Sharing Our Stories: Whimsy and Snow!

When the Christmas tree and decorations come down, my snowmen go up. It helps me maneuver through the dark days of January and February. I keep my holiday lights burning on the deck too. This year I have new lights and I thought there was a red and white combination I could use for February, but I've discovered it's just red lights. It made me giggle and think of a red light district 😂, so I switched to blue lights last night.  I may be brave and switch to red for a few more nights before Valentine's Day. My snowman collection is my contribution to whimsy (our prompt from last week), a collection that is quaint, fanciful, and playful which always brightens my post holiday winter days.

And then Ruth gave us the prompt "snow" this week. I'm relieved that it's not snowing here. We had quite a round of snow on Christmas and the day after that hung around for more than a week. We are not well equipped for dealing with snow in the Pacific Northwest, so it often means that things grind to a halt which is usually okay with me. But being snowed in for the days between Christmas and New Year's Day felt oppressive and disappointing. Maybe because we've spent so much time indoors during the past two years, but especially since we had looked forward to seeing the zoo lights with daughter's family during that time and having some fun mother-daughter time together while my son-in-law was home from work. I hope the current snowstorm is short-lived and without power outages for friends and family who are affected, especially my Texas relatives who endured the power outages last year.

Just like I love snowmen, I love books about snow. My latest find is Where Snow Angels Go by Maggie O'Farrell. First printed in Ireland in 2020, the US edition arrived in 2021. It's Maggie O'Farrell's first book for children (a longer picture book with beautiful illustrations by Daniela Terrazzini). Don't miss the author's note about how the book came to be. Check it out of the library (like I did) or purchase it. It's definitely going on my list of books I must own!

 

 Joining my friends at Sharing Our Stories 

with a two-fer post combining last week's 

Whimsy invitation with this week's Snow invitation.

Spiritual Journey Thursday: Turning Hearts

I am blessed that the pandemic has been a time of turning my heart to my family, both present and past. When we were unable to see the grand boys, I hosted story time on Zoom! I treasure the daily phone calls I made to my brother and sister in 2020. I continue with almost daily calls to my sister, my one remaining sibling. My son calls me almost daily, always with a grandchild or two or three at his side. I love this video of a young man's discovery of the importance of journal keeping and looking to the past.

My interest in family history exploded when I attended the Roots Tech conference in February 2020. They have moved to an all virtual and completely free conference for the past two years. This year's conference is March 3-5, 2022. You can sign up and view sessions from the 2021 conference here.

I believe the words of Malachi are being fulfilled as our hearts turn to our families and our ancestors: 

"Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord:

And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse." (Malachi 4: 5-6)

One of my favorite activities is saving and sharing family photos and stories. We have very few written accounts of our family history, but I have enjoyed connecting with cousins through Facebook to learn more about my dad's family. A cherished memory from 2020 was a Scifres cousin gathering on Zoom. Another way that I have learned more about family members is by utilizing features on FamilySearch. I like adding pictures to the Memories section and then I look at Details and Timeline to learn more about the person.

This year I'm choosing to highlight one ancestor a month by joining a challenge from Megan at Modern Genealogy. In January, I chose my maternal great grandmother, Mary Ann Wilson. Here's what I learned about this remarkable woman and shared on January 30.

"Happy birthday to my great-grandmother, Mary Ann Wilson Martin. She would be 151 years old today. She was born in Potter, Polk County, Arkansas and married William Martin when she was 19 years old. Mary Ann was one of 11 children and had a twin sister named Martha Ann. Mary Ann had 11 children and a set of twins too - my grandmother, Ella Martin and her twin brother, Elvis Martin. In the picture, Mary Ann is seated on the far left, in the middle is Molly Martin (great-grandpa’s sister) and then my great-grandfather, William Martin. Dog’s name is unknown! Mary Ann died in Olney Springs, Crowley, Colorado in 1936 when she was 65 years of age. #ancestorofthemonth #moderngenealogy"

You may be familiar with Bruce Feiler's article, "The Stories that Bind Us."

"Decades of research have shown that most happy families communicate effectively. But talking doesn’t mean simply “talking through problems,” as important as that is. Talking also means telling a positive story about yourselves. When faced with a challenge, happy families, like happy people, just add a new chapter to their life story that shows them overcoming the hardship. This skill is particularly important for children, whose identity tends to get locked in during adolescence.

The bottom line: if you want a happier family, create, refine and retell the story of your family’s positive moments and your ability to bounce back from the difficult ones. That act alone may increase the odds that your family will thrive for many generations to come."

Now is the time to help your family thrive by telling your family stories! 

 

Linda Mitchell at A Word Edgewise

is hosting Spiritual Journey Thursday

this month and provided heart as our prompt.

Sharing Our Stories: A Grateful Post!

Sometimes I complain about things that irritate me. When I was teaching, it was the copy machine. Why isn't "three hole punch" the default setting since almost everything we copied had to be three hole punched and binder ready? Why did we have to remember to select three hole punch each time we made copies? No one ever answered this problem to my satisfaction.

However, another common complaint of mine was solved by a librarian friend. I was frustrated every time I searched for a book in the library catalog and had to open the drop down menu to  select "Title".  I mean, who searches for a book by the "Keyword"? Why isn't "Title" the default setting? Enter my friend who listened to me complain and then pointed out that the Title is a Keyword! 

Eureka! One of life's little irritations was solved for me. Every time I open the library catalog to search for a book, I'm grateful that I no longer need to select title, but can just enter the title and the book will pop up as the first match. 

The moral of this story: Sometimes it's okay to grumble a bit, especially if you happen to grumble to the person who can solve your problem. I'm grateful to my friend Amy every time I search for a book in the library catalog. And I have one less thing to complain about too. And that's always a good thing!

 

To savor the magic of story, link your post at Sharing Our Stories.

(Comments aren't working, so we're posting on the FB group, SOS Magic.)

Poetry Friday: Playing with Words!

 I opened my box of words, 

fiddled around for awhile, 

and this poem found me!

Retreat for the Overwhelmed

Welcome songs

Collect tales

Renew silly

Get cozy

Go to bed

Restore your rhythm

Find delight

Be okay 

- Ramona Behnke

Poetry Friday is with Mary Lee 

at (A)nother) Year of Reading.

SJT and SOS: My OLW Reveal for 2022!

Margaret at Reflections on the Teche is hosting 

Spiritual Journey Thursday for January. 

We're gathering to share our OLWs for 2022.

I have a list of words I love to revisit when it's time to choose a new word. But my word for 2022 chose me in December. Some of my words have been "being" words (my favorites), some are "doing" words that ask more of me and challenge me, but most are a wonderful combination of being and doing. Several years ago, I penned this poem using my OLW for each year as the lead for each line. But I stopped after year 7. And since this is year 10, I wanted to finish this second stanza. And so I add years 8 and 9 to the second stanza:

Listen to the stillness,

Savor the present moment,

Stretch to grow, and always 

Abide in His love to 

Nourish my soul and reach out in love. 

 

Delight in small moments and simple pleasures,

Try, a gentle word inviting growth and change.

Light becomes a beacon during difficult times,

Comfort wraps me in a year of coping with loss,

(I'll wait until year's end to add my line about this year's OLW...)

Each year, I peruse my list of unused words from previous years (gather and connect were definitely in the running for this year). but the call from clear was urgent and one I couldn't ignore. Initially it chose me because of the physical challenges I face of clearing clutter. We know that one of these days we will downsize and now seems a perfect time to focus on clearing spaces in our home. 

However, I also look forward to  letting "clear" become a way to find focus for my days. I love this quote I found: "Clear your mind. Your heart is trying to tell you something." (Unknown) And that takes me back to my very first word, listen. I look forward to my clearing journey for 2022 so that I can listen more often to my heart. I spent some time learning to meditate last year with Headspace. I look forward to getting back into that routine.

And now, I'm off to read the posts of my fellow bloggers at both Spiritual Journey Thursday and Sharing Our Stories. What a perfectly delightful focus for the next bit of my morning!

 

I love to join my friends at Sharing Our Stories on Thursdays!

Slice of Life: Using my OLW to Look Back at 2021!

It's past time to put 2021 in the rear view mirror! Writing reflectively is not something I do easily. But as a way of honoring my OLW for 2021, I offer up this list (in no particular order of importance) of 21 ways I received comfort in 2021:

friends

 family

 phone calls & Zoom gatherings

 hot chocolate

 naps

 in-person church

 walks

 writing

 books

 blossoms

 Jesus

 poems

 sunshine

family getaways to Lincoln, OR & St. George, UT

 a special birthday plant

 my blue cozy blanket

 a birthday in Texas

 calendar inspiration

 a quilt in process

 grandchildren

 faith!

First Meanderings of 2022

I'm thrilled to see 2021 in the rear view mirror and to face 2022 with renewed faith and hope and optimism that things will be better.

I've started the new year in my favorite way by reading!

I discovered a New Yorker interview with Lois Lowry in a link from a Gretchen Rubin post. I've been fortunate to have heard her speak twice: once in Seattle (2008) and once in Washington DC (2012) at the National Book Festival. I love her book, Gossamer, and she mentions it in the interview.  Put it on your WTR (TBR) list if you've never read it. (And here I must digress and explain my use of WTR versus TBR. "To be read" just sounds like an assignment, like something that needs to be done. However, "want to read" captures the joy and the passion of diving into a book that calls to you. So I have a WTR list, not a TBR list.)

Then, I popped over to FB, planning to search SOS (Sharing Our Stories) in search of recent posts. 

I immediately forgot to do that and lost myself in Christy's collage of pictures from 2021. Just viewing them made me think about images and decide that I'll do a retrospective 2021 post by collecting 21 of my favorite images. 

And then I discovered these words from T.S. Eliott that Linda shared in her new year post: “For last year’s words belong to last year’s language, and next year’s words await another voice. And to make an end is to make a beginning.”  

And of course, that quote makes me think of last year's OLW and how I still haven't written my reflection on comfort which I simply must write before I share/unveil my word for this new year.

And so I begin 2022 with a meandering post of my early morning ramblings. And ideas for several future posts. And a resolve to mark this new year with more words on my blog. 

Happy 2022!