Use your power for GOOD!

Happy New Year from Little Bird Farm! The 2nd day of this fresh new year, and we are covered in pristine snow. A rare event here - but not so rare as to keep one from HOPING for snow. And this year we got it - all day long yesterday! How is it that a fresh New Year's Day snow makes one so giddy and happy? Well, I don't know, but we were. Our week of Christmas was made so very special by the visit form our North Carolina kids. I know it is so difficult to orchestrate travel, especially at holiday time; airline reservations made so early, to assure the travel, kenneling doggies (also requiring early reservations these days), arranging for a friend to feed the chickens while you're away, wrapping up the hundreds of loose ends! We SO appreciate that our kids made all this effort to come be with us! For me, this meant many, many games of "Go Fish"and Yahtzee, a special date with our wonderful Piper, who is 8 years old, to see "Mary Poppins Returns". We loved it!!! Giggled and laughed and shared so many looks as we laughed! Cookie making together, a freezing cold day-after-Christmas trail ride, the 5 of us, in the enchanting quiet of the morning. Eating too many cookies! Lots of yummy hot chocolate. (Thank you to our Ft Worth kids who had a Texas Christmas this year, for our hot chocolate snowman!) Leftover posole for breakfast, lunch and dinner. After-dinner conversations by the fire with our son, reconnecting and learning about his life - and feeling so happy that we have loving relationships with one another - shared history and shared hopes and dreams. Listening to Piper as she read stories to us. Our three grandchildren are all such readers! Reading is magic! It amazes me as it opens up a vast world to these three amazing children! Our little piñon tree still sparkles, the white lights twinkle and I never tire of sitting in the living room in the quiet, just gazing at it. Oh, and the birds! We have been bird watching out our kitchen window to see a variety of different birds! Some we have never seen at our feeders before. The Sandhill cranes and Canadian Geese in our field are awesome! I tell them everyday that they are beautiful! And I thank them for coming too. We celebrated Fred's 7th birthday, the kitchen decorated with Piper's cool decorations and Fred's special cupcake of peanut butter and dog treats! Onward and upward we go now, into 2019. I will strive to use my power for good! I wish you peace. "...whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable — if anything is excellent or praiseworthy — think about such things and the God of peace will be with you” (Philippians 4:8).

Life gets so complicated...

...and then I see this reminder in a very gracious person's note; "Be soft. Do not let the world make you hard. Do not let the pain make you hate. Do not let the bitterness steal your sweetness. Take pride that even though the rest of the world may disagree, you still believe it to be a beautiful place." ~ Iain Thomas - All is well at our Little Bird Farm. Home gives us strength and solace as we garden and build and share and grow. In this beautiful season, I wish you all GRACE!

Short interruption in Reality...5 days on Kauai...heavenly!

............and we are back HOME.

It's a Brand New Year

Walt Whitman left us with this advice on living a vibrant and rewarding life. This is what you shall do: Love the earth and sun and the animals, despise riches, give alms to every one that asks, stand up for the stupid and crazy, devote your income and labor to others, hate tyrants, argue not concerning God, have patience and indulgence toward the people, take off your hat to nothing known or unknown or to any man or number of men, go freely with powerful uneducated persons and with the young and with the mothers of families, read these leaves in the open air every season of every year of your life, re-examine all you have been told at school or church or in any book, dismiss whatever insults your own soul, and your very flesh shall be a great poem and have the richest fluency not only in its words but in the silent lines of its lips and face and between the lashes of your eyes and in every motion and joint of your body.

And NOW.....WINTER! Next up, CHRISTMAS!

Time for snuggling and cuddling up, reading good books and watching "The Crown"! Feasting with family and friends (tamales, posole and biscochitos). Throwing cracked corn to the cranes in the field, and singing Christmas carols together. Oh, and Christmas movies too. Happy Winter!