Narnia dropped by...

If you have never lived in the midwest, then you don't realize that yes, it's humid in the summer and yes, we don't get good snow in the winter. All I ever knew of Kansas before I moved here was that it was the beginning setting of The Wizard of Oz and I didn't like that movie.

But Kansas is like me in many ways. Brutal, soft, harsh, and somehow even more appreciably beautiful after something ugly.



It was the first day of sun for almost two weeks. I was still recovering from a stomach thing but the sunlight was such a draw that Daisy and I couldn't be held back (indeed, the darling nearly bullied me right out the door. If she could have opened the door herself and left me in the proverbial dust, she would have).



There was an interesting sound as we walked out. Crashing that made Daisy jump frequently. But it was pretty self-explanatory, at least to me. The sun was melting the ice right off the limbs and it was falling and crashing to the ground. But how do you explain this to a dog?



The ice was on everything and the trees were heavy with it, I knew that I would only have a brief moment to capture this glass-like fairyland.



It's like lace made with ice.


Not that it wasn't without its hazards, as noted by the falling ice in the upper right corner. I did get some in the eye but I'm okay. A little bruised but I can see just fine.

But the best part of the day was getting back inside, back in the warmth and out of the way of hazards from above.

Merry Christmas...if that's okay

Because everyone's been getting their panties in a knot once again this holiday season, I think I will let MST3K say it all (if you are subscribing via Bloglines, you'll have to just click over to the blog to see the video).

Holiday Music

I am working on a Christmas Mix for people on the Lime & Violet MB and in search of a blank CD, I found another CD mix. Unmarked so I had no idea it was full of music I hadn't heard for ages. VAST, Ivoux, Afro-Celt, various things I'd collected here and there. It brought vague impressions of lots of driving since I made most of my CD mixes while in LPN school in a desperate attempt to not have to listen to 45 minutes of radio twice a day.

Funny how memories always shine brighter and look better after a dusting of time.

For instance, last year, mom was hit with breast cancer and we spent Christmas Day at a friend's because mom had no strength to do much, sick with an infection from her lumpectomy. But it was a good Christmas, leaning on the friendship of others as we recovered from the shock of it all. And I remember not getting quite all I wanted for Christmas but not caring. What I really wanted was for my mom to get better. Thank goodness the wish was granted, my mother's recovered and she still wears the socks I knit her in fond memory of the care of everyone as she went through dark times.

No Christmas is perfect, pine needles fall, the constant ringing of those stupid bells in front of every business is enough to make me want to hit them repeatedly with their own bucket, and I'm tired of Silent Night and whether it's Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays, but there is always peaceful silence somewhere, even if it's deep down inside, miracles still happen and there are still bells that even I don't mind hearing, tolling out their messages.