Serenity Sunday...week 82

In my opinion, the most moving oration at the Oscars tonight...

"It's not the load that breaks you down,

it's the way you carry it."

~ Lena Horne

Serenity Sunday...week 81

“Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening”

Whose woods these are I think I know.

His house is in the village, though;

He will not see me stopping here

To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer

To stop without a farmhouse near

Between the woods and frozen lake

The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake

To ask if there is some mistake.

The only other sounds the sweep

Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark, and deep,

But I have promises to keep,

And miles to go before I sleep,

And miles to go before I sleep.

Robert Frost

New Hampshire

1923

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I shamelessly repost this poem and photo from last January. For a couple reasons...first this is befitting this time of year and second...this is one of my favorite photos and the poem, well...speaks for itself... The photo was found on the web years ago...and always seemed like there was a story behind it. The photo is a story in itself...hope you enjoy..

** On another note, stay tuned for a peek into the 17th annual Valentine's Tea that was held at my friend Cindy Petter's house last Monday.

Serenity Sunday...week 80

Quiet and serene
Nature’s heavenly moment
A calm winter’s day.

Love is not a word
It is the soul of a heart
Aching to be heard.

Happy Valentine's Day!~

Tomorrow is Cindy Petters 'Annual Valentine's Tea'. It's an all day open house hosted by Cindy for about 400 of her closest friends. I think this year will mark her 17th tea.

She makes her special 'magic' blend of tea and dozens and dozens of beautiful cookies.

These are a couple of pics from last year...stay tuned for some updates from tomorrow!

Happy Valentine's Day to you and yours!

Country Home......next?

Has anyone seen another issue of Country Home magazine? Just curious...don't want to miss one and the last one I saw was the Fall issue...

Serenity Sunday...belated week 79

Around here…nothing doing…doing nothing…except watching snowflakes grow into mammoth piles of snow. Piles of snow so huge that I could not wade through it if I tried. Winter white surrounds everything in it’s path and the icicles grow at an incredible rate.

I used to enjoy the snow…I was a skier for years. I’ve come to dread the white stuff…even dislike it to a degree! Last Friday (February 4th) marked the first time in 33 days that we didn’t have a measurable snowfall. Ordinarily, that wouldn’t be such an achievement for most of you out there…here it’s something to celebrate!

It started in December and has snowed almost continually since. According to an article in the NY Times…December in Syracuse (by 12/22) 71.9 inches of snow had fallen on our fair city making it the snowiest December on record. It hasn’t really stopped since…except on New Years day. That day it was a balmy 58* at my house, which quickly prompted the opening of windows to air out the place.

We skated on the storm that left the rest of the country in shambles last week. I don’t know how we managed that, but we were relatively ‘snowfall-less’ last Wednesday (Feb. 2) with only about 7 inches which was several inches shy of the predicted snowfall.

Yesterday, however, we made up for it. In the afternoon…it started as rain/sleet/freezing rain, depending upon where in the county you were…then HUGE snowflakes began to fall. That’s how the roads became so bad so quickly. There were about 10 inches of snow on my car this morning…it was only snowing for about 3 hours last night. I can attest that the shovel fulls of this snow was back breakingly heavy…laden with the water from the sleet and rain that fell during the afternoon.

After last night...officially, we're at about 130.9 inches. I'm ok with it...it can stop now...any time really...just turn to spring...take a week or two so we don't have flooding...but, yup...it's ok with me!

I’ve had it…officially…too much…too often…can render even a native Syracusan…crazy…

(These photos have been taken over the past couple of weeks at random times. That will explain the different amounts of snow on the ground. The nighttime photos were taken last night during the latest snowfall. The daytime road photos were taken this morning on my way to my parents for a visit. As much as I hate to admit it...snow photographs well...)