December 31, 2012 - A Winter's Day

Warbler in a Russian olive tree

Winter in the Blocks

Today we headed out north to see what could be seen.  The sky darkened dramatically, the temperature dropped, and there was a bit more snow left on the ground.  After driving across higher ground, we dropped down into Ringold, looking for whatever birds might be found.  There were lots of robins, the occasional waterfowl, and several of these warblers (what type, I don't know.)  The tiny birds together with the olives left on the branches was a delight.  I've never much cared for Russian olives - they're not native, they have long, very sharp thorns, and I ran into one on my bike when I was a kid.  But as shelter and a food source for songbirds...well, it's difficult to complain too much. 

December 30, 2012 - A Day Filled with Light

Sunrise

Midday

 

Today the light kept changing.  The sunrise this morning was a gorgeous light pink, that faded to gold.  Throughout the day, the sun played hide and seek with me, casting shadow and light, often with a faint gold tinge.  Finally, at sunset, the clouds were completely lined with gold as the sun sank behind a bank of clouds.  A simply lovely day.  The fields were filled with Canadian geese, the skies with ducks, and the great egrets remained in the field they seem to have claimed for their own, at least for the time being.  A white pelican flew overhead as we drove the church, and a kestrel sat on the telephone wire on the way back home. 

 

I am, at the moment, thankful for a number of things.  First, my healing, though slow, continues.  Second, I have the privilege of seeing this beauty daily.  Third, I have a wonderful family and good friends who surround me.  And so much more.  All this draws me into the presence of God.  And casts me back into the world.  I want all things healed, all things made well, all things brought into God's presence.  This is not for me alone.  Wholeness is God's desire, God's yearning, for us all.



December 29, 2012 - A "Holiday" type day

Snow on the flowers after sunset..

And with the flash...



What's beautiful here?  Extra room!  The tree came down today

 

Today was a good day - a normal day - a relaxed day.  We enjoyed a leisurely breakfast together.  We took down the Christmas tree and put away the ornaments.  There were swans on the river (along with the usual geese, ducks, pelicans, etc.)  My husband made a pie, and I made a big salad for a family gathering, which took up most of a very relaxed afternoon.  We came home shortly after the snow started, in the almost dark.  I did the best I could to get a picture of the snow on my gaura plant, which has lovely, arching stems.  Wandering a bit in the snow, in the almost dark, may have been the best part of the day.  It seemed like something just a bit ridiculous, a bit outside what I "should" be doing, and that is a good thing.  Then, for good measure, I moved some furniture and vacuumed the floor.  Not normally chores I enjoy, but since I haven't done them, nor been able to do them for five months, it was actually a delight!  Beauty, and joy, are both in the eyes and the heart of the beholder.

December 27, 2012 - Is This Winter?

Truly, it is winter - but my garden has not been notified.  These photos were taken today!

 

Today seemed like a rather lazy day.  I spent a fair amount of time working out this morning, getting some good effort in on some very tight muscles.  Then I went to computer work, some correspondence, worked a puzzle - but what I really wanted was a good, long hike.  There was a hint of blue sky seen first thing this morning, and soon it was sunny and lovely.  Okay, it never got up to forty degrees, but it was still lovely!  Sunshine, no wind, mid-thirties - it's difficult to ask much more of a winter day.  And flowers still blooming in my garden.  I wandered around, taking photos of flowers and of things sprouting (a bit frightening, at this time of the year), found the hoofprints I hadn't found yesterday, then went back in to watch a glorious sunset.  (Yes, I have a photo.  No, I decided not to add it to today's collection.)  Doing this work, just for the little while I've been at it, has helped me to keep my eyes open.  And when my eyes are open, my heart tends to open, as well.

December 26, 2012 - Boxing Day

Last minute sunset

It was cloudy and drizzly most of the day today.  I saw two whilte-crowned sparrows out by our mailbox, but they flitted off right away.  I went to look for hoofprints from the deer in the snow, but they hadn't visited last night.  At the close of the day, I took a quick peek out from a closed curtain, and was greeted by the last rays of the sun setting over the river. 

 

 

This blog could end up getting a bit dull - numerous photos of birds, of the hills, of the Columbia River. But these things are never dull to me.  That's why we moved here.  We wanted to be where we could watch the passing of the seasons, the beauty of the land that surrounds us, the wonder of the rythmn of when to expect which migratory birds.  We can see all of this well, right out the front windows and off the back deck.  We can watch the garden grow, the various birds visit, and listen for the sandhill cranes overhead.  We hear Canadian geese and see great blue herons fly right over our roof.  It's why we're here - so we can stay connected, stay grounded, in those things that matter so much to us.  We agree with God - it is good.

December 25, 2012 - Christmas Day

We did indeed get a white Christmas!

Dinner looked (and tasted) good, too...

 

Christmas is always a special time for my family.  Today was quiet, as Christmases go - just my husband, myself, and two good friends.  We exchanged gifts, watched the snow fall, enjoyed one another's company (and the company of their dog), then got around to making dinner - a huge pot of paella.  (You see less than half of it above...we got a little carried away.)  After dinner, we watched a movie, talked some more, had dessert, talked some more, and continued to watch a light snow.  Finally the day ended, with phone calls to our son and daughter-in-law - the perfect close, to a wonderful day.  And where was the incarnate Christ in all this?  Present in the friendship and conversation, present at prayer and in the breaking of bread and sharing of wine, present in the giving and receiving of presents, peculiarly enough.  For that custom, though not based in our faith, can be (and in this case, actually is) an opportunity to recognize the other person for who they are.  Not who we might wish them to be - but who they actually are.  That's how Jesus came, too.  Not in the way we expected - not as we might wish - but as he actually is.  We best honor him when we offer gifts to him that reflect who he is, not who we wish he would be.  May we all, who claim his name, spend time considering what that kind of gift giving to Jesus might look like within our own lives.

December 23, 2012 - Fourth Sunday of Advent

And there was morning...

and there was evening

 

What a difference a few hours can make!  The first photo was taken this morning, shortly after sunrise.  The second photo was taken mid-afternoon, an hour and a half before sunset.  We could see the clouds rolling in - very dark, filled with moisture.  At this point we've received over a third of an inch of rain (which is a lot, in the desert.)  That will keep the ground fed and stable for...as long as it does.  I keep waiting for the snow to begin.  It hasn't happened now, not yet...but I hope soon.  Just enough for a beautiful white Christmas.  Meanwhile, I'm loving the beauty that surrounds me.  The colors and shadows on the sunlit hills, the deep gray of the rain clouds, the everchanging light in this place that is home.

December 22, 2012 - The Days Begin to Get Longer

Walla Walla River reflections

Red-tailed Hawk



Twin Sisters and basalt cliff





Today my husband and I spent part of the afternoon out looking at the scenery east of our house.  We drove into Madame Dorian Park and followed the Walla Walla River up to a free-flowing portion, away from the Columbia.  The branches of the trees reflected in the water, we saw hundred and hundreds of mallards (and listened to them).  My husband spotted the hawk, obviously unhappy, trying to dry out wings after a serious downpour.  After much wing-flapping, twisting, and fluttering, he finally took off. 

We then drove into the Wallula Gap.  The sun was beginning to break through, shining on the Columbia.  The Twin Sisters are covered now with lots of soft, green cheatgrass.  This is the season in which cheatgrass can be appreciated!  The color is beautiful, and I watched a flock of geese feeding on it yesterday.  Even those things that don't belong here, that we wish weren't taking over the countryside, that cause more severe wildfires, have a beautiful side to them.  I imagine even cheatgrass was appreciated for something in its original habitat...perhaps what I appreciated it for today.  A bright patch of green, in the midst of the gray of winter.

December 20, 2012 - A Day for the Birds

A coot on Casey Pond - what's it eating?

The island of the white pelicans (plus others...)

Northern Harrier - female, out hunting

Another warm and windy day today - plenty of blue sky, plenty of clouds, and lots of birds huddled together to stay out of the weather.  (Mostly at a considerable distance from me!)  Then the harrier flew right next to my car.  I almost didn't stop - how often do you get the opportunity to stop the car, change the lens, and open the window.  And there she hovered...hanging in the sky, searching the ground, looking for brunch.  We see many of these, especially in winter - but it's always a joy to see them, to watch them hover, to note the striking difference in coloration between the sexes.  (The males are grey.)  By this evening, the sky was covered with huge black clouds that reminded me of spring storms.  No rain yet...but it is probably on the way, maybe even with some snow for Christmas!

19 December, 2012 - Sunrise off the back deck

Some days getting out of bed is pure delight...

and this was one of those days.

I got up very carefully this morning, with an extra-sore foot, and decreased interest in working out.  Then I got to the kitchen, and this is what greeted me.  Transported out of myself, is the closest I can come to describing it.  The remainder of the day, even working out, was spent in recognizing how many gifts I receive daily, rather than complaining about the lack of a healthy foot.  Perspective.  Beauty leads me out of myself, into a broader world, opening me to others, to being able to help others bear their pain, and to experience my own in a way that is illuminating, rather than limiting.  Now...if I can only remember that tomorrow, as well!

December 18, 2012 - The desert in winter

Wallula Gap/Columbia River

Badger Mountain

Today was a difficult day.  Thankfully, it was filled with beauty.  So many shadows playing on the hills, so much sun filtering through clouds, new snow on the distant mountains...and still, roses in bloom.

The difficulty today is one of healing - a healing foot, a healing hip, a healing knee - and none of them happening rapidly enough for my taste.  I am, perhaps, a bit weary of pain, weary of the time it takes to do PT, weary of not being well enough to simply jump out of the car without thinking.  On days like this, I am so grateful for the opportunity to look out a window and see...almost anything.  This morning was filled with pelicans and swans, this afternoon with what a friend of mine calls LBB's - little brown birds.  I cut fresh rosemary and sage, and a sprig or two of gaillardia that was still in bloom, and zebrina hollyhocks that had been seriously pruned by the deer.  The act of writing these things down has made me smile.  I am content.

December 17, 2012 - Chinook!



                    "Who has seen the wind?  Neither I nor you."  Christina Rossetti

A Chinook wind is a strong wind from the southwest that often brings blue skies, warm temperatures, flooding, and lots of downed trees.  That was true today - the temperature reached fifty degree, the wind speed also reached fifty (at least, according to my gauge), and there are trees down in town.  The photographs are taken in front of and behind my house - the windblown grass, and the windblown Columbia River.  I truly dislike trying to sleep when there are Chinook winds at night - no matter how tight the house, it gets noisy.  But during the day, I love watching the movement of the vegetation, the whitecaps on the river, the birds huddled together in the lee of Foundation Island.  (Five juvenile eagles in one tree this morning.)  And I love the blue skies that such winds bring.  It's not going to last long - the temperatures have already begun to drop again - but I find joy in these wild, windblown days.

December 16, 2012 - Third Sunday in Advent

Father Christmas

Carolers by candlelight

Today something happened that hasn't happened for several years.  My husband hauled the Christmas decorations upstairs, and I put them up.  Happily!  The collection of "Father Christmases", all the Swedish decorations, the Nativity scene, and of course, the tree.  We have had a tree the past several years - I just haven't gathered the energy to put up other things.  Not since my mother died.  Perhaps that's because my mother always decorated happily, and quite fully, for Christmas, and I miss her.  Perhaps it's because I really don't care for clutter, and I have sometimes done too much, making myself feel a bit claustrophobic.  Whatever the reason, this year, decorations went up, and I am enjoying the whimsy of the decorations, the beauty of candlelight, the loveliness of ornaments on a tree, and the quiet grace of the nativity.  I think it is just enough to keep me connected to my mother, and little enough to keep me connected to Jesus.  For both, I am thankful.

 

December 15, 2012 - A Day of Mourning

Oregon Coast, February 20, 2010

Twenty children died yesterday, as did seven adults, in a single incident in Connecticut.  Across the country, we mourn the loss of life, the loss of innocence.

December 14, 2012 - The first day of snow

Western Grebe on Casey Pond

Just a hint of sunlight over Wallula Gap, and the Columbia

Before our light snow started today, there was the faintest hint of sunlight.  If I'd have driven ten miles east, I'd have found myself in sunshine.  Instead, I elected to go to an overlook of the ponds and the Peninsula Unit of the McNary Wildlife Refuge.  The colors were wonderful - muted browns, greens and grays, with a hint of blue sky in the distance.  It felt like winter, and for some curious reason, I found that a happy circumstance.  I am not naturally a cold weather person.  I get chilled easily, and have my mother's tendency to cold feet and hands.  Yet in this spot, winter is most beautiful.  I drove down to Casey Pond, and right at the edge of the pond was the Western grebe pictured above.  It didn't dive, it didn't swim away - it ignored me completely as I changed lenses, then took several photos.  It seemed to me to be a gift - an early Christmas present as I continue on this journey of the beautiful.  May you who read this find within this winter something beautiful that resonates within your soul.

December 13, 2012 - Santa Lucia Day

Great Egrets

Snow Geese - McNary Wildlife Refuge

Who said these two could join in?

The second day of my journey.  I wasn't surprised to find the geese, since I knew where to look.  The Great Egrets were definitely a surprise, however, as we usually have snowy egrets around here.  And I couldn't resist the mallards, just hanging out with the snow geese.  (I don't think they blend in very well...)

They say beauty is in the eye of the beholder.  If so, I've been gifted with an eye that sees beauty everywhere.  It's not just the flowers, the birds, the trees, the sunsets.  It's also in the tiny red berries on the burning bush plant, the smallest hoofprint of a fawn in my back yard, the gleam of ebony on a grand piano, the play of sunlight on corrugated roofing.  I've seen incredible beauty in graffitti, in windblown dunes, in the rows of car lights on a rainy night looking out an airplane window.  Have I seen beauty marred?  Yes, many times.  That doesn't keep me from looking.  These things are all free for the looking, available to anyone who simply takes the time to look and see.  In me, they create a space of thankfulness, of gratitude, of greater awareness of the wonder that surrounds me.  I invite you to join me on this journey.  Make space in your heart to recognize beauty, and open yourself to thankfulness.

December 12, 2012 - The First Day on a Journey of Beauty

A Sunny Day - December 12, 2012, in Central Washington

A good day to begin a journey of beauty.  Five months after a serious car crash, and much time spent being thankful (and some time spent being wretched), I thought it was time to focus on the beauty around me.  Today the sun was shining, and I still have roses in bloom.  In December!  I watched six swans land on the river in front of my house, and spotted four bald eagles roosting in a tree.  The early sun on the miniature pumpkin (grown in my garden, which was cared for over the summer by blessed friends) also caught my eye.  So much beauty, so much to be thankful for.  I decided to spend the next six months to a year blogging a day at a time (more or less) about what I see around me for which I am thankful.  I am only including the non-human population - not all of the people I would want to feature would agree to this format!  This blog is dedicated to those people - the ones who have held me up, both literally and figuratively.  I am thankful.  May you see this, and be blessed!