Cold Toes

My walk to work this snowy March morning:

I didn't include one of the creek running higher than normal--mostly because my jump across wasn't very coordinated. The landing was wet and sharp. Result: a band-aid and sloshy hiking boots.

Farewell, Home Companion

Okay, I get that the economy is bad. Detroit is losing money; the GDP has plunged; Wall Street is manned by a bunch of wimps. But I was totally bummed that Mary Englebreit's Home Companion Magazine is no long being published.

I remember when it first came out--I gave my sister a subscription for her birthday. Eventually I gave myself a subscription since I like to support school fund-raisers (who am I fooling--I subscribed to brighten my life). I've renewed it for years and years. My magazine piles grew and grew. I finally began tearing out my favorite decorating articles, the monthly paper doll and Mary's artwork to whittle the pile down to manageable levels.

Re-reading the magazine was almost as fun as sitting down with it fresh from my mailbox. There are creative, individual homes that sometime strike a chord. Their owners created something unforgettable. Colors popped off the page. Holidays came alive with ingenuity. Inspiration struck in every issue.

I suspect I'm not alone in enjoying most the peeks into Mary's home(s) and art studio(s). The woman is a serial homemaker! Each home was wonderful and very Mary, and I thought each time they'd moved into their forever home. I loved dots painted on lampshades and rooms created for her grand-daughter. I loved black and white checks and cherry reds. I got acquainted with inglenooks perfect for curling up with Jane Austen. Watching Mary put her stamp on succeeding homes was like an intensive course in home decoration. I loved it.

Alas, plentiful subscribers couldn't make up for falling ad revenues. If you just took a six percent cut in pay or your company's downsizing and you don't know how secure your job is. Or if your house just lost thirty-one percent of its value compared to two years ago or your retirement fund shrunk. Well, then you don't exactly rush out to buy new furniture or renovate your kitchen or even pick up some new lamps on sale. The consumer doesn't buy, the advertisers' funds dry up, and the publisher decides to close up shop.

The good news? Well, ME and her company still own the magazine name and most probably it will be resurrected (like Victoria) sometime in the future.

Even worse than Home Companion closing shop? All those subscribers who still have time on their subscription are now finding Martha Stewart Living in their mailboxes. That's classic adding insult to injury. Those two magazines have nothing in common, nothing!

Tickled

I know it's still winter. Someone forgot to tell the flowers though.

Who can blame them--they got a couple weeks of nice warm fifty degree temperatures accompanied by lots of sun and they took advantage of the Spring-like weather and began to bloom. First the sweet violets, then the mini-iris, then the miniature daffodils. Today I noticed the crocus are not only in bud, but beginning to show color. Even the robins must have gotten the memo--they're everywhere!

Current Events

Walked the scenic route to work--through the pasture, past the barb wire, through the park.

Optimistically wore my light jacket this morning which wasn't quite enough to block the wind, so grabbed my reliable Lands End Therma Chek Fleece at lunch and was very happy to have it on the hike back to work.

Zelda (the Golden Retriever pup) somehow got a bacterial infection and her antibiotics are enclosed in giant capsules. We've been mashing cheese around them, but realized she bolts her food so fast that we could probably just give her an unadorned pill and she'd look at us for more.

I think I figured out how to teach Kharma to bow (finally)!

The rainshadow is in full effect. The Sierra snowpack has added moisture, but all we see here are clouds boiling along the crest and never reaching us.

Feels like Spring--brisk winds, mild temperatures and flowers popping up here and there.

Since my sweetie is helping out his parents this week, I've had lots of computer time. I'm whittling down my pile of magazine clippings (gardening tips, recipes, travel ideas, craft patterns) on the scanner.

Every day a new Abba song from Mamma Mia! runs through my head. Today's is Gimme Gimme Gimme (A Man After Midnight).

I'm loving Playlist.com--I've had my Abba playlist cheering me on while I've been surfing the web (did you know Home Companion and Cottage Living were ceasing publication?!), keeping the scanner busy, keeping an ear out for the pups and talking on the phone. Talk about multi-tasking!

Hibernation

No, I haven't been on a remote tropical isle. Nor have I been abducted by aliens. I'm just hibernating. Hibernating right through the sixty degree plus days we enjoyed briefly while the rest of the country froze their tushes off and right through the snow flurries that followed.

Hibernating is a good thing. If you're drowsing sleepily, you can avoid all sorts of things. Like pink slips, life without health insurance, neighbors whose company closed down, retired friends who had to go back to work, a 401k that tanked, etc. You get the idea.

My sweetie has been living on our sole remaining computer since the company reclaimed his work laptop. And I really didn't have the heart to stomp my little feet, throw a hissy fit and demand computer time to post on my little blog.

We've known since the Christmas party (known among co-workers as The Last Supper) in early December that cuts in the workforce would be made, so we were conservative in our spending during the holidays. I found myself planning what I'd remodel around the house and what classes I'd take and what luxury items (in my lexicon, luxury and anything bought exclusively for my use are synonymous) if the news was good, but never really contemplated the changes that would be necessary if the news came accompanied by a pink slip.

I can live without digital cable for the TV, although life without HBO just seems a bit less fun. There's no remodelling being planned until the missing salary is replaced, but I suspect we will survive not having a granite counter in the guest bath just fine. My mad money will go for groceries rather than a kayak and roof carrier. There will be no dog agility classes for the forseeable future. They are all small sacrifices. We don't have a mortgage or a car payment or credit card debt. We have money saved. We're in a relatively good place, all things considered, and we certainly have company.

Our best silver lining: we dodged a major bullet in not moving when the office here closed a couple years ago. There was stress and uncertainty about how long the company would let us get away with air travel and motel expenses for a four hundred mile commute. Turns out it didn't matter at all. We're feeling pretty bad for the laid off co-workers that did transfer and are now stuck with homes and mortgages. We're feeling even worse for the ones that also lost their work permits for the States.

Anyone in my sweetie's line of work has been unemployed, and we've been blessed by twenty-some years on continuous job security. We've experienced being unemployed previously when the boys were small, and it taught us that money doesn't bring happiness. Not like a baby's smile or a cute hand-me-down shirt for a little boy or a walks to the park with a friend or a monthly Game Night with the neighbors brings joy.

Hibernation doesn't last forever (I'm not sure if that's good or bad) ,but it served its purpose and brought some clarity and some peace of mind:

• Game Night is making a comeback.
• Cleaning up might make more of a difference than remodelling.
• I really prefer garage sale-ing to mall crawling.
• I'd rather go on a hike with Kharma than a vacation in Hawaii without her.

It was nice having some extra money, but we'll be okay without it. We still have only one computer though, so blogging might be a might sparse until his consulting business begins to bring in some positive cashflow, or until he finds he needs a laptop again.

Be patient with me and keep checking back. I'll post whenever I can. I have about a zillion different ideas to write about and I know I won't be able to hold them in for long before I burst!

Uplifted

I've been asking myself all weekend--why isn't Inauguration Day a holiday? Then I remembered that I sort of skipped over the past two inaugurations without a qualm. I'm proud that power in America transitions seamlessly every four years whether or not the elections turn out as we hoped, but I don't find inaugurations exactly momentous. This one is different.

Everyone keeps saying it's historic. Yeah, it's historic to have a black president, I agree totally, even while I feel like he's got more than a little bit of the Melting Pot in his lineage. I also feel like it was a watershed because so many people like me got involved, believed, dared to hope, and were inspired. Tomorrow makes me want to sing all my favorite patriotic songs, dress in red, white and blue, and hug a Republican. I want to cheer and cry tears of pride.

There is so much positive energy emanating from D.C. that the country is vibrating from rocky Maine shorelines to blacksand Hawaiian beaches. Have you felt it? Excitement mixed with anticipation and hope? I felt this same energy on Election Day.

It's impossible for me to believe that this new administration is gonna be business as usual. I'm always getting emails from Michelle and Barack asking me what I think, letting me know how to get involved to help others, reiterating that democracy is a group effort. It's completely different from the political form letters I usually get when I contact my Representative. I'm opinionated enough to sound off, but skeptical that my views count. At least I was. I've reverted back to my pre-Watergate 60's beliefs that one goes into politics to do good and bring about change and fairness. There's idealism in the air. Dare to dream.

People may have made their usual egocentric New Year's Resolutions twenty days ago, but now we're making pledges of sharing and service to our neighbors, our communities, our country, our planet. Has any president since Kennedy elicited such a response? I think an outpouring like this, when so many of us are facing financial uncertainty if not downright hardship, is a tribute to the American spirit.

I'm curious what my neighbors and co-workers are pledging to do. Mine is to volunteer during summer vacation--either at the SPCA exercising and training dogs up for adoption or at the nearest year-round school as a phonemic awareness/phonics tutor for kindergarten and first grade. See? I've thought about volunteering before, but now I've committed out loud and in black-and-white. That's progress.

I've set this to post on Tuesday morning right as President Obama (wow! that feels good to say!) takes his oath of office. I'll be watching and hoping I get to hear most of his inauguration speech which I've been anticipating since November. After reading The Audacity of Hope I think I can anticipate some of President Obama's (feels just as good to say the second time) themes. I hope it's as memorable as FDR's and JFK's. I've got a good feeling.

Shared

Ben Franklin has thoughfully let me share this day with him for a few decades, more or less (okay, it's more not less, but this is not the time to go into that). Now I found out he shares it with Michelle Obama too. I'd complain about trust issues, but I'm struck by his incredibly good taste in the women he allows to share his birthday.

Birthday rules: do exactly what you want to do, all day long:

A frosty sunny morning walk with Kharma...check.

Sewing in the sunshine...check.

A three-day weekend...check.

Ordering the 2x2 agility DVD...on the list.

Heading out to Paperback Exchange...as soon as my car is cleaned by one of my resident males.

Scrapping some Christmas memories...very soon.

Happy Birthday, Michelle, I hope you're having as much fun as I am. Happy Birthday,Ben, you've always been my inspiration. And Happy Birthday to me!