Trumpet The News

What is this? I'm leaving the farm today did you say? This world traveler is going to lunch........about three miles from home. And then this afternoon I am attending my first Watertown Fine Arts Committee meeting. This one is a long six mile drive. I had better make sure my passport is in order.

This is the small town that is my mailing address. There has been an effort to spruce it up. but it hasn't caught up to my brain.

There is a jazz festival on the agenda. That could be fun. My farrier told me the rib cook-off in the summer has national cred. Who knew?

So a day filled with two outings. My old Jeep won't know what to think. Mark told me he didn't think it is legal for me to leave twice. Of course the only reason I can leave this afternoon is his generosity. Someone needs to bring in and feed all those horses. The flow of life on my horse farm is completely determined by the horses. And people choose this life. I did, Mark didn't. So I need to be grateful that he helps me when he does.

Let's hope I still know how to behave in public.

The Lamb Lays Down With The Lion

Margaret rules the house. 

Howard laid there with the beast next to him with some apprehension. She moved in after he found the sunbeam. The comforting warmth of the sun and fear of the seemingly mindless villainy only a cat can inflict kept Howard still as a mouse. OK, bad metaphor.

Margaret knows attitude is every thing.

One Simple Thing

Pie!

Since I put as one of my simple pleasures pie, I was compelled to make one. I have apples frozen from my ancient tree, so it was an easy decision to put a little pie together.

It didn't hold together, but it did not matter. Sweet apple with cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg saved the day. And the crust, well it was melt-in-the-mouth wonderful. A little half & half poured over the delicious mess finished it beautifully.

So now you know why I need elastic in my waistband!

A Pause of Purple

I looked at the calendar and then out the window.....yep, still January.

Fortunately, I have many photos of my gardens to get me through the frozen time. The bright side is, it's bright out. The sun has made an appearance.

You know the feeling of yearning; that feeling of ache. I'm willing to bet if you live in a frozen land you know it. I want to plant, prune. It's hovering barely above zero fahrenheit. It seems the yearning will continue for some time to come.

In the meantime I will need to content myself with the image of better days.

Be warm, stay well.

Simple Things

Christina at Soul Aperture is doing a day of Simple Things that bring us joy. Please check her blog and the many people who participate in this musing today. Christina is donating money to Doctors Without Borders in Haiti for every blog that participates. The horror in Haiti continues long after our cameras move on to something else. 

The simple things. The burden many of us often feel, the turn life has taken precludes the realization of the simple things. The everyday events that make a life evade my notice, tucked up under the strain of managing. So at Christina's urging I am spending a little time thinking about the everyday things that make me smile, make me think. That make me grateful. That make me, me.

good cheer

*

good wine

*

warm soup

*

pie

horses

*

trees

*

sunshine

*

rain after it's been too dry

*

the nicker of a newborn foal

*

a mare nuzzling her baby

*

my goofy stallion

a sturdy barn
*
hay in the loft

*

freshly bedded stalls

*

enough food for all of us, on two legs and four

*

the people in my life

the unexpected surprise of nature

*

a hardworking, steady husband and partner in life

*

a child who grew into a decent, kind adult

*

my parents long lives

*

a sense of humor

*

wisdom

*

reckless abandon

*

serious thought

*

mystery novels

memories

*

loyalty

*

a wag of a tail

*

joyful barking, wiggling bodies

*

soulful eyes

a hot shower at the end of a long day outside

*

my Mac

*

a warm bed

*

strong coffee with cream

*

black tea with sugar & milk

the beauty of a rose

*

dirt under my fingernails

*

the bounty of my garden

*

the smell of leather

the sound snow makes on a sub-zero day

*
walking into a warm barn
*
horses quietly munching their hay

the joy of my dogs

*

a clean house

*

brownies

*

elastic waistbands

These are a few of my favorite things.

Let Me Off This Train

Nineteen Eighty-Two

Ronald Reagan had been president for a year. America as I had known it was on the way to changing. This  much younger me had the benefit of a kinder, gentler society. A society that was willing to pay taxes. A society that wanted the next generation to have more opportunity than they had.

I was able to live on my own, with a young child. I was able to work and go to college and support my son and myself. I was able to come out of college with little debt. The generation below me held us up. They carried us on their shoulders while we got ready to stand on our own feet. It all changed. Seemingly overnight. Of a sudden I was living in the "I got mine, go get your own" society. A country dominated by an immoral Moral Majority. A country that was on a fast track to decay.

I was raised in America's golden period, so I know we don't need to be this way. I would like to hear from someone who adheres to the conservative economic policies, what this has done for individuals as well as the country as a whole. I don't need to hear about the obvious; more billionaires. I wonder what has benefited joe average. I wonder.

The State of the Union address will likely be pandering to the Conservadems and the others on the right. The people I grew up around held jobs requiring a shower after work. They were no ones idea of liberal.  They believed in hard work and responsibility. Not the personal responsibility that the noise machine talks about now. Real responsibility, a responsibility to the society which they lived in, raised their children in.

The person in this photo benefited from their efforts and sacrifice. I had a leg up. Things changed.  I got old and the country got lost.

A Yellow Yearning

This rose graced the cover of the Jackson & Perkins rose catalogue. Isn't it glorious.

I love yellow roses and yet I seem to have a difficult time growing them. But once again I will try with this rose. It grabbed me from the moment I pulled the catalogue from the mailbox. Such a happy color.

This is my time of year to page through the catalogues, yearning for spring. Hearing the muffled murmur of life under the frozen earth speak to me, whispering their promise of spring. Of beauty.

When I lose myself to the flowers on paper the cold, gray landscape outside my window disappears, replaced with bobbing heads of delphinium, lily and rose. For a brief time the misery of a Minnesota winter vanishes behind the promise of May.

So now I start planning my purchases. I need to plan wisely, as times are not what they once were. But I will have this rose.

Stay warm. Be happy.

And Now.......For the Big Reveal

Okay, too much HGTV.

My office, the space where all those pearls of wisdom fall from my finger tips onto the computer screen. It was so dusty and cluttered it had become impossible to move about the room. There was a path from the door to the desk. The desk was obscured by piles of paper and books.

I didn't do anything other than clean up and swap burgundy velvet curtains for the olive faux suede curtains, but it feels like a new space. Because I can get into it. This time I swear I will be good and clean my room. I really, really will.

This is my year of transformation. My year to decide to enjoy my space, my life. If only I could get Howard out of my chair.

A Dogs Life

Yesterday was such a difficult day for my dogs. I was busily chasing dust and dog hair in my office all day and into the night. How can a dog get a proper rest when the two-legger is creating a swirl of dust.

Poor Howard needed to stretch out and relax. Life is so difficult, a boy needs his chair.

Unfortunately, there is only one chair and two dogs. Grace circled him the whole while he tried to relax, eventually wearing him down and out of the coveted spot.

Success has its' rewards.

Rain, Ice, Wind......... The Wonders Of Home

It is a very ugly day in the land of the dark and frozen.

Considering it looks and feels like a misery outside, I thought I would remind myself of better days with a lovely floral photo. Ah, only a few months away.

I hope wherever you are it is better than here. If not, let the iris bring you to better days, if only for a moment and if only in your mind.