Christmas day sky--and wishes

This photo was taken on Christmas afternoon in our neighborhood. We've had snow and cold for days. Notice Dave and Erica trudging along in the lower corner under a bright blue winter sky. See more skies worldwide by visiting SkyWatch hosted by Klaus, Sandy, Ivar, Wren, Louise and Fishing Guy here.

Sending my best holiday wishes, dear blogging friends!

One kind word can warm three winter months.
Japanese proverb

silver threads and golden needles

One evening this week, the sky view from my patio door went from this to this in a matter of minutes

By the way, it wasn't quite 4 p.m. Thankfully the days will soon be getting a bit longer in just a few weeks. In the meantime, visit SkyWatch to see more skies from around the globe. . .winter or summer. . .nearly 300 and still counting!

I surrender!

The first of all single colors is white ... We shall set down white for the representative of light, without which no color can be seen; yellow for the earth; green for water; blue for air; red for fire; and black for total darkness.
--Leonardo Da Vinci


When you glaze on a bright white ground it is like looking through colour rather than at it – like looking through stained glass.-- Fred Machetanz

The world is your kaleidoscope, and the varying combinations of colors which at every succeeding moment it presents to you are the exquisitely adjusted pictures of your ever-moving thoughts. --James Edward Allen

*****

White is the color of the week for True Colour's Thursday. White holds hands with blue at times, like shadows on snow, puffy clouds in a clear blue sky, blue eyes in pale skin. My favorite flowers are usually white because they glow in the dark, are bright in the sunlight, and usually smell terrific. Visit Blue to see more photographer's visions in white.

Symphony in White / James Abbott McNeill Whistler

Under a blanket of snow

We've had snow just about every day for a week. Today cleared and was breathtakingly clear with blue skies and brisk temperatures. Everything truly is under a blanket of snow, especially in the southern part of the state where they were expecting another 7 inches today.
Visit Mrs Nesbitt's meme ABC Wednesday, where we are winding down the alphabet with the letter U.

mmmmmmmmmm

I have finally resigned myself to the fact that my mother wasn’t a cook. She could till a plot of ground and work the garden until dark every day of summer. She scrubbed every wall in the house, washed and ironed into the wee hours after working a shift on her feet at the grocery store. But she only learned from her own mother that the kitchen was hot, that canning season seemed endless and there were only so many pigs feet she could gnaw on. Its no wonder she was glad to go to work.

No cookies were baked in our oven but occasionally a Jiffy cake mix appeared and the three of us would scrap over the crumbs like a pack of hungry mongrels. Once a year at Christmas time this German workhorse of a woman would make one unfailing delight for us.

After much hinting and playful cajoling from the man whose left hook could bring her to her knees, she gave in. I was alerted by the sound of the small electric mixer cord swinging against the cabinet door as she retrieved it from its dusty box. Bowls, pans, sugar spilling, syrup measured and soon the familiar rise of the acrid exhaust from the mixer’s motor that had just been rudely awakened from its year-long slumber. No wooden spoons in our kitchen, just the scraping of stainless steel on stainless steel. Droning became more labored and then stopped.

Into a pan lay the white molten ooze which she quickly smoothed out, then cut into squares and dusted with powdered sugar. It was a miracle to behold—science and strong biceps had produced a pan of homemade marshmallows. Only once did my father intrude on the process by insisting that anise flavoring be added in remembrance of his dear departed Italian mama who had never made this delicacy in her life. Powdered sugar everywhere, dusting my father’s mustache, on my pajamas and a thin layer along the stove top my mother must have remembered herself as a little girl standing on the kindling box in her mother’s steamy kitchen waiting patiently for her piece of marshmallow to appear. Then it would be Christmas for her too.

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This week's Sunday Scribbling's prompt was tradition and though it is already Monday, I've been marshmallow-dreaming since the calendar turned to December. Visit here to see more writers' traditions.

p.s. A very good site for making your own marshmallows can be visited here.

Happy Monday!

Sky over Sucker Lake

On the day after Thanksgiving the sun rose over frigid air and a quiet lake. Sucker Lake is reserved for our water supply so you will never see boats gliding along--only geese, ducks, swans as well as all manner of egrets, herons and cormorants on the long sandy spits near shore. I chose this photo because it shows the lovely swirling patterns as the lake becomes solid ice.

As we sail into the weekend, visit more beauty from all over the globe at SkyWatch.

We are all in the process of becoming. —Audre Lorde

Too much fun -- ABC Wednesday to a T

ABC Wednesday's letter-'o'-the-week is 'T'. . .and I'm using thoughts of our Thanksgiving last week since they're still fresh in my mind (and who knows how long that will last!) Sadly Erica couldn't join us because she was on surgical rotations but Audrey came. . .this year with a special friend, Steven. So that made two young people at our table. Steven is a wonderful young man and good cook. He peeled the potatoes and made his grandma's special recipe for corn pudding. Our turkey was stuffed with cornbread dressing this year. The day was clear and cold which gave us opportunity to take an afternoon walk to Owasso Lake and test its frozen depths.
Both painters, Audrey & Steven spent one day touring the Walker Art Center and the MIA.
Turkey dinner leftovers filled out the three days--pun intended!

Many thanks to Denise who offers ABC Wednesday each week. Visit here to see more T's and to join in the fun.

Today's Flowers amid wintertime

Flowers from an earlier, more colorful time on my little slab garden. Sweet remembrance as we now have snow on the ground from a storm yesterday.

In the bleak midwinter, frost wind made moan,

earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone;

snow had fallen, snow on snow,

snow on snow, in the bleak midwinter, long ago.

Christina Rossetti

See more lovely flowers at Today's Flowers. It will brighten your day and tempt you to join in. Happy Monday!

Happy Thanksgiving!

For all that has been--Thanks!

For all that shall be--Yes!

Dag Hammarskjöld

Its time familiar time to gather my dear fledglings--near and far, stuff the turkey, eat pie, sigh with contentment and look forward to the holiday time soon upon us. Wishing you all a day of peace and plenty. When I count my blessings you will be on my list!

Norwegians in Wisconsin

I took this photo from a motorcycle on a trip we took to Wisconsin along the Chippewa and Mississippi Rivers where we visited a wetland preserve that was on the migration path for Trumpeter Swans. The church sits outside of Nelson on flat ground, I was just a little 'atilt.'

'The first Norwegian settlers in Buffalo County were Ole Hansen Lerum, Jens J. Hovland, Erik Alme, Arne Ottesen Sørum and S. Arnesen, all from Lyster, Sogn...Lyster Evangelical Lutheran Congregation, that was founded at Urne in 1856, was the first Norwegian congregation in the county. Its first priest was K. Thorstensen of The Norwegian Synod.' [genealogy info found on-line here.]

Visit Skywatch Friday for photos of skies from all over the world. You'll want to join in the fun.

These are the days. . .

While I read this it is 23 degrees outside and I've been wearing socks to bed lately. . .it is finally sinking in that winter has arrived. Over my bowl of oatmeal I remind myself to practice the same mindfulness I use to cope with the bleak midwinter as I do diabetes. Mindfulness offers the suggestion that with patience it can be possible to move nearer to instead of running away from the unpleasantry which can offer rewards of its own. One result is to make peace with the pain. This Marc Chagall painting is one I keep on hand for just such an occasion as my current journey to Siberia.

Blogging has saved my bacon [“Mmm … bacon”--H. Simpson] as well and today is no exception. I recommend you visit iBeati who has written her take on this here. You'll be swept up in her delightful sense of humor and the 'grace' of her thoughts.

Speaking of delight, visit Blue as she has begun a new MeMe called True Colours Thursday--today's color is RED in all its amazing glory. Stop by and join in.

Happy Thursday!