The New Year

What a perfect early January day. It’s snowing. Softly – mixture of big sloppy wet flakes and tiny droplets more rain than snow – very gray – but somehow the starkness of the day makes it perfect.  And tomorrow is Sunday so no worries if we’re snowed in. The Christmas tree is down and everything packed away until the end of the year, leaving open space to spread out and breathe. A pile of books sits on the table waiting to take me to literary feasts and I’m eager to indulge! Wood is neatly stacked by the hearth for later when night falls and is gently lit by only the whiteness of the snow. Hot chocolate spiked with a little crème de cacao to take the chill off…. What a perfect January day.

Christmas 2013

“May you have the gladness of Christmas which is hope; the spirit of Christmas which is peace; the heart of Christmas which is love…” Ada Hendricks.  How peaceful and beautiful our town looks with the wreaths decked in bows adding the signature red/green colors and tiny white lights of Christmas and hung on lampposts that held flowering baskets all summer.

I recently read a letter by an atheist who said he thought the lights and crèches and menorahs and other religious symbols should be banned because they confused his children. Though I can appreciate his position, I would find it sad to want a world so sterile and devoid of any tradition and celebration.  Wouldn’t this be a great way to teach tolerance to your child, that the objects of tradition whether religious or purely for fun, are different from what you do or do not believe – not wrong but different? And different is okay, different should be welcome because it’s what makes our world interesting!

I am not offended when someone says Happy Hanukah to me, or Happy Kwanza or Happy Ramadan, because they would be sharing with me the joy they feel celebrating their family holiday! Joy in any form is a beautiful and rare gift to share and wouldn’t it be nice to have a universal month of joy, light, peace and celebration where all faiths and all traditions are respected?

John Lennon together with Yoko Ono co-wrote the song Imagine with lyrics encouraging us to imagine a world at peace without the impediments of religions and nationalities. With subtle suggestions that we should be living a life unattached to material possessions, one wonders if such a utopia could exist? I myself could not forfeit my attachment to certain possessions but I like the song and I like the ideal behind it.

However, as I make my way through town picking up gifts here and there for loved ones, I don’t feel materialistic, I feel happiness at sharing what I hope will be the perfect gift for the perfect person, and Darien’s shops have a plethora of ideas for anyone on every list. I don’t even have to leave town to shop and I don’t have to go online though I admit a secret obsession with surfing through those sites and seeing what deals they have…

So as I start to wrap, decorate the tree, try to put up outdoor lights, I’ll end my story today with the words of Clement Moore (…ere he drove out of sight) and share the joy of my religious belief “Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night…”

September

From brightest blue spills glitter of afternoon, more champagne than ever summer…” so in the words of Robert Penn Warren who surely was talking about September, the onset of Autumn begins! Those random few yellow leaves we saw scattered here and there in August are now forming small piles, a precursor to the bigger piles yet to come. Don’t you love that scratchy, rustly sound as you shuffle through the dead leaves or maybe leap childlike into a great pile of them! But for now, the energy in the cooler air and the expectancy of brilliant foliage yet to come, keeps us outdoors savoring every moment. There is something about the September light – it’s so effervescent - crisp mornings leading into warmer afternoons, though the days are shorter – all the more precious!

With the shorter days, the nocturnal critters are out earlier and now you can see the bats flitting about as dusk falls but no worries! These much maligned little creatures eat a thousand mosquitoes (and other insect pests) in one hour, so we need to encourage them! Or the very least adopt a live-and-let-live pact with them! There are 45 species of bats in the United States and fewer than half of one-percent carries the rabies virus! From my kitchen window I can see that my neighbor has a “bat house” way up high in one of the trees at the edge of his property.  I have never actually seen any bats coming and going but I like the idea of this unexpected welcome mat over there and I’ll keep watching!

It’s still not too late for a picnic supper at the beach, reveling in Indian summer – hopefully ending every impromptu dinner with toasted marshmallows… and aren’t smores good any time of the year? So, let’s take the advice of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and … sit in reverie and watch the changing color of the waves that bank upon the idle seashore of the mind…  Aren’t we lucky to live near enough the water to bask in its sounds and scents and visual repasts – so much to offer in all seasons!

And as what eventually happens, time doesn’t stand still and we get the pull to go indoors.  For those not lucky enough to be heading to New Jersey, it’s the Giants versus whoever as we step into NFL season! Who can resist! Get the chili, the chips, the beer ready and party-on whether it’s tail-gating or in the TV room – Sunday’s now revolve around the pigskin! On the town front, we’ll soon see, among other high school sports, the Blue Wave football team – practicing and playing and then the traditional Homecoming dance, bonfire and football game – check out the new electronic scoreboard! – Autumn has begun for all ages!

But if you’re still not quite ready to let summer go, what better way to say your goodbyes till next year than celebrating 64 year old Diane Nyad’s amazing, record breaking 103 mile Havana to Miami swim without a shark cage! I am so impressed!  She says this would be her final attempt but wanted to prove "it's never too late to chase your dream," and so she did. Age is just a number, as my son tells me, so dreams should never be abandoned! Nyad pursued her dream for 35 years and 5 attempts! So, dust off your dreams and aspirations and as George Eliot said - It is never too late to be what you might have been... Happy September, enjoy the gold, touchdown!

So I finally got one of my Reader to Reader pieces accepted by Victoria Magazine! The September/October 2013 issues - topic: volunteering. The issue arrived today - made my day! Hope everyone enjoys Victoria magazine - and my contribution.  Have a great evening and a terrific last month of summer! NRN

July dog days....

July 6^th – after a great 4^th of July with my son, daughter-in-law and grandson! Good friends stopped by too – and we ate too much but who cares? It’s a birthday party for our country – celebrate! I just cooked a burger on the grill – so hot out there – only 20 minutes to complete the cooking and I feel cooked! I gave the gardens a good drink – after picking yet another bowl full of green beans –the tomatoes are the size of golf balls, one cucumber is ready to pick and about 7 more almost! Lettuce is just about done – maybe one more salad, maybe two – turnips are almost ready! Leeks beautiful – Brussel sprouts – not sprouting the little cabbages yet but the mini pumpkin plant has at least 5 mini pumpkins on it – along with those awful thorns! Real, long thorns! Ouch!

It has to be close to 100 out – it’s over 80 inside so the A/C goes on – getting rid of the humidity so it’s comfortable indoors – it’s so gloriously sunny out! Perfect sunny July day except the temps need to drop about 15 degrees. My flowers are beautiful – lilies, dahlias, cleomes, Echinacea, rudbeckia, 4 oclocks, rose campion, veronica, and pots full of annuals – geraniums, petunias, begonias, - even my banana tree which I thought I had lost is doing great – higher than the split rail fence now – and the knock out roses I rescued from the dump are rewarding me with yet another bounty of red roses – they just keep on growing!! They look wonderful on one side of the fence with the hydrangeas on the other – perfectly picturesque for July!

Lucy needs exercise but it’s too hot for me and too hot for her with that fur coat so I let her romp outdoors and then hose her down until she’s nice and wet and cool – then after a good brushing, her hair curls and dries silky soft – and she groans with pleasure as she lies on the cool wood floor inside. Can’t wait to get my porch up so I can sit outside with her and she will have a cool spot to shelter in should a sudden storm come up.

Hope all are enjoying summer – don’t complain! The gardens are thriving from the heat, humidity and random thunderstorms – never have them been more beautiful – but then, I say that every year don’t I?

There is something magical about the first snowfall – not the dustings or heavy frosts – but the first real snowfall, six inches or more! It evokes memories of igloos built into the drifts the town plows pushed into the edge of the yards and driveways; huge snowmen as high as basketball nets; my sons shoveling the sidewalks and stairs, eventually distracting themselves with snowball fights, only coming inside to change into dry clothes and head back out!

Through my kitchen window I watch the woods fill up. The woods are lovely, dark, and deep…" and may be lucky enough to see a fox or deer foraging, watching birds line up on the split rail fence, their feathery weight not leaving any impressions, just their feet leaving stick figure tracks as they flit off escaping the wind and flakes. Cardinals were my father’s favorites even though he said they were mean birds, stealing other birds’ eggs or something. I can’t remember what their guilty pleasure is, but their color is vivid as they flash through the world gone white. I watch for them and they do not disappoint.

Now my sons are grown, I can curl up with a good book and tea, until I get the "doggy guilt trip look" from Lucy. She wants to play in the snow too! Like most dogs, she loves trying to catch snowballs and "plowing" through the accumulation with her big black nose sniffing out rodents – and there! Unexpectedly, we see a mole tunneling his way from the basement to the woods, stopping halfway to pop up like a jack-in-the-box to gauge his progress and get his bearings and then back under – alas not safely! A hawk has spotted the black shadow and swoops down grabbing his dinner, then disappearing back into the woods. How do they fly with such wing span and not crash into trees and branches? It’s a startling and amazing thing to watch!

Unfortunately, through it snowed throughout the day looking serene and beautiful and filled with promise, the accumulation was not the forecasted six inches! It was just enough to give everything a white coating – and marginal shoveling! As darkness falls, the world takes on soft illumination from the white ground cover, and after building a nice fire, how awesome to note that To Have and Have Not is on TV and watch Bogey & Bacall do their thing! Snow days – adult style, the world settling as we enjoy our unexpected day off. Now I hear the fir trees soughing/Great silence and singing! This is my home. Has anyone said it better than Henrik Ibsen in Peer Gynt?