began to stick. First in Christiansburg I pulled into a parking lot and called Susan, deciding to at least go to her house. At her house I decided to take her to the Lyric and maybe stay or maybe go! Found a good parking space and decided to go to the movie, "Room." After the movie almost went home instead of staying for lunch, but there was no snow on the roads and clouds were loosening their hold on the sky. Good time with friends and the movie was well acted if not an ordeal for the emotions.
Gourmet dinner I made with pan saluted blue potatoes and onions and the oyster mushrooms I found this weekend. Coldest night of this winter tonight.

Trying to amuse myself here

Ah, another day to scratch the page and attempt a conversation with no one in particular, but certainly a familiar who might connect with the "tranche da vie" that occurs here.  Dog on my right, cat on my left, sitting on this red sofa with clean hair and body, I suspect I may have a challenge to keep me here when I have become accustomed to movement and to less contemplation.
It is strange being 70; I don't really have time to dither - certainly not as I did at 25. And I have stray thoughts that amuse me, such as how to insure that I don't die in the house and rot before being  discovered. I think that i might offer a third qigong class - to insure being checked on every other day when my son and his family are living half the year in Dominican Republic! More often my thoughts concern what I will cook for dinner - or when to walk with the dogs or weather or not to sort through clothes for MCEP. Of late, I entertain an internal debate between starting a new puzzle or not.
All this drivel while Ethiopia begins to starve and Syrians seek refugee camps.

2nd Day

We've fallen into cooler weather, but the walk was vigorous and warming; watercress delicious at the spring before the swim hole.  Dogs and I walked to get mail as the sun was leaving the hollow but still blazing gold at the blue house. Distracted by a puzzle I had left out for Alma when I was gone; but she really didn't get into it and now I have nearly completed it. I've other things I think I'd rather do, read - write - or paint. Or if uninspired, I could sort books and clothes for donations, New Year's resolutions running over from last year.  

Still bemused by a discussion the other day with person who once took qigong class; feeling like what was said could very well be more a reflection of person's own inner issues. After  five years I love the way the class changes as different people come. I want it to reflect a changing community of people who come together to do qigong and sometimes talk, exchange books, share vegetables. The other day someone brought their 6 yr old. The class changed and I focused on the 6 year old - explaining wild goose forms to him.  It is a free class. We stand in a circle. A few folks have come who wanted music and no talk; we tried that, it wasn't for us. We do have silence. But we do greet each other. We share.

First Day 2016

Winter in my green house: colors of the geraniums like bougainvillea I imagine in Dominican Republic, connecting me to tropics, to the house builders there

who sit in my heart as do Fia and her people

as do friends and relations

and all that is visible

and invisible!