I feel as if I am living in a Christmas card. All the trees have snow on their branches; there are mounds of new snow on my driveway; the birds eagerly await their daily suet cake. Usually when it snows here, it lasts 2-3 days. Then the rain returns and everything melts. This time, I’ve had snow for three weeks. Many days – once for five consecutive days – it was so deep that I could not get out of my driveway. Before the snow from one storm melted, another snow storm arrived, so it kept piling up. In all, I’ve had about two feet of snow.
One morning there were four deer on the brick path that leads to my front door. They were munching on the shrubs that line my path. Usually I have to prune those shrubs; this year the deer are doing it for me. As I write this, I can see a four-point buck out my window, licking sunflower seeds out of one of my bird feeders. My yard is criss-crossed with animal tracks. One morning I followed a raccoon’s paw prints from my front porch all the way down my driveway, through the gate, and on into the road. There are small, medium, and large deer tracks and tracks from Mr. Stray and Lucy.
Because of the deep snow and icy roads, I did not drive to my daughter’s home on Christmas Eve, as planned. But they came here! They put chains on their car, loaded up all the gifts and the dog, and made it up my hill. They stayed overnight and we had a lovely Christmas together.
My writer friend, Linda Joy Singleton, mentioned on Facebook that she had read 138 books in 2008. That, of course, made me wonder how many I’d read. I keep a book list so it was easy to count the titles. I read 115 books in 2008 (and one so far in 2009.) I order many titles from my public library but if I read a book that I like a lot, I buy a copy. I want to be able to lend it to friends and to reread it in the future.
As always, I have made a few New Year’s resolutions. They are not resolutions so much as goals. I try to focus on a few areas where I can improve my life, always keeping with what I can control. I find that if I write these goals on paper, I am more likely to accomplish them. Happy new year to all!