Posts by Liz

For Christmas night

David Archuleta sings Mannheim Steamroller’s “Up above the Northern Lights”

This year is the first I heard this song which has become a favorite…the melody, the words, the images it brings to mind.

Up above the northern lights on Christmas night.
Shimmering above the clouds dreams take flight.

Legends say that spirits dance across the sky,
children sing and sleigh bells ring reindeer fly.

Magic fills the air, spirits everywhere.
This is Christmas night, let your dreams take flight.

Up above the northern lights on Christmas night.
Traveling through space and time endless light.

You and I beneath the sky behold the light
quietly the mystery fills the night.

Magic fills the air, spirits everywhere.
This is Christmas night, let your dreams take flight.

Up above the northern lights on Christmas night.
Shimmering above the clouds dreams take flight.

the day before Christmas Eve day

The stockings are hung by the chimney with care :)!

The Christmas table is festive and bright.

It is the day before Christmas Eve day and even though there will be no presents to be opened, there is that excitement of anticipation….remembered childhood Christmases, shared times with family and the new traditions that I started and have kept for myself.

I have spent more Christmases with my dog and cat than with other people in the last years and it has always been a time filled with Joy.

This year has been even more relaxed than usual…I’m still taking it easy and trying to shake the last of this bug. But…the good news is that the bug MADE me take it easy and so I have enjoyed a time of ease that I might not have had I felt better. I’ve spent most afternoons lazing in bed watching a movie or tv show with Bob snuggled next to me. I’ve spent hours bundled up on the front porch or in my chair while Bear explores the woods or just sits quietly near me.

I’ve done a bit of baking, a bit of work, a bit of bookkeeping and a lot of resting. It has been a wonderful week shared with Bear and Bob….remembering Karl, Zack and Gus…but happy memories of outside times with each of them.

And then today, some very special Christmas visitors…

The Elk herd! …if you look carefully, you will see them among the trees.

Feasting on moss and grass in the woods.

A very special day before Christmas Eve Day at the end of a very special week before Christmas.

And then the evening

It has been one of those days…beautiful start to finish. The snow, the light, the sky, the color…spectacular!

As afternoon gave way to evening, I could not stand to stay inside. I bundled up and shuffled through the woods following Bear and looking at snow on weeds and branches and tree trunks…as the sky and mountains turned pink with alpenglo.

A little bit of Winter

This morning…

A fire is crackling in the woodstove, I’m alternating between working and baking cookies. Bear and Bob are napping. And it looks a bit more like Christmas out the windows.

It did occur to me after writing yesterday’s post that I should maybe be careful what I wished for. As much as I love it to look and feel like Winter, I’m not quite up for all that is involved in clearing a LOT of snow… But this, this is good :)!

Bah Humbug Mother Nature!!

The winter banner above…that is a photo from January 3, 2009…nearly 3 years ago.

Unfortunately, it does NOT look like that today!

There was not much snow when I arrived home. What little there was melted. A day of flurries produced a scant inch of snow and most of that is gone…

And not much promising on the horizon… what gives, Mother Nature???

The good news is that with the warm temperatures and given my not quite 100% state of health…I was able to have Kim’s RV Detailing give Wild Thing a good rinse off. Additionally, WT is full of gas and propane, has been unloaded and winterized: clean and buttoned down awaiting need or adventure. For those who were not here or do not remember…the first winter in this house, I had a chimney fire (I neglected to have the chimney swept after I bought the house…a task that has NOT been forgotten since!). Thinking the house was about to go up in flames, I sat with Karl and Bob in a cold motorhome and contemplated whether I had made the correct choices for my homeowner’s insurance … whether I would have enough money for things like dish towells was my worry…seriously!! – as well as why I hadn’t thought to keep my “spare house” full of propane so I could run it’s furnace…. So, WT stays full of propane for heat and gas for the generator :)! AND, my insurance coverage will allow me to obtain an adequate supply of dish towells should the worst happen.

Meanwhile we pray for snow…

But nothing stops Bear! He is mostly always on the move looking for squirrels or deer or other invading varmints.

Bring it Mother Nature – we are ready!