bright orange clementines in a blue and white striped bowl…
a dark night sky with a fingernail moon, but the sky so clear that the outline of the whole moon is visible. and a bright spot of a planet hovering nearby…
a field full of wild turkeys pecking amid snowy cornfield stubble…
the smooth curve of a snowy hill, untouched by footprints and as perfect as a fondant cake…
a clean kitchen counter with no dirty dishes….
the snow here is so dry and powdery and sparkly, it looks like fake snow. when i shoveled the driveway this morning, there were big shiny plates of snowflake in each scoop, catching the light and winking at me.
my teeth are dentist-clean! today’s trip to the dentist included lavender latex gloves for my dental hygenist and chocolate flavored tooth polish followed by minty floss. a yummy surprise!
also, as i was walking along state street afterwards, i saw a guy walking along and shaving his face with a battery-operated shaver. he was all bundled up otherwise and it looked really funny!
today i went out to shovel the driveway before work. i know that later in the season this will make me grumble, but today was the first time i had to shovel and it wasn’t bitterly cold and it was nice to get some exercise and when i was done, i stopped and stood still and let the snowflakes fall on me and tried to see if they were just little balls of ice or if they were really flakes. there were a few true flakes that i could actually count all 6 arms of. they are so beautiful! you see them so often in artwork that when you see one in real life and notice that they really do look like that, it’s just kind of amazing.
this morning, i had the most wonderful, bizarro dream between the time my last snooze alarm went off and the time i woke up and realized i had overslept a little. in part of it, we were in paris and grandma wanted to stay at this fancy schmancy hotel, so we were exploring it and checking it out to see if it would be ok with her. one of the rooms i went into had the ceiling covered in fake pink fur. the ceiling was so low that i rubbed my head on the fur as i walked out and my hair was all staticky when i walked out.
in another part, mr. h-s and i were outside this new house that we had purchased and saw a beautiful red bird alight on a bush. later, we discovered that there was a cage full of birds that the previous owners had left. we thought they were chickens, but on further inspection, the beaks were more like ducks. and there were also owls. and also… a mermaid. no one had fed them all for a few days since we hadn’t known they were there, but no one was dead and after we fed them, they were so happy that we all had a party! at the party, i looked at mr. h-s and said, “i’m so happy!” and i felt great when i woke up despite the fact that i was a little later than i’d hoped to be. so… which is better–sleeping in and having a dream like that, or hauling myself out of bed to go do yoga and meditate or go running–in pursuit of calm and happiness?
this one has to do with numbers and (surprisingly) i can’t seem to stop wanting to play!
i started the day off with a “fun run” at the local college. it was only 2 miles long, and i am pleased to say that i finished in just under 20 minutes. woo hoo! what a refreshing start to the day!
this afternoon we had a “girl’s day out” with the extended in-law women. we went into town and visited a few antique malls. the church was playing hymns on their bell system when we got out of the car and it sounded nice.
normally, i don’t consider myself an antiquer, but i really had a great time! i found some good stuff (materials to make some recycled pidoodle things and some really pretty pottery custard bowls and a cool lamp that is most likely nowhere near antique. it looks like something picked up at target, but it was a good price and will look great in the living room at home…). we also stopped at a coffee shop called “moka’s” that had great marketing–super cool logos, decor, etc. i had a chai latte and split a mini pumpkin bundt cake with grandma. super yum!
this evening, we visited the local arboretum where they’ve set up hundreds of clear glass jars with sand and white candles as well as white christmas lights all along the paths. it’s beautiful! there’s a pond in the middle, so the lights reflect really pretty in the water. there are also a few stops along the way with bonfires to make s’mores. we ended the tour in the building on site where a woman (a reference librarian) was displaying a small portion of her snowglobe collection. outside, there was a large, inflatable snow globe that actually had snow blowing around in it like a fountain. :)
we ended the day with another game of “hand and foot”–a very long card game. i actually won one! i think that might be the very first time that i’ve won the whole game! the last time i was close, i went over 10,000 points (the criterion for winning) but i didn’t have the most points over 10,000.
i love vacation.
today on our way to kansas, i saw five hawks. four sitting high up on things and one flying. they’re really big birds!
had a lovely thanksgiving dinner with the extended in-laws. the youngest kept asking me, “where’s that boy? the one that goes with you?” (referring to mr. h-s) very yummy coconut dessert and pumpkin pie cake…
this morning, as i drove to work, there was (a little bit of) snow on the ground, so it was a bit chilly. because of that, i was surprised to see a vehicle drive by me with the one of the back windows rolled down so that the golden retreiver sitting in the back seat could lean out the window and feel the wind rushing past and grin really big like dogs do. it made me smile.
this morning, as i pulled out of the driveway of a friend’s house, there were 5 fat little birds sitting on the bare branches of a small tree. the noise from the car didn’t scare them off, they just sat there, looking so cute!
