Month: December 2009

Desire

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"I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve the world and a desire to enjoy the world. This makes it hard to plan the day."
E.B. White

Last year (2009) we moved four times: two different countries, three different cities. We lived in 2 apartments and 2 houses.

It was another year of transitions. I think we had enough of those in the last decade. Change is my friend, growth is a good thing indeed, but I’m ready for roots.

In the end, we found our home. The real deal. Casa del Lobos is IT. Home with a capital H. (I’m sure that I’ll get the bug to travel again sooner than later, but I after the adventure, I want to come home here.)

It is taking a while to get things in place (I cannot wait to have a functional kitchen next month, and I really miss having a sink…laundry sink in the basement is not my favorite for washing dishes), but from the first night spent here, we felt like it was the right place to be.  Casa del Lobos is a tremendous gift, and I am so grateful.

This has also been a year of community building and rearranging, reaching out to connect with old friends and new. I’ve met people this year that I am certain will be a part of my life for a long time to come. They too are a gift.

My kids are evolving into these interesting, creative little people who challenge and delight me. They are an enormous blessing, as is my husband.  He is a true partner, and I am happy to be sharing this adventure with him.

There is much to be grateful for and much to look forward to. I thank you for what you have added to my life, whether I see you regularly or only online. I look forward to what the next decade will bring.

I hope that 2010 is full of magic and opportunity. I hope that you are able to create things that make you joyful. I hope that you are surrounded by people who care for you and challenge you to grow, change, and explore. I hope that you are healthy, safe, and warm. I hope that you find something and/or someone that makes you feel happy to be alive.

Happy New Year!

Winter thoughts from Louise Glück

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Snowdrops

Do you know what I was, how I lived? You know
what despair is; then
winter should have meaning for you.

I did not expect to survive,
earth suppressing me. I didn’t expect
to waken again, to feel
in damp earth my body
able to respond again, remembering
after so long how to open again
in the cold light
of earliest spring–

afraid, yes, but among you again
crying yes risk joy

in the raw wind of the new world.

Louise Glück

Festivities

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The week of feasting began with a Christmas Julbord at Tre Kronor, a wonderful Swedish smorgasbord (50 dishes!) shared with dear friends. My favorites were the mustard salad, red cabbage, cucumbers and dill, pickled beets, and the rich and cheesy potatoes. They had roast pork with prunes, Swedish meatballs, 9 different types of herring, so many others. 

And the rice pudding was lovely! We shared wine, including Que Saudade from what I suspect may become a new favorite vineyard, Forlorn Hope. 

Then Christmas Eve dinner with my family, and Christmas Day dinner with Mark’s family. The day after Christmas we had a visit with our friends in from Pittsburgh, and today we had a visit with our friends and former neighbors from way back when we lived in Gurnee, up near the Wisconsin border. 

Now I’m craving a small introverted period, time spent hibernating in Casa del Lobos with the kids, making crafts, baking sweet things, and drinking coffee and/or hot chocolate. I’m happy that the kids don’t have school, grateful that I don’t have to leave the house except for possible sledding/snowball fights in the backyard and maybe some grocery shopping.

I’m hopeful that I can get Conclave finished up and ready to print. I have to send it off soon. Not only are people waiting for it, but I will not have the freedom to work on my own writing until this issue is on its way. 

And I need to write. 

The stories are inside of me begging, bursting, bubbling.

So much to be done in the new year.