Spending the Holidays

Photos:
Left: A rock! (no kidding ☺)
Right: Me with a brook babbling down the hill behind me. You’ll notice that for once I’m not babbling as well! ☺
Felt good to be outside and moving. Jon and I recently walked around the north end of Shenipsit Lake in Tolland. It was a cloudy day, but mild. Just right for a brisk walk. That’s where these pictures were taken.

Spending the Holidays
Christmas day was very quiet for my mother and me.

On Sunday, the 28th, the family got together for exchange of gifts. My mother wasn’t up to going so I went alone. We gathered at Andy and Lori’s house. In addition to my mother not being there, Anne and her family didn’t make it. They went out to Chicago for Christmas and it was just too much to expect them to come to CT too.

Because the family is so big we draw names of all those who are 18 years old and older. That way, Christmas doesn’t become a financial nightmare for anyone. This year Kathy drew my name and she gave me an HP Photosmart printer and an extra pack of ink and paper. It took me an hour and a half from opening the box to printing my first photo. Now I will go back and read the directions! ☺ It has a lot of features I want to play with. Maybe next year I will create my own Christmas cards. How about a picture of my bike all decked out in red ribbon and a wreath?

Publishing
It’s not easy finding someone to publish your work…in my case, poetry. I can have a chapbook published, but I pay for the privilege and will be lucky to make my investment back in sales. Since I have a lot of experience with publishing The Door Opener for almost 20 years, why can’t I publish my own chapbook?

The first one would be my poetry from the categories of Magic, Spiritual, and Dark. Pretty much mirrors where I have been dwelling during this very stressful year.

I know how to lay out pages. I would have to work with someone (preferably Leanne Peters) to design the cover, but I already know what I want. Once I have all that together, I can print out a half dozen copies or so and see how they sell. Then I can print on demand. The only thing I would have to do is either buy a stapler deep enough to secure the pages in the middle, or take them to Staples and have them do it. It will probably take a few months for all this to come together.

Snowing today, New Year’s Eve
The last day of the year and we are dealing with a snowstorm. Haven’t heard yet if Channel 3, WFSB, has given this one a name. I think it has all the requirements. I have to go out a little later this morning, but it’s only a walk out to the mailbox.

This year has been really sucky. It’s sucked so bad the entire Universe has a hickey. It hasn’t been long enough either, because the “whatever government agency” is adding one second to this year before we can ring in the new. I’ll be sleeping…as usual.

I wish for you a New Year filled
with an Abundance of
All Good Things.

From my house to yours

Merry Christmas

and may the

New Year

bring you an Abundance of All Good Things.

Storm Brooke

Photos
Top: The waters of the Genessee River and Erie Canal meet in Rochester.
Left: The Dewitt Clinton NY State working barge helping to trim the trees along the Erie Canal.
Right: More tree trimming barges on the Erie Canal.

Digging out
Yesterday, Sunday, we were treated to four more inches of snow thanks to Storm Brooke. I said the other day the next storm would be named Bonnie. Either I heard wrong or the meteorologist was misinformed. It doesn’t matter what it was named, it didn’t really ever stop snowing from the time Austin hit.

Today was cold. Really, really cold. It was 10° here at 6 a.m. but once the wind started blowing the wind chill was in the minus single digits.

Hopefully we can relax from all the shoveling and snow blowing for a few days. The weather is supposed to warm up and rain is predicted for Christmas Eve/Day and again over the next weekend.

The Blessings of friendship
Had a wonderful afternoon catching up with my high school classmate and friend, Margie. She is up from Florida to visit family for Christmas. Having been brought up here she doesn’t mind our New England winter that much. At least she knows she will be going back to Florida in a couple weeks. Hopefully we’ll get together again if she comes back in February.

If you regularly read this journal, you will recognize her family as the ones who, every June, throw a Spring Flood Party. They celebrate the fact that either they didn’t have a spring flood or that they survived one. Since they live right on the banks of the Connecticut River, it’s a sure bet they did one or the other! (Ya think? ☺)

Family Christmas
The family will be gathering here on Sunday the 28th for family gift exchange. I’m really looking forward to it. Anne and the boys won’t be here again this year. Since Rick’s folks can’t travel any more, they go to Chicago for Christmas. We won’t see Anne and the boys until some time over the summer.

By the way
I have added links to two blogs I feel are worth your while checking out.

One is Conscious CT authored by Jon Roe’s alter ego, Jon Quixote. Jon keeps the members of the spiritual/wholistic community in Connecticut in touch with each other.

The other is Cindy Miller’s Sacred Ground. You will find beautiful poetry and photos on this blog. Cindy is looking for a book publisher. It may be the book I submitted an article for. Any publishers out there? Contact Cindy. In addition there are beautiful photos, poetry, and inspired comments.

Storm Austin

Naming storms
Here in Connecticut, one of our TV stations, WFSB Channel 3, names winter storms. This practice started in 1971 when Meteorologist Ken Gary named the Thanksgiving Day storm, Arthur. The TV station at time had the call letters of WTIC. The station has been naming winter storms every since. In order to get a name, the storm has to have the potential for 6” or more of snow or (I think) ¼” of ice.

I measured the snow depth in three places in the driveway and got a solid 8” in all three. I shoveled off the deck in back and reved up the snow blower, Big Red, to take care of the driveway and walk way. I did a wide path to the back yard and to the bird feeder. The reason for the wide path is in case of emergency my mother and I need to exit the house through the back door. The path to the bird feeder gives the birds a place to feed and makes it easier for me to refill the feeder.

Parlez-vous français?
Anyone out there speak French? How would I say "bird feeder" in French and make it sound like a restaurant? Would I use the word Maison or Chez? I’m writing a poem and the last line is at the bird feeder and I want it to sound like it’s a restaurant. If all else fails I will consult a teacher of French at the local high school.

Event canceled
I was supposed to go to a poetry reading tonight in Middletown at The Buttonwood Tree, but I had message on my voice mail telling me it has been cancelled because of a parking ban and more lousy weather on the way. I really want to go and support the featured reader, Greg Scott. His poetry takes us places we didn’t know existed. Late tonight we are expecting Storm Bonnie, but I’m not sure when the precip will begin. Then you have wet roads that freeze over. I don’t know…I’m sorry we won’t get to hear Greg, but I'm glad I won’t have to go out and stress over possible driving conditions.

First Snowfall

Photos:
Left: Gardens in Lockport, NY where the Erie Canal tour begins. Besides the beautiful flowers, there is a small waterfall and benches where one can sit and contemplate.

Right: This is called an upside-down bridge. Notice the girders are on the bottom rather than the top. When the railroad came through they wanted to discourage canal traffic, so put the girders under the tracks prohibiting tall sail boats from coming through. To keep costs as low as possible the railroads wanted to build low bridges which would prohibit canal traffic. Both sides came to a compromise that the trestles had to be 15 feet above the canal. The loophole was it said nothing about where the girders had to be. The bridges were removed or "disassembled by more angry methods" when the canal was widened. This info comes from The Erie Canal: The Ditch that Opened a Nation by Dan Murphy.

Snow, Snow, Beautiful Snow!
Woke up to the first measurable snow this morning. Snow depth was a whopping ¼ inch at best. Also woke up to cold temps and wind. I guess it’s winter.

The Christmas book is done!
I have all the Christmas books (Come Ride With Me) completed and ready for delivery at Christmas. It’s not as thick as the Volumes I and II were, because of this years added activities. Planning and doing the Erie Canal bike ride, my mother’s multiple hospitalizations, and believe it or not, the elections took up a lot of my time. As far as the elections go, I was not involved in either race other than rapt interest. I could not be happier with the results.

Mom should be home soon
My mother sees her surgeon on Wednesday, and it is hoped she will get the “get out of jail card”. She is physically more than ready to leave the nursing home. We are just waiting for the medical OK.

Moon, Jupiter, Venus Conjunction

Photo: Moon and Jupiter. You will have to click on the photo in order to see Jupiter. Venus is there, but not seen by the camera.

The twilight hours of Sunday and Monday (yesterday) offered a spectacular conjunction of the Moon, Jupiter and Venus. Sunday night the moon formed a “cup” below the planets, but, because of the nasty weather was not visible from my Connecticut skies. Last night was a little better.

As the sun went down, I positioned myself in the parking lot of the Shoppes at Buckland Hills in Manchester. From there I had an uninterrupted view of the southwestern sky. There were also increasing dense clouds coming in from the southwest.

I was able to get the above picture…the best of many I took. You can see the Moon and Jupiter. However, Venus was visible with the naked eye, but too small to show up on the photo. The Moon had moved to a position above the planets.

I hope you got out to see this conjunction. I have heard that it will be anywhere from 44 to 54 years before this happens again.