Kit Spreading the Love

Our kitten Kit is growing bigger and healthier as you can see from the picture of him stretched out on the love seat. He is a lover cat and continues to spread that love with Isabelle, Annie, and Shelby. He is still working on the queen Iris. We think she is actually beginning to tolerate him. I don't know if he will be hugging her soon, but he keeps working on it. Persistent... very persistent.

Be Careful! The Roads Might Be Slick!

This is what I have heard my mother repeat every winter for at least forty years. It has been a good reminder to me though. Today the roads were really slick. I was pleased to see some snow, but as I drove down the lake road to school I could tell that the combination of county plows not putting down much sand, snow, and below freezing temperatures made the road to school very slick. I just took my time, listened to Christmas music on 98.1 and hoped I wasn't too late for my meeting at school. Coming home in the dark was more of a challenge just because it was hard to tell if the road had black ice or was just bare. This is the way it will be now for a few months. When I have an opportunity, I try to stop and observe and appreciate the beauty also. Not today though. It was too slick to stop for pictures!

First Snow

.
The first snow is illuminated by the porch light.

First Snow

The snow
began here
this morning and all day
continued, its white
rhetoric everywhere
calling us back to why, how,
whence such beauty and what
the meaning;

such
an oracular fever! flowing
past windows, an energy it seemed
would never ebb, never settle
less than lovely! and only now,
deep into night,
it has finally ended.

The silence
is immense,
and the heavens still hold
a million candles; nowhere
the familiar things:stars, the moon,
the darkness we expect
and nightly turn from. Trees
glitter like castles
of ribbons, the broad fields
smolder with light, a passing
creek bed lies
heaped with shining hills;

and though the questions
that have assailed us all day
remain-not a single
answer has been found-
walking out now
into the silence and the light
under the trees,
and through the fields,
feels like one.
-Mary OliverThe neighbor's colored lights glow in the first snow.
If you look closely you can see Shelby peering out at the snow. The snowflakes are like bright round balls around the porch.

Schlumbergera bridgesii: aka Christmas Cactus

This week one of our Schlumbergera bridgesii began to bloom. Last spring I had posted a poem
about Christmas Cactus and when one "chooses" to bloom. You can find it here.

I have just quit calling this beautiful blooming plant a Christmas Cactus. As soon as I do it doesn't bloom at the holiday season. This week we can call it the Thanksgiving Cactus. This plant decided since family was coming it would show off for this holiday. I noticed when googling information the name has even been changed on many sites to Holiday Cactus. That makes more sense to me. It takes away that feeling of failure when Christmas arrives and leaves and there are no showy buds opening. You can then hang onto the hope it will be on the schedule of another holiday. There is New Year's Day, Martin Luther King Day, Valentine's Day, President's Day and St. Patrick's Day and a few in between that the plant can coordinate with.

If you are a novice at growing this temperamental bloomer, just take care of it and let it be. It has a calendar all it's own! I tried the dark room at night, changing temperature, special food, and repotting. When I just left it and cared for it like any other plant it has been the healthiest.

I do have a theory though. I am obsessed with music for each season of the year. Perhaps each bloom cycle is driven by the music it hears. Did "Over the River and Through the Wood" and "We Gather Together" put it into bloom as I belted out these songs last week? This is a new plant so I can't do a scientific study, but when another one bloomed it was right at Easter. Did I sing " In Your Easter Bonnet" and "He Has Risen" more often last year around that plant?
Now that it is Christmas Music City at my house for the next four weeks, perhaps I will set up a control group and an experiemental group.
Ummmm.... just a theory.

Sunday Scribblings: Near the Window

The topic of Sunday Scribblings this week is Misspent Youth.

Near the Window

The lamp near the window glowed long into the night,
the wonder of words kept me turning the pages.
Curling up with Nancy Drew, Bess, and George
creating a life of intrigue and mysteries to be solved.
Finding poetry at the public library and saving words
as I hunted and pecked on the manual keys.

The stereo filled the hall room with beautiful sounds.
I wore out certain songs as I listened again and again.
I joined the Broadway cast of My Fair Lady and Oklahoma too,
and The Ray Conniff singers backed
me up on Somewhere My Love.
How many times could I repeat Three Dog Night
singing One
While belting out the lyrics with a makeshift microphone?

Near the window I could breathe in spring,
In winter the panes frosted, then melted in a thaw.
If opened in summer a breeze gave a small reprieve,
Burning leaves crept in at the closing of fall.

The neighbor kids gathered for Kick the Can
or Spoons, but
I cocooned myself in my bedroom upstairs.
Finding comfort near the window with my pile of books.
Broadway seemed visible, images from poems remained.
I didn’t pine away about a misspent youth.
I still carry the words and remember the poetry,
And l hear those melodies when I
sit near the window in my childhood room.


by inlandempiregirl


to find other Sunday Scribblings go here.

Sibling Assignment #45: Being Thankful

Our sibling assignment this week was given by Silver Valley Girl. In the spirit of Thanksgiving we were to create a video focusing on what we are thankful for. You will find a heartwarming creation about her family Silver Valley Girl produced while staying at my house here. Raymond Pert's will be here.

I loved the assignment. It gave me an opportunity to reflect on all my blessings. It was a much better way to spend my day than lining up at stores for Door Busters at sunrise.