Status Report: January
Tuesday, January 1, 2013 at 7:57PM Sitting…on the couch in the living room.
Drinking…an after supper cup of tea.
Feeling…tired. Two trudging walks through drifted paths and a whole-house cleaning is tiring. I’m also feeling satisfied with a day well spent.
Enjoying…lit candles. Nine of them. Candles are my wintertime “living” replacement for fresh flowers. Candles and bowls of oranges.
Taking…daily dawn walks in the woods with the dog. I never see another soul and I like that. There were heavy clouds today, so no sunrise, but I still saw twilight turn to day. Our sunrise, by the way, is at 10:09 AM. Sunset is at 3:59 PM. Five hours and fifty minutes of daylight. At least we’re on the upside of the short days—tomorrow we have two more minutes of light.
Hoping…that extremely cold weather we had for most of December is gone forever so we can enjoy skiing, snowshoeing, and pulling babies in the sled. When the days are dark, getting out for a little natural light is a sanity preserver, but that’s difficult to do at -30.
Anticipating…a return to normal life and regular blogging. Holidays are fun, but I’m always glad when they’re over. I love quiet, too, and is the quietest month of them all.
Planning…to make a lap quilt from kilts to go with my kilt pillows.
Reading…Gilead by Marilynne Robinson, a novel filled with phrases and sentences I want to remember forever, like “I do not remember grief and loneliness so much as I do peace and comfort — grief, but never without comfort; loneliness, but never without peace.” Or “writing has always felt like praying…you feel like you are with someone.”
Remembering…January ten years ago. Sometimes it seems like a lifetime since; sometimes it seems like yesterday.
Missing…those who have gone before.
Counting…my blessings. My life has changed a great deal in the past two or three years, and most of it is good: new sons and daughter-in-law, new granddaughters, and another grandchild coming soon.
Signing…off until tomorrow. My book is waiting.
Reader Comments (8)
Post pictures of the lap quilt!
So far it's just plans, but when (and if) it's finished, I will.
Your kilt pillows are beautiful! Another good book by Robinson is Housekeeping, which was also an interesting movie that I enjoyed. Hope you enjoy the quiet months. Hope I do too.
Grief....comfort.....loneliness.....peace....blessings. God is so good to us.
I really liked Gilead; the sentence you quoted is beautiful. And true. I think I liked Robinson's novel Home even more than Gilead. I recently read Housekeeping and did not like it as well. But oh her gift with words!
Maybe I'll try Home next. I'm trying to read more fiction. It goes against my natural inclination.
I have tried Gilead a couple times but never got past a chapter or two. I even heard the author speak last spring at Calvin, and still couldn't get into that book!
Good for you!
It's the kind of writing I really like, so I enjoyed it from the get-go.