A Place to Thaw

Jack and I went for a relaxing beach date late afternoon yesterday...it's one of our favorite places to walk and just spend quiet time together. If you live in a snow-laden climate and need a place to go thaw, come on down...the weather's in the mid-70s. These pics needed no color retouching...

The sunset paints impossible palettes across the sand and water, colors and textures that you just sit there and try to drink in. Vast, and yet beautiful even in the smallest grains of sand or shell detritus strewn like glowing confetti

It's brushed clean by each incoming and outgoing wave...just waiting for feet to track across, like newfallen snow. Just warmer...

Mauve, gold, salmon, kisses of foam, litters of tiny shell peppering the drifts

pelicans at play, slowly stroking the air currents with their awkward wings, diving, feasting, bobbing along, preening. Repeating.




Sailboat far out on the horizon, a fingernail of sail scratching a curtain of orange horizon

Foam whispering "Shhhhhh" over molten waterlines

Pathway to the sunset

Matelasse quilts of foam in constant motion

This was the point just before the sun sank below the horizon. The clouds were magnificent! Just when the light is only a stripe of incandescence before disappearing, if I'm with Jack, it's time to kiss!

God's handiwork is so lavish, it's amazing to me, new again each time ... shehecheyanu

There are these moments of perfect wonder, and they're not limited to warm beaches. We are collectors of the moment, witnesses of a world we cannot control, fierce beauty, painted with large strokes and the smallest of details. Stunning and raw. A garden we inhabit.

Baruch atah adonai eloheinu melech ha'olam shecheyanu v'kiy'manu v'higyanu lazman hazeh.

Blessed are You, O Lord our God, King of the Universe, who has kept us in life, sustained us, and brought us to this moment.

Garden at Child's Eye View

57 Wonderful Years

This is a happy belated post in honor of my husband's recent 57th birthday. There are so many reasons to love this man, and I'm honored to be a part of his life. Here are just a few of the things that make him special:

1. He is kind.
2. He is strong and has a backbone.
3. He loves me like crazy!
4. I love him like crazy!
5. He is a man who loves God with all his heart.
6. He challenges me to be my best.
7. He cares about our safety.
8. He values inner qualities of goodness, integrity, honesty.
9. He does not lie.
10. He loves to hold my hand.
11. We are happier together than apart.
12. He always sits on the same side of restaurant booths and tables next to me.
13. He doesn't despair or have frequent lows.
14. He prays a lot for any sort of concern, whether small or large.
15. He cares for people.
16. He is protective of his family.
17. He is not helpless and has taught himself to do so many things.
18. When faced with a wall, he climbs the wall.
19. He laughs at my cornball jokes.
20. He looks at me and I see him smiling.
21. He is a visionary.
22. He has the ability to take practical steps towards our goals.
23. He is not obsessed with watching sports or TV.
24. He loves to be working hard outside and sweating.
25. He adores children...and they adore him.
26. He is kind to animals.
27. He treats my daughter as his own.
28. He will sacrifice to help someone better themselves.
29. He is an excellent confidante.
30. He is ready to laugh and has a cheerful disposition.
31. His eyes are fabulous!
32. He has smile lines that make his whole face smile.
33. He will watch "girl movies" with me...and then balance them out with a whole lot of war movies and westerns.
34. He has an inventor's mind.
35. He is practical.
36. He still knows how to dream.
37. He is faithful and content.
38. He is an innovator.
39. He is an enthusiastic and patient student of the Bible.
40. He is good and consistent at keeping us financially on track.
41. He is a good provider.
42. He will call me on the phone just to tell me he loves me and see if I'm ok.
43. He doesn't care one whit for fashion.
44. He prefers to wear a beard.
45. His hands are strong from working, and I love the way they feel rugged.
46. He can be a fierce defender.
47. He forgives.
48. He loves growing things.
49. He loves building things.
50. He calls his mother.
51. He loves the country and simplicity.
52. He is happy being himself and doesn't feel a need to impress others.
53. He delights in God and following His laws.
54. He is not self-righteous or better-than-thou.
55. Home is the place he loves being the most.
56. He learns from the past and is not embittered by disappointment.
57. He is quick to discern people's character and does not show favoritism, and is not a bigot.

I could go on and on. But I'll just sum it up by saying that it's my greatest honor in life to be his partner, wife, and love...and I thank God for him every day.

Jack, I pray for you a long life, health, and joy in every day. I pray for you all the blessings of the Torah, and for you to be given all the desires of your heart...

I've already received the desire of mine in you.

Just one more...

...really :)

Strange and beautiful looking...love the wings...whew, the eyes -- I wonder how I look to him?

The Path Narrows

I needed this good news!

We reviewed The Big Overall Plan, and we're making headway. Can we say a HUGE Yay!!!!!!

First, God gets the credit for helping us through this all. This was quite a challenging, and yet very fulfilling year. I'm convinced the prep work is as vital as all the more "fun" stages.

Without being specific, we received a most unexpected...what's the word?? ...BLESSING...from the Almighty. A HUGE HUGE blessing. I'm sorry not to elaborate. No, we've not won the lottery, but some things have transpired to put my husband's mind at ease about some things he was working very hard at for a long time, and he was awarded retroactive compensatory benefits.

Y'know when you can't get the ketchup out of the bottle, and you smack it and smack it with the palm of your hands trying to get that first push of sauce out of the bottle, and finally the first blob makes it out? (yes, I know...I'm waxing poetic...ha!) Each step we've been taking, be it our jobs, long commutes, training in fields new to us, trying to keep things together for our daughter's education, land research, experimenting on a small (very small) scale with this or that towards the goal of our eventual mini-farm...each step has been like one of those smacks on the bottom of the ketchup bottle. Yet a recent "smack" moved the whole thing along!

I'll be more specific if and when I can. All I can say is that it was unexpected and delightfully encouraging! It has given my husband a great boost of confidence and momentum, and we're both humbled and entirely grateful to God. So the greatest thanks of all to the One who watches over us. Thank You, God, for your encouragement in this season, and for honoring the efforts of my faithful husband. I just can't say thank you enough!!!!!

It Feels Like Spring...

and the Whippoorwill's thoughts have turned to love.


I'm enjoying his nightly courtship serenade, too...



Here's a link to his song, though my night friend seems to call in a more relaxed drawl than the recorded one.

http://www.nhest.org/birdguid.html You'll probably find some of your feathered friends' songs here, too...

Those Moments

Last night, twilight, and the wild turkey. She tread a carpet of fine grasses. She was beautiful and unexpected.

And after dusk, the magic of a whippoorwill, only yards from the bedroom window. I opened the window and its solo hung there for minutes in repetitive and plaintive beauty.



Those moments.

And then they are gone.


You catch your breath and hold it and have that moment, moments.



In time, they vault your sky with stars.



Shehecheyanu