A week of waiting

 ¹In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. ²(This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) ³And everyone went to his own town to register. Luke 2:1-3

Christmas has most certainly been white. The frost on the trees has made the landscape look like a greeting card. At 12:47 p.m., in the Northern Hemisphere, winter solstice occurs. That makes today the shortest day of the year. After Christmas the days will lengthen noticeably.

We had Christmas at my mom's yesterday - so the celebration has begun. But today, we are thinking of traveling towards Bethlehem. The days of December move so quickly towards Christmas, it's becoming more and more difficult to observe the changes in the daylight, the changes in people, and the real reason for the season. It is my friends, a message of peace. And, in these days of worry and work, isn't that the ultimate gift?

Christmas has changed for my family. We are more spread out. There are more people to consider and places to go each year - so much so that we must begin our days of family feasts a week in advance. But it's okay. It's just a day on the calendar.

But Bethlehem, my friends, is not a passing holiday. It is a real place and today we begin our walk on the darkest day of the year to the light.

It's finally here

Spring has finally arrived. The pasque are popping up all over the cow pastures near our house. They are deep purple by comparison this year. I attribute that to the additional moisture on the hillside. Perhaps, it was the cow dung. Pasque flowers are said to grow well were cows have trod. I hung the laundry outdoors on Sunday. There is nothing in the world that gives me greater joy than fighting with the prairie winds as they attempt to lift the sheets high into the air, beyond my reach. Folded into the flapping yards of flannel makes me giggle. JC helped me redo the clothes pin bag. I sewed a bright green and red thrift store find into a new bag. He had to help me get the contraption together in the right order so it hung open. That's why I am not an engineer... I guess.

This morning, my washcloth, my towel - they smelled of wind and sunshine. Wonderful.

Skiing at Big Sky video by JC

Now remember, JC is new at this... so let us know if you think he has a career in Hollywood....lol.

11 - 11 today

That's correct. It was 11 degrees below zero today, the 11th day of March. Holy cow.
Hard to believe that spring is coming with all the snow and blowing cold. Last night we had a mouse under our bedroom floor. Some cat, our Johnny Walker Black. He just laid there and did nothing and the mouse kept scratching away. Finally, I woke JC and he went downstairs to see what he could do. It either ran away or I fell asleep and didn't hear it again. We are going to have to wait and see what kind of damage the animals did to our newly planted trees underneath those great big drifts of snow. It's time to take some more photos because the drifts are gorgeous. Just thinking I'll wait a day or two. I heard it's supposed to be in the 40's.

Saving children's stuff

My art project is all about children. So, I dug into some boxes in my basement, ok - semi basement. In the years and years of saved cards and letters are some packages of thank you notes from children. In my former life as a weaver, I visited my own children's classrooms and spoke about my weaving. Sometimes, they walked over to my house in Mandan and toured the studio in my real basement.

Among the packs of notes was a pile of happy birthday cards. They are so cute with handwritten notes, misspelled words and of course, crayon colored pictures.

While I had saved really special things over the years for each of my children, I'm thinking about using these notes and letters on penmanship paper for the basis of my child. It is titled Sunday's Child.

I will explain more about that one later.

I also came across this piece of artwork done by my daughter...

thought I'd share on this snowy, Friday morning. It's beautiful outside, but we didn't really need another Alberta Clipper slipping through here. After all it is almost the end of February.

Have a great day.