German Christmas Celebration

Tonight was so very special! Here are me and Frank.    His friends Lore and Peter had us over for dinner - a typical German ending of kuchen with  or 7 different cookies - all very special and beautiful! I should have photographed the kuchen platter!  

Lore is lighting the REAL CANDLES on her Christmas tree for me and Frank.  Never before have I seen real candles on a tree.  What a joy!  How lovely our evening with them was!

Family Time

Must share with you photo from son Tate's 50th birthday party last week. Sydney, Wendy, Tate, Me, Luke, Susan, and Kelsey. From the center - Me, Two Sons, Their wives, and Tate's two daughters. A truly fun party with a HUGE crowd of Tate's friends.  What a ball!  Then, Christmas celebration on the 21st while everyone was still together.  Here's me with all my grandchildren:  Jack, Kelsey, Sydney, Walker, and Sam in front.  What a joy to be with them all for these very special times.  Now, I'm in North Carolina with Frank and Gus, Luke and Susan's bullterrier.  What fun he is - just wish he could be with me more often!

Christmas Tree and Sax-playing Santa

Here is my Christmas Tree.  It was decorated by my grandchildren during Thanksgiving of 2009 and is still my favorite decoration for this season.  On the table beside it is my Nativity scene in ceramic made by my mother years before - another essential piece of Christmas in my Cottage. …..This morning is a morning at home alone to reminisce and the most fruitful piece is my notebook of annual Christmastime letters I sent out - beginning with 1973, jumping to 1982 and nearly every year since then.  What a wonderful way to remember family.  Each year I enjoy reading the letters again.  This year's letter is kind of summary of 2012, 13, and 14.  Why did I miss years?  Who knows?  Somehow this year it seems very important again to connect with friends and family members I've neglected, so I have written.  And, the tree is in place along with a few other artifacts, notably the saxophone playing Santa.

Landfill Expedition in Transylvania Co., NC

 I'll try to explain what has been occupying so much of my time lately.  I have been traveling back and forth between my home and Frank's near Brevard, NC, helping him "clean and clear" his place so that it might be placed on the market for rental or sale.  It is a major time consumer but we are nearing a stopping place until spring.  And, now that it is becoming cleaner and clearer of clutter, as you might expect, we begin to think perhaps it should NOT be rented or sold!!!  Doesn't this always happen?  At any rate, my attention can now be turned to other pursuits and I have already resumed knitting, reading, and shopping - three of my favorite pastimes.  The photo is of Frank's 35-year-old Dodge Ram which he converted to a dump truck.  We made a trip to the landfill this morning.  It is truly amazing- 700 acres of mountain land where they are creating additional mountains.  The other photo is taken from the roadside after we left the top where we dumped 500 pounds of trash with the bulldozer operator(on top of the mt.) watching and waiting to push it further.  Not one of my ordinary routine experiences and an interesting one.

Lakota Stories - Humility

Here I am back in NC for a short visit.  It is truly amazing how relaxing it is to change one's location.  Does everyone feel that - the letting go of all responsibilities - when going away from home?   This morning I'm reading The Lakota Way: Stories and lessons for living by Joseph M. Marshall III.  Surely I must have been part of a Native American tribe in a past life. The stories truly appeal to me at a deep level.  He writes about values:  humility, perseverance, respect, honor, love……and many more.   The order of his essays is interesting to me.  For me at this moment in my life, humility is uppermost in my mind and his words struck home.  So many powerful blessings are being bestowed on me - particularly in my cry for help.  I now have two wonderful yoga teachers available to substitute for me so that I can have more time for my own spiritual seeking and other pursuits that have been neglected.  For them, Chris and Joanne, I am so very grateful.  I am also very grateful and humbled by the many new students who are attending classes and giving me the opportunity to "begin again" with the basics of yoga at almost every class!  Look around the next time you are in class and see the new faces that join us.  One last week came FIVE years ago and has returned.  That is the power of yoga.  Once you feel its power in your own body, you never forget it!  ………The story of "No Moccasins" Marshall tells is a beautiful tale of one woman's humble, courageous act to save her husband by leaving her moccasins beside a creek "laying a false trail" for the enemies.  And, never telling anyone.  Not until her husband was dying was the act revealed by him as a tribute to her humility.