As the year winds down

Thanks to temperatures in the mid-40’s, much of the snow has melted. Tomorrow is supposed to be even warmer. No complaints here, although the persistent cloudiness is wearing, or at least wearying.

We did a birthday lunch today at the Nicollet Island Inn for the Daughter person. Everyone had a good time and the Granddaughter was extremely well behaved. (I suspect that comes from her maternal grandmother’s side of the family.) it’s been some time since we ate at the Inn and I’d sort of forgotten how much I like the place. 

Nicollet Island Inn

Photo by J. Harrington

So, there’s some odds and ends of holiday shopping still to tend to but, for the most part, it looks like we get to glide into Christmas after we’ve celebrated Winter Solstice. As the days grow longer again, we’ll snuggle down and settle in until spring thaw, baking bread, reading poems, wearing sweaters and eating soup for several months(?).

Left off that list are filing taxes, organizing books, and clearing snow. As a present to myself, I can avoid at least two, and maybe alll three of those chores until New Years or later. As the world continues to deteriorate, we do what we can to make our life livable and enjoyable. May you do the same and may we all support love, kindness and sanity and disown the opposites now and through the future.

When Giving Is All We Have 

Alberto Ríos     1952 – 

                                              One river gives
                                              Its journey to the next.

We give because someone gave to us.
We give because nobody gave to us.

We give because giving has changed us.
We give because giving could have changed us.

We have been better for it,
We have been wounded by it—

Giving has many faces: It is loud and quiet,
Big, though small, diamond in wood-nails.

Its story is old, the plot worn and the pages too,
But we read this book, anyway, over and again:

Giving is, first and every time, hand to hand,
Mine to yours, yours to mine.

You gave me blue and I gave you yellow.
Together we are simple green. You gave me

What you did not have, and I gave you
What I had to give—together, we made

Something greater from the difference.

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Please be kind to each other while you can.