sparkle

 It was late morning, or maybe even early afternoon, when the clouds parted like curtains on a stage to reveal trees festooned with a million tiny rainbows sparkling in the sun. The thick layer of ice that remained from the last storm transformed into a glorious display of Nature’s best. There was a raw beauty to the cold afternoon that banished the memory of days of gloom. 

I’ve been lazy since 2023 rolled in but the last few days I’ve had a niggling desire to be a bit busy. Oh, not cleaning the house, although I did vacuum, but I’d like to be doing something! I thought of wheeling the sewing machine out to sew a new cover for the dog bed in the bedroom but since the table is draped with the tablecloth that we got from Uncle Graham in Mexico I put the thought aside. Maybe in a few days…

I tried to do some clicker training with Lupa but since she’s never done any free shaping the session was a bit of a bust. I wanted her to pick up a toy but since she doesn’t know the game yet we didn’t have any success so I settled with her turning her head. It’s a start I guess… Spike was good at the game but I have to remember that he didn’t start out that way… I need to spend more training time with her.

This afternoon I was reading back to some old blog posts and realized that since I stopped taking lithium I haven’t had the stogy brain that I lamented about so often - I feel more alert, but sadly it hasn’t transitioned into better writing! Most of my reading lately has been poorly written trash that is not feeding my brain. In fact some of it is so bad that it should be burned (although that would be bad since my books are all on my phone!). Time to break out some literature - maybe Alice Munroe for a story or two.

We had a fun chat with Olaf and Stephanie about their trip to Cuba. We grilled them extensively about their time in an all-inclusive with the thought that we might do one ourselves in March or April. 

The beaver seems to be building a new lodge as its original one has partially collapsed under the weight of the snow and ice. He’s a bit like the little piggy who builds his house with straw. There are lots of little trees not far from the pond that it could fell but I think it’s young and inexperienced. I wish there was something that we could do to help but I guess we should leave well enough alone.

Pat came for supper tonight - our second visitor of 2023. Sometimes I feel like shutting the doors to everyone and just laying low for the winter, but then a spark of energy gets me motivated for another visitor!

Awesome!

“quiet days”

“billions of tiny rainbows”

“Grace whistling to the music”

“the last 2 years of photos backed up”