Bojangles, the retired barn cat peeking out from beneath some wrapping paper Christmas morning after getting more than his fair share of catnip made the perfect picture for the count down to the New Year, "Is it over yet?"
Here's to smoother sailing and a steady breeze in 2021.
©2020
Two planets separated by thousands of miles in a rare convergence in the night sky over Bethlehem inspired the hope that with this meeting comes greater light.
Even though the first significant snowfall this year didn't come until mid December, it felt to me, early, too soon, burdensome, like something more that needed to be added to the morning schedule. It wasn't until later, after the storm had passed, the wind subsided, and the snow blower put away that the season seemed to settle in. Sometimes in the late spring and summer, we go from project to project, in the fall, trying to wrap the projects up. It isn't until the winter that the outdoor projects slow down and things grow quiet.
I walked into the barn one evening after this snowfall, in the late afternoon twilight, and could nearly feel the spirit of the Nativity scene, with the light in the barn. the smell of hay and animals, the trumpeting of hens with feathers in a flurry as they pecked at grain, the goats munching on hay, and the cat seeking refuge from the snow, sitting on a bale of hay. It was like a harbor of food, light and life in the midst of the approaching winter evening of frost and cold.
It is a time to pause from the projects of the warmer weather and long days of daylight, to think about the world sleeping, with the daylight of spring on the other side. A moment to look at the moon suspended in the night sky, and the snow covering all of the busy-ness and the hustle and bustle.
