An inspiration for the year’s start

Most year’s we take down the Christmas decorations and the tree about the time of the feast of the Epiphany, January 6, when the Three Wise Men visited the Christ child. That dedecoration usually leaves a void that I don’t begin thinking about filling much before Valentine’s. This year we’re going to try something different because two years of pandemic, four years of tRUMP, etc. needs a positive response.

As soon as we can after the decorations come down, we’re going to find floral and/or botanical decorations to replace the Christmas greenery, but probably on a reduced scale. Furthermore, we’re going to treat this as an adventure, not a chore. And, although we’ll lean toward natural, native plants, we’ll approach the search with an open mind and a questing spirit. That change right there will be an improvement over most past January days around here.

a fresh start in January

Photo by J. Harrington

We’re open to cut bouquets or potted plants, or both. When the weather warms we’ll cut our own batches of pussy willow catkins and red osier dogwood, and later, cattails, but for now the options seem to require store bought. Although we have long agreed with Joan Walsh Anglund, that Spring is a New Beginning, we also know that a new year is also a new beginning, or can and should be.

Good Bones

Maggie Smith

Life is short, though I keep this from my children.
Life is short, and I’ve shortened mine
in a thousand delicious, ill-advised ways,
a thousand deliciously ill-advised ways
I’ll keep from my children. The world is at least
fifty percent terrible, and that’s a conservative
estimate, though I keep this from my children.
For every bird there is a stone thrown at a bird.
For every loved child, a child broken, bagged,
sunk in a lake. Life is short and the world
is at least half terrible, and for every kind
stranger, there is one who would break you,
though I keep this from my children. I am trying
to sell them the world. Any decent realtor,
walking you through a real shithole, chirps on
about good bones: This place could be beautiful,
right? You could make this place beautiful.

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