January is the month when I welcome silence. December is gone with all its noise. Gone are the jingle bells, carols in the stores, party music, laughter, and loud conversations in crowded rooms. Gone are the midnight shrieks and horns on New Year's Eve. Gone are the snaps and snarls of overtired, over-scheduled, short-tempered spouses and children. Here in the country January is silent. Silence is almost an impossibility in the city. One summer…
January is the month when I welcome silence.December is gone with all its noise. Gone are the jingle bells, carols in the stores, party music, laughter, and loud conversations in crowded rooms. Gone are the midnight shrieks and horns on New Year's Eve. Gone are the snaps and snarls of overtired, over-scheduled, short-tempered spouses and children.Here in the country January is silent.Silence is almost an impossibility in the city. One summer when we lived in New York there…
After yesterday's gray and stormy skies, this morning the view is of innocent blue and gentle cloud - could the prediction for another storm (!) tomorrow possibly be true? In any event, I'm making a break for it today.For other fabulous sky views check out Skywatch Friday.
Yesterday ice fell out of the sky most of the day. Today it was supposed to be quite nice with just a snow flurry or two. The word flurry suggests light and brief. I don't think this qualifies. I have been housebound (not unhappily) for days, but I do hope to make it out into the greater world tomorrow.
The 12th day of Christmas has passed, so the season is officially over, but the Christmas Cactus is at the height of her glory. That glory may not last til bloom day, and it could not pass unnoticed. I'm celebrating.
Our grandson Ryan, 11 this month, joined us at the End of the Road for some vacation. Well, we use the word loosely. There are always chores, and he is a strong young man. I needed his help. He even had to bake his own cookies. I bought the chocolate bits. We did some socializing and visited the Litchfield goats. They needed feeding. Chores everywhere.Of course there is a lot of history and culture to be enjoyed when…
As I stand on the cusp of another new year, to me it looks as blank as the snow covered fields in Heath. The deep snow covers any mess, weeds or brush, and presents me with a new blank page. Mistakes are forgotten, the page is waiting for my imagination and energy to mark it. Most of us feel the energy of possibility as we face a new year. This year, with a new…
The Commonweeder website did not exist in January 2008; I thought it would be fun to reprint this New Year’s Between the Rows column and see how I did. For a number of years now I have not been too keen on New Year’s Resolutions. This is partly because I have lived long enough to have developed what I call the Driver’s Philosophy of Life. I remember when I was learning to drive I was always concentrating on…
Love is Sweeping the Country lyrics by Ira GershwinWhy are people gayAll the night and day,Feeling as they never felt before?What is the thingThat makes them sing?Rich man, poor man, thief,Doctor lawyer, chief,Feel a feeling that they can't ignore!It plays a partIn ev'ry heart,And ev'ry hearts is shouting "Encore!"Love is sweeping the country!Waves are hugging the shore;All the sexesFrom Maine to TexasHave never known such love before.(Addional lyrics sometimes used)Spring is in the air-Each mortal loves his neighbor.Who's…
The Christmas story is filled with familiar scenes and characters, a harsh innkeeper, a stable, shepherds, wise men, angels and friendly animals keeping watch over a Babe in the manger. And, of course, the parents of that Babe. It is easy for me to imagine that those parents would have been even more anxious than any new parents. What did those angelic visitations and dreams really mean? Poor Joseph doesn’t play a big part in the telling…