HO HO HO

Well - all our presents were delivered yesterday to Ryan's (and my) friends at Dollywood - WHEW. I'm always so glad to get that done. We had planned to take them on Saturday but guess what? It was RAINING! What a shock. But yesterday was partly cloudy - no rain - but man it was COLD! The wind would cut right through you. I was worried (naturally) about two things (I tend to worry about things that I have totally given over to God to help me with but I keep "taking them back" to worry about-shame on me!): the antifreeze in my car and whether or not my furnace would work properly. I stopped in Wears Valley at "our" Exxon station and added antifreeze to my radiator (I keep some in my trunk) and when we got home, the house was nice and warm, and stayed warm all night because my furnace was working properly. All that worry - ahh - if only I could stop taking back things that I leave with God, let Him do His job and me stop worrying.

No rain today but rain is in the forecast for the rest of the week, but somehow it doesn't bother me today. I have to work at Dollywood on the 2th but at least I won't be out in the rain, but I worry about Ryan being in the rain, but we'll work it out.

Peace on earth - good will to all mankind. I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday season, and that everyone stays healthy.

WELL WELL, IT'S RAINING - AGAIN

All the leaves have gone, and the skies are gray
I've been for a walk, on a winter's day
I'd be safe and warm - if I was at home in my bed, but no - I'm at work on another rainy day.

GEESH - the rain, the gloom, the early darkness - very hard to take.

But hey, I woke up this morning, able to walk on my own, breathe on my own, I have a wonderful son, I have a home, I have clothes, I have food, I have a job, I have a car.....wow.

I'm going to repeat this to myself every day from now until March 1st when hopefully the colors will return. It shall be my "mantra" until spring.

So....come again. There's always room and as always....

Peace

AH THE RAIN....OH THE RAIN....RAIN RAIN RAIN

It is raining....again. Sometimes I think the sun just doesn't want to come out. It wants to stay hidden up there behind the gray, cottony clouds, warming the tops of them, hiding from us. Sigh.

If I could fly, I'd fly straight through those gray clouds - up where the sky is still blue and the sun is bright - brighter than the brightest. But I can't - fly that is. So I shall stay here, down below, below the clouds, in the gray drizzle. Sigh.

We have rain forecast for all of this week with unseasonably high temperatures. At least my heating bill should not be too high. Ryan worries when the heat doesn't kick on - I tell him - the house isn't cold enough for it to kick on. He still worries. He'll ask: Will it come on again? I tell him: When the house is cold enough it will come on. He still worries. Sigh.

Only 74 more days until March 1st, and I don't care if it's snowing on March 1st - March 1st is Spring for me. 74 more days. 1,776 hours. 106,560 minutes. until Spring. until color. until warmth. until the sweet scent of growth. Sigh.

Do come again. Your visits here are magic for me.. And as always

Peace

REST IN PEACE CRYSTAL

We lost a bird last night - our last parakeet, Crystal, a sweet little green bird that had been very lonely since Blueberry, her cage mate died this past January. She had not looked good for a couple of days, and last night when we got home she was on the floor of her cage. She was calm and didn't seem to be in too much distress, so I left her alone and later Ryan came to me and told me she had died.

I will miss her sweet little twitters. We are now left with two finches (Becky and Bonnie), three cockatiels (Petey I, Petey II, and Jack) and one parrot (Rainy). This is the lowest number of birds I have had in 6 years. I have two empty cages but I'm going to move Rainy into Sam's cage - he is slowly eating his and I'm afraid that he's going to figure out a way to escape - he's done it before. Then if I move the two little finches into Crystal's cage I can move that huge flight cage to the basement and have a little more room in the dining room - ha! I mean the bird room. If I thought the 3 cockatiels wouldn't kill each other I'd put all three of them in the flight cage and just have 3 cages - wow - isn't gonna happen though - Petey II and Jack have an on-going thru-the-bars-of-the-cage feud that gets quite loud at times. They would hurt each other.

It is rainy, damp, bare and gloomy today - and will be tomorrow too. Man - this is a hard time of year for me - it's hard to just get out of bed in the mornings. If I didn't have a job I'd stay in bed all day - every day - until the leaves came out and the flowers bloomed again.

The sun will come up - tomorrow - bet your bottom dollar that tomorrow -
there'll be sun.

I'm afraid my cobwebs and sorrow will still be there anyway - but hey - COME ON SUN!!!

Peace

WEEKEND OF DECEMBER 6 - HELEN VISITS!!

My friend and soul sister Helen, her daughter Amanda, and Amanda's daughter Laura came up from Georgia and spent the weekend in Pigeon Forge. On Saturday, I took them to Dollywood on possibly the COLDEST day this year - Dear God - it was so cold. It was cloudy, damp and so COLD. We were all freezing. We did go to see two of the Christmas shows, Babes in Toyland and Twas the Night Before Christmas both of which they enjoyed. And we were able to see and experience Polar Express, the new 4-D motion ride. We had lunch between shows, walked over to County Fair (it was too cold to ride any of the rides) and then went back to their motel where Laura and I took on the memorable exprience of making a gingerbread house.

First of all - this is not for the inexperienced person. Secondly, it would have helped if all the pieces of the house had been in the box, but we were missing a side wall. Nevertheless, we tackeled it wholeheartedly and with a great deal of laughter. Laura and I each decorated an end wall, she the back, me the front, and each decorated a roof slab - which by the way are incrediably thick and HEAVY. We used a piece of card board for the missing side wall. Amanda mixed up the icing, which I believe could substitute for super glue.

It was a messy job - but it was fun - and I hope that Laura has a memory that will stay with her for years to come.

We got the house together and just when it looked as though it would be okay - it just collapsed - zing, zong, flat. Oh well - it was fun.

We did have a good time - and I loved spending time with them. I am going to try and get down to Georgia to see them sometime while I'm off from Dollywood.

Make a gingerbread house with a child - make a memory - and as always....

Peace

THURSDAY - RAINY RAINY THURSDAY

Tomorrow my friend and soul sister, Helen, will travel up from Georgia with her daughter Amanda and Amanda's daughter Laura, to Pigeon Forge where they will stay for two nights and on Saturday we are all going to Dollywood. I have looked forward to this visit since September when I finally got down to her house after several years of not seeing her.

I need a good dose of Helen. We spend most of our time together laughing and acting silly and I love it. I am also looking forward to spending some quality "Aunty Jayne" time with Laura. We are going to ride some rides and see some shows and, I understand, make a gingerbread house together at the motel. The weather is supposed to be sunny but COLD but I can handle that. As long as it isn't raining we will have fun.

I changed the furnace filter last night and hope that the pilot light will stay lit. It has gone out several times and I hope that a dirty filter was the problem. It ran all night last night. It's a comforting sound on a cold night to hear that furnace kick on.

I may not have a chance to blog again until Sunday evening or Monday morning. I trying to keep up with this blog this time (as I have tried to before - and failed). I still think this is good therapy for me especially during this depression time to put down thoughts and happenings on the blog. We will see.

Drop by anytime - there's always room.

Peace

IT'S SNOWING!!!!

Woke up expecting a dreary, rainy Monday and IT'S SNOWING!! This has done wonders for my state of mind - I love the snow - just can't drive in it - BUT it's not snowing enough to hamper driving in the least. IT IS BEAUTIFUL!!!!

My dogs were SO funny this morning. They were doing their "let's go outside" dance at the front door - I opened the door - and Millie "launched" herself into the falling snow and proceeded to run circles in the yard. Miss Abigail started to go out, some snow hit her in the face, her upper lip curled and she turned around, went straight to the dining room and peed on her newspaper. She will NOT be going outside today - LOL. It took forever to get Millie back in the house. She loves the snow.

Spent the weekend in Gatlinburg. We went up on Friday morning, our room was ready so we dumped our stuff and went on to Dollywood. I am SO glad we went on Friday. The day was pretty and no rain. Saturday we spent playing "tourist" in the rain, but didn't buy anything. I had an improv show on Saturday night (it was not our best show, but it was okay". Sunday we came home (in the rain) to two happy dogs, a house that was warm, and our own beds which felt SO good.

This is a good start to this week. The snow has lifted my spirits - so I'll try to keep them up.

Come again - you're always welcome and as always...

Peace