more and merely

More snow today. I almost didn't go to Faribault S.A. for "thrifty thursday" half-off clothing. But I couldn't reschedule my eye exam, and driving Brett to work was halfway there already. So I braved the icy (squeaky) roads and did not end up in the ditch at all. Ordered a new pair of glasses, enjoyed an eggnog shake for lunch, and found a powderblue snowsuit with sparkly silver snowflakes for Norabella. Simple joys.

Tomorrow we're going to Grandma Norma Elaine's for the whole day. Saturday I'm slated to paint. I want my own home so badly that I fear my will must be broken before I may have it. That is usually the way of things. Oh, vanity of vanities. Why can't I merely be thankful? I am just not a "merely" kind of person is why.

joy

At dawn the temperature was -12°F. The rest of the day was pretty cold too, but Norah and I decided to get out our snowpants and walk two blocks to the post office to mail a christmas package anyway. Then she took a nap and I walked a 5K to Salvation Army thrift store where I found a sweet wooden nativity and a few other good deals. After supper I went to book club with Andrea.

On the docket for the rest of the week: Laundry. Drywalling and painting. Celebrating Brett's birth season some more. Spending a day each with both of Brett's grandmas. Eye exam. Mailing christmas cards. Having coffee with one of Brett's aunts. Hanging out with Brett's cousin's family. Making pies. Et cetera.

I am lovin' winter.

blizzard bliss

The world has donned her white gown. It is seven degrees farenheit, and the sun is shining. The neighbors have been out mowing - I mean blowing - their sidewalks since the last flake fell sometime this morning.

I love the smell of ginger root and garlic. Sauted onion, sweet potato, lentils, and coconut milk, along with a blend of 12 spices; the ingredients for a delicious winter soup. Oyster crackers or a dollop of greek yogurt to top it off.

Norah and I are going to go out sledding.

oh, december

Since we traveled the last couple weekends, this weekend it feels especially good to cozy up indoors. The perfect way to commemorate our first Minnesota blizzard! It has snowed 2-3 times since those first fleeting flakes in October, but this time we are quite happily homebound.

We are still celebrating Brett's birth season and today I shan't spend a thought on laundry or tidying or how I am powerless to finish the kitchen. Instead I am going to just enjoy the time with family. A heavy, silent snowfall out the window. Handel and Tchaikovsky playing in the background. Wrapping packages to send to California. Making paper chains for the tree. Putting christmas cards into envelopes. Perhaps some baking. My long-neglected stack of library books awaits me, too...

my beloved burns wood

In a month we will have been married for three years. And he is by far my most favorite person in the world. We are making a counterfeit carcassonne, and it smells sooo good.

collectanea

I've been recording snatches of the days...

Elanor Dregge and Johannah Merz

In a homily for a wedding, Denis Haack explains that marriage is extraordinary: One proof is that even math has stopped working. Or more accurately, math is working at a far deeper, mysterious level here today. When you walked in here, 1 + 1 = 2. But when you walk out, 1 + 1 = 1.http://blog4critique.blogspot.com/2010/10/present-your-bodies.html

It happened. Sitting here at the computer, I heard the ominous succession of thumps that I had long dreaded: my toddler falling down the flight of wood stairs. As I ran to the foot of the stairway, her scream actually gave me immense relief (for then I knew she was conscious), and even before I reached her my mind ran through the possibilities of black eyes, bruises and broken bones. I observed poor norah sprawled face down for just long enough to determine that she could move on her own, but as she reached for me tearfully - sobbing something about falling down the stairs as if i might not realize what had happened - I was amazed to discover no visible injury. Nothing bleeding or broken. Once in my arms her sobs subsided and she asked for ice, which she does every time she acquires a bump, and we talked about how she needs to go down stairs feet-first and not try to walk down by herself.

Ned and I

"...when you were shipwrecked, you sailed from the place in a boat woven mostly of spells, and it didn't leak water. Was it illusion?"
"Well, partly it was illusion, because I am uneasy seeing the sea through great holes in my boat, so I patched them for the looks of the thing..."

-A Wizard of Earthsea

This made Brett and I laugh aloud, and such moments are precious and rarer than they should be. You might have to read the book to share our amusement. Ged is such a serious fellow most of the time.

Before reading this we approached the brink of catastrophe on a patch of ice early in the morning driving south out of Minnesota. Though we lost control for at least a quarter mile, my Superman-husband's steady skill and God's sovereign protection kept us on the road instead of in the ditch, where Brett was sure the speed and slope would have rolled the vehicle.

So we may have been a little giddy with being alive when we shook with laughter over the wizard's teasing.

Edmund chuckles at us. We beam.

My L'abri notes:

Platonic Dualism: The problem of dualism is not making a distinction, but creating a hierarchy (of value). The solution is to put all under God, not blur the distinction.
Hannah Coulter: Expectations are a puff of smoke. Education often encourages the belief that there is a better place somewhere else.
On Being a Neighbor: The hardest thing to give is ourselves. God meshes our desires and talents with His calling.
Then we returned to a land of white. I put an end to four years of dental avoidance. I finished my book a few minutes before bookclub. Hurray for offers of rides and spontaneous visits from friends, ending the evening with a succulent House episode. Got a lovely breakfast and great tips on jewelry versatility and chiropractice at MOPS this morning. Now to grate and freeze squash, scrape paint, start holiday projects. I know this Thanksgiving and Christmas are going to be the best yet.

edge of the divine

I don't want to waste another moment of my life without you in it.

-Garden State