garden shops,office, grocery

*A mid-winter visit to garden shops. By January, I lie in bed rearranging the garden, planning new plantings, considering how to nourish the soil, dreaming of the time I can jump out of bed early (in the daylight)to start digging and watering. So I begin to visit (should I say haunt?) garden shops. As soon as I walk through the Star Trek-like doors my glasses fog up and my nose fills with a woodsy, earthy smell. One shop has an indoor fish pond surrounded by lush plants.I usually begin to consider how I could saw a hole in the living room floor and dig a pond. This would not surprise my husband. Anyhow, a mid-winter visit to garden shops is a gem in my life today.

*The doctor's office we visited today has the largest waiting room that I have ever seen. It is never full and always clean. The attendants are cheerful. The scales is enormous. I begin to believe that I've landed on a space ship.

*I go out of my way to shop at a grocery not close to my house. I go there because the staff is cheerful, the produce is yummy looking, and I find items I have never seen before.

colors, clouds,lunch

Choosing colors of yarn for a hat--luscious, soft yarn in vibrant colors.

The dark snow clouds over the mountains are like a water color wash falling down into the ribbon of light blue dusk sky.

Lunch with a beautiful, intelligent woman--my daughter. She talks of the latest escapades of her children. And I know that the hours of reading to her were well spent.

back stoop,respite,C-Span

The back stoop is entirely free of snow (not ice) so I carry out buckets of hot water and slosh it down (and melt the ice). A few swipes with the broom and wow! a totally clean, free of elements stoop. (Tomorrow I'll sit out there in the sun.)

Joggers in shorts, families on bicycles, dogs (lots of dogs) walking -- the glories of a respite from winter.

On week-end C-Span authors are interviewed. I have a treat when I turn it on as a spur of the moment thing and find a favorite author lecturing and then being interviewed.

a gang, candles, feet up

A gang of people over to eat a special birthday cake.

Not caring how old I am when I blow out the candles.

Ready to put my feet up and remembering the clever things people have said, seeing the growth of the children marked on the wall and knowing everyone enjoyed themselves.

willows, rocks,house-to-be

The orangey-yellow twisty willow stems that I stuck into a goldfish bowl of rocks.

Everytime I drive back from getting the mail I notice a rock formation I've never seen before. Could it be the changing angle of the sun? Today a castle-fortressy formation popped into view--red and craggy.

The bare wooden skeleton of a new house "going up."

streets, chair,proprietress

A blog of pictures of people on streets includes not just young people but older women and men--wonderful.

A new chair. La Fuma. Comfort.

A lovely conversation with the proprietress of the Nepal store in town.

lake,hot,bob

The frozen lake has a pristine top except for a hole in the ice around which ducks have gathered to pal around.

A hot water bottle on a sub zero night.

Robert Lindsay.