Betwixt

Betwixt and between.  Belated greetings for Thanksgiving and early greetings for a nice Christmas season.  The above photo was taken from our backyard, so winter has arrived in Adams town.

As you can see, many of you likely have greater amounts of snow.

However, our thermometer showed temperatures likely to match an arctic freeze.  Don't you think of 4 degrees as rather cold?  We certainly did.  I longed for the good ole days of having a wood stove to snuggle up to and once the chill left my bones to just sit and watch the dance of the flames of brilliant color.

Gratitude.  Sometimes we slip into a negative state of mind with all the concerns and ills of this world and succumb to feelings of hopelessness.  The corruption and greed of the status quo and the lengths many go to seem so unbelievable, even barbaric and evil to so many people.  How did we become so powerless?  If anyone cares to share their view, please do.  In the meantime, since by nature and heredity negativity comes easily for me, I need to keep my poor mind from spinning and try hard to concentrate on gratitude.  Normal material things beyond comfort really have not held great importance for me.  My children have importance; a husband that is a real man, kind, gentle and loving; being surrounded by real friends; mementos of others that have had significance to me; having a simple life and the ability to still learn and develop an open mind, hopefully will be uppermost in my quest to put gratitude first.  All the tribulations and trials of life and the pain that it created can lock us in place with bitterness and despair or become valuable lessons toward leading a better life.  Often it takes nearly a lifetime to realize this which then leaves little time for practicing gratitude.  If only we humans were perfect, it would be such a better place.  In the meantime, I am grateful to keep trying for understanding the events in my little space in time.  It's very hard.
Take care of your little space and enjoy our ability to learn.
Merry Christmas, in an old fashioned sense.