Baby, Puppy, and alot of Snow

Just thought I'd post this picture so everyone could see how big Oliver and Ruby are getting. :)

My Helpful Blog Advisor and Remnants of Fall

I don't have nosy neighbors, but besides being one of my best friends, my next door neighbor is occasionally what I will call My Helpful Blog Advisor. :) I got a phone call from her a couple days ago just to let me know that out her kitchen window was a blog-worthy view that I really should go out and get a picture of. So here I am following her advice. (You're awesome, Steph! :)

I will call this picture "Snow?....I'm not done with my leaves!"

Yes, I did go out this weekend and rake the rest of our frozen leaves into the dormant vegetable garden. With plans to finish up the leaves in front, I left my rake leaning out against the deck. I never did get to the front yard, so my rake stood through a fairly hefty night of snow. By the time I took this picture, the snow had melted some...but the inspiration was still there.

Winter has arrived, but here are a few of my favorites scenes from fall...enjoy!

Hello!

Hello all you friendly-type readers! Thanks to Jen and Marisa for missing Thankful Thursday and making me feel loved. The kiddos and I are feeling much better. We spent last week in Wisconsin Dells enjoying some much needed family vacation time. We all had a lot of fun! I'll try to post some pictures soon.

Spring is always a good time for me to step back and evaluate, try to find some fresh focus and get priorities in line. I love this time of year, and although we've had snow for several days now (weird!), I'm anxious for the warmer weather that brings with it outdoor play and gardening! I'm also excited with the anticipation of embracing spiritual growth along with all the green growing stuff outside.

Mid-Winter I purchased two books by Gunilla Norris on seeing the sacred in the everyday, Being Home and A Mystic Garden. I savored the beautiful words in the first through the Winter, bringing them into my own moments of daily contemplation. But I happened to save the second to begin reading in Spring, thinking it would be good reading as I start my own gardening. When packing for vacation, I slipped this book in my bag with hopes of stealing myself away for a few minutes of quiet reading time on our trip. Fittingly, as I sat by the window of the house we were staying in, watching the snow fall and listening to the wind whip through the trees, I read these words about the Winter seasons of our lives:

"How full of invisible life is the garden you've been given.

At this very moment, you are in company with everything.

Trust does not need visible signs...

Everything is dormant in the cold. My spirit, too, is spilled and scattered. I seem to be at a stand still. Do I know that? Or is it that, connected to God, one somehow moves forward, even in sleep, in confusion, in turmoil, in cold? Benumbed, we may wonder if perhaps it is in quietude, in seeming deep freeze, that God enters our depth without interference?"

Yes....even in the dead of Winter, something is happening. It's in the Spring that life stirs and breaks through the surface...and we know it's been there all along. Sometimes God's work is quiet, but always, it's there.

Deep Breathes, Crisp Air, Sunshine And Good Movies

For anyone who really keeps up with what's going on in My Woods (or A Path to My Woods), sorry I missed my Thankful Thursday! Besides having sick kiddos this week, I have a lot of thoughts brewing on the back burner. I'm feeling thankful, inspired and refreshed today. I'll write more later on that.

But let me just give you a few tidbits off the top of my head. Honestly, I don't want to spend too much time here this morning. The ground is still covered with snow, but the sun has been breaking occasionally through my window, and taking a deep breathe as I retrieved the mail sent my heart racing and mind reeling for a moment...it's a bit intoxicating to the spirit, and my front porch is beckoning.

In a moment of spontaneity, I popped in one of my all time favorite movies last night, Emma , with Gwyneth Paltrow and Jeremy Northam. No matter how many times I see this movie, I am charmed. I laugh, I swoon, I feel sympathy and exasperation and even a sense of pride, cheering on the young Emma as she grows into a lady, loved faithfully by the unmatchable Mr. Knightly. I'm not a movie critic and I won't waste words comparing this adaptation with Jane Austen's lovely novel or the well-done mini-series with Kate Beckinsale. I will simply say that this is a movie for pure aesthetics.

Snow Fall

Yes, this is exactly what it looks like.... We do not have the first snow of Winter, no we have the first snow of Fall! Notice the squirrel on the fence...he's wondering where Autumn went. Me too! I spent my morning between Fall cleaning and rumaging through snow stuff in the basement looking for the kids bibs and boots, mittens and hats! Sarah has already been out building snowmen with the neighbor girls and Sophie is begging to get out in it! I love snow, but I'm not sure I will be able to accept gracefully such a brief interlude between Summer and Winter! I need Fall. I need to breathe it in and feel it crunch under my feet. I need to rake up a big pile of leaves and watch my kids roll around on the ground until their hair is full of Autumn colors. I am not ready for snow angels, snow men or snow shovels...but I guess if it comes with a steamy cup of cocoa warming little frozen fingers (even if it means water puddles in the back hallway), I can embrace it for today. (But can I have Autumn back next week?)

This Morning

This is our backyard this morning:

Spring Snow

Something that fell out of my notebook the other day...I wrote this probably last Spring (my deck-painting season) :

Thunder is rocking the morning sky threatening to break loose a billion tiny drops pelting my freshly painted decks. My first rose is in bloom--gloriously yellow with faint specs of pink crowning the edge of each petal. The rain comes. I know very few things I love better than a smoldering morning thunderstorm. Everything seems to come back alive on mornings like this--even the hushed rhythm of pattering droplets have life. And the thunder sounds sometimes like drums, sometimes like rockets, sometimes just like a friend knocking at the door...waiting for someone to open him shelter from the storm. Writing can be like that--sheltering. A refuge, a place of safety for your own thoughts. Writing can be like a good friend, an old friend. If you write freely and honestly, you can very possibly find the real you and connect with life...begin to notice and enjoy the steady of the rain from the eaves on one leaf of a potted plant. Even a plant--rooted--can dance in the rain.

For interests sake, the forecast here in late April for this weekend is SNOW...2-3" Saturday and 1-2" Sunday. Need I say more?