Four Days Into the New Year....

My goodness we are already into day 4 of the New Year and I can't say I have accomplished little of anything.  I need to put my Christmas decorations back in their boxes and bins and get this home back to normal along with life in general.  Holidays are wonderful (altho mine not so much this year) but aren't you ready to get some normalcy back?  Put away all those lovely gold ornaments and buy some spring tulips at Trader Joe's, that's what I need.  Altho I will hang on to this pretty pink poinsettia for as long as I can.  And no, I am not one to try and keep them alive until next year, putting them in darkness for so many hours in the day, and all that other stuff that goes with trying to hang on to something that only cost me $4.99 at Loews.  I have bigger challenges to conquer.

We had our first significant snow-fall today which reminded me of a line from a book I am currently reading.  The book is "Tell the Wolves I'm Home" and in chapter seven June (the main character) who loves to walk in the woods behind her school says this, "after a snowstorm is one of the best times to be in the woods, because all the empty beer and soda cans and candy wrappers disappear. Plus there is just something beautiful about walking on snow that nobody else has walked on."  I can identify with that beauty.  I have to agree that untouched snow that covers up all the dead grass and leaves and dog poop (sorry) is really magical.  But with my 2 kids, that magic disappears in a flash.

 
Which brings me to another something that I love...a hot cup of coffee on these wintry afternoons. I have a little personal Kuerig and I stock up on de-caf coffee so I can enjoy that one cup as the sun drops quickly toward sunset.  But hallelujah, we are gaining light with each passing day, minute by minute. By the way today is National Trivia Day and to add to your trivia knowledge during the month of January we will gain 49 minutes of daylight with 33 minutes added at sunset and 16 minutes at sunrise.  Funny, somehow I thought it would be evenly distributed between sunrise and sunset.  Just add that to your wealth of trivia knowledge.

And is anybody excited about the return of "Downton Abbey"?  My gosh this TV winter break just about drove me crazy.  I did watch a couple of limited TV shows....remember when they used to call these mini-series?  "Mozart in the Jungle" on Amazon Prime was quite delightful about an eccentric NY Symphony orchestra director and the "behind the scenes" life of its members.  And I also watched "Missing" on Starz, quite disturbing about a child kidnapping. The acting was outstanding and the eventuality and changes in the lives of those effected (or is it affected?) was staggering. Tonight many of my favorites are returning with a couple of new ones to be added to my list.  During these cold winter months I have a habit of going to bed early and watching TV in bed.  I am going to blame it on my "kids".  They can't wait to crawl in bed to fall asleep all comfy and cozy.  The only time they perk up is if I happen to go down to the kitchen to grab a little snack for myself.  But when they realize it is not for them, back to sleep they go.  And honestly it is so much warmer snuggled in bed than it is sitting downstairs.  Remember how I mentioned there are some advantages to living alone...this would be one of them.

So stay warm, stay healthy and be content.....!!! 

Until next time....