Dear Joy,

I have a good friend whose illness has taken her physical mobility and independence. She can no longer do the essential and vibrant public work she used to before her illness took hold. These days, she mainly lives from her bed. Yesterday, on Christmas Day, as her two children and their father left mid-afternoon for a family gathering, we arranged a FaceTime.

Sunset, sunrise. And in between the world turns towards the sun’s light and alongside the moon’s balance.

I took this picture one Wednesday morning in February. With the help of Wikipedia, I learned that sundogs form when ice crystals drift through the air at the same level as a newly risen sun.

When Mark climbed up the steps that circle around a grain bin on our farm, he found a Raven’s nest with 4 eggs encircled in snow.

I asked my people, after they returned from going up the stairs to look at this nest, "What did you learn from this Raven?"

Dear Hope,
On this first December day, I wonder about you as the sky is a mindless gray and the branches bare. If only you would burst out of Justin Bieber’s version of Jingle Bells that my daughter loves and listens on repeat. Or from the long list of gift finding, wrapping and giving, or the packed calendar of family gatherings. Why do I feel grinch-like?

Dear Love,

When the dishes, cutlery, and platters finally found their way back to their places, the island was given one last wipe to mark a clean kitchen and a job well done. 

I returned to the space to find my once pristine island now housed the bottom of a roaster. An irritating surge flowed through when Mark walked past me towards the entrance. 

From Mark Nepo, in The Endless Practice; Becoming Who you Were Born to Be:

“Being deaf, Beethoven could hear the music of the Universe, unheard by the rest of us

...Completed in 1826, Opus 131 (String Quartet No. 14 in C# minor) was considered groundbreaking, offering seven movements instead of the traditional four....

...it mirrors the non-stop demand of life to have us make music with what we’re given... inevitably, having to play seven movements without pause, the instruments will go out of tune.

With no time to re-tune their strings, musicians have to adjust and improvise within the structure of the music. In this piece, Beethoven insists on allowing both the harmony and discord of life to be present. He challenges musicians to see the movements through, even out of tune.”