A Sigh of Relief

If only my outdoor lights would unhook themselves, discard burned-out bulbs and coil themselves nicely away.

If only our annual Tannebaum could magically direct ornaments into their proper boxes, remove light strings, seek out dropped ornament hangers, vacuum up tinsel remnants and stray needles. Oh, and move sofas back to the accustomed positions!

If only someone could invent a gadget to alert me to those inevitable bits of holiday decorating that elude our first sweep, my second search and the hopeful last scan of all nooks and corners that might be harboring a holiday fugitive.

Despite the absence of self-coiling lights, helpful trees and handy gadgets, I can officially report that Not One Single Bit of Christmas is left inside or outside the cottage. Yep, it's all put away in the appropriate box, bin and cupboard.  I'm just grateful happy thrilled ecstatic relieved that it's all put away!

I now have time to tweak the turquoise snowladies, silver and crystal sparkles and white lights that have gradually been making their appearance.  And take photos of  the new mantle decor.  And tackle those siren-like craft projects that have been beckoning--some of which might even be worth sharing!

Buoyantly,

My Feathered Rainbow

Frodo

aka Mr. Underhill

 

Yeah, we're Tolkien fans.  And Frodo would burrow under my vest or sweater when he was a baby--hence his name.

We had him since he graduated from nest to cage bottom.  The Queen Mother's former neighbor was a parakeet lover and incidental breeder (leave twenty male and female parakeets together in a large cage and eventually you'll have more than twenty).  In the mild California climate, they lived outdoors year round.  I'd never seen any parakeets colored quite like hers and I was thrilled.  See all the color in Frodo's wing?  Most parakeets a la PetSmart have gray wings.  Sunshine yellow head.  And his face dots--deepest purple. Turquoise and glacier green body.  Intense cobalt tail feathers.  And as sweet as he was beautiful.

Frodo enjoyed getting the run of the house while I baked Christmas pie, kneaded bread and cooked cranberry sauce.  Most of the time he perched on my hair and supervised, but he decided to stretch his wings and inspect the Christmas decorations too.

Four days after this photo session, we found him on the bottom of his cage.  He'd flown to heaven and left us behind.  He had a good long life, but it was a sad end to our year.

I've spent the past week remembering his baby days when he'd cuddle...how he'd perch on my shoe while we sat in the recliner and watched TV...how he loved baths under the kitchen faucet...his extensive environmental vocabulary--our squeaky door, dog whistles, tinkling bells...his love of spinach leaves which he ate like a kid munching corn on the cob...trying his best to chat with our vacuum cleaner and blender...times when callers would ask how many birds we had when talking on the phone...how he played with silverware and loved getting it to drop off the dining table...how the frustrated dad in him would have him feeding the next best thing to a baby bird--the shiny bell in his cage...his appreciation of the tiny rhinestones in my reading glasses.  He wasn't our family's first parakeet, but he was my first.  Thinking about it, he would have been special even if he wasn't--he was an extraordinary character.

How can such a little bundle, weighing next to nothing, have been such a large part of our lives?

I miss you,  Frodo-bug.

My Guideposts -- Week49

Your day will go the way the corners of your mouth turn.

~Unknown

What a perfect reminder for my New Year's resolutions. And the perfect adorable kindergarten snowman to illustrate the point, even if part of his smile is hidden by his scarf.  He looks just like I do when I bike to school on chilly winter mornings!

(Except I have legs.)

Happy Next Year!

I love fresh starts:  unused tablets of paper, reorganized cupboards, clean dogs, new calendars. It feels to be good to be reminded afresh that the future is as untracked as new-fallen snow. Twenty-eleven can be anything we want it to be. We can be anything we want to be, if we want it hard enough.  Yep, it's that time of the year again when every one of us re-evaluates ourselves.

So I'm asking myself, "What do I want to change in my life?"  To my surprise, I'm finding that there isn't much.  Oh yeah, minor tweaks.  But the big things (knock wood) are fine.  I'm not sure if that means I'm extremely lucky, stuck in a rut or have my head buried in the sand.

I'm fairly sure that being a low-maintenance kinda gal really contributes to my overall satisfaction level.  As long as the basics are taken care of, I don't need much.  As long as I have my family, my dogs, my chickens and my garden to nurture and I feed my creativity with various craft/DIY/furniture/sewing projects, I'm wallowing in bliss.  Case in point--guess what presents made this Christmas fabulous?

Unfair question! (Because they weren't presents in the traditional sense.)

One, I got to rock a three-month-old baby to sleep (for an hour) when he awoke during the holiday program at school.  Two, that night I brought a bale of straw hay home from the feed store so that I could make sure the Bombshells were warm and cozy in their coop during our frosty single-digit nights. 

A baby.  Some straw.  Christmas.  Hmmm.

All the thoughtful, lovely, fun presents I received after that were icing on my Christmas pudding as the Universe nodded approvingly at me because I got her message about the important things.

And it struck me as never before, that Christmas (that very special birthday) isn't "over".  Every new mom knows that a birth is the start of things, not the end.  It's a celebration, a new beginning, a lifelong journey.

My New Year's resolutions?  Well, they involve smiles and laughter. A lighter outlook. Lots more patience.

Thoughtfully,

My Guideposts - Week48

I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year.

~Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol

Dickens had the right idea!  I'm loathe to give up smiling at people while I shop and happily humming songs everywhere I go and feeling that the whole world is united in love and peace--so I think I'll try my hardest to retain that wonderful positive Christmas Spirit throughout the upcoming year.  Every time I light a candle or see some outdoor lights, I'll remember to spread some Christmas magic.

Chubbily,

Holiday Mysteries

Mystery #1: Why doesn't Scotch tape stick to gift wrap as well as loose candy cane wrappers do to my hands?

Mystery #2: Why are flights late when the skies are clear and storm-free and the airport reports few delays? I can see a ripple effect adding a bit of time at the end of a day, but nearly four hours? Really?

Mystery #3: Why is it that no matter how early I start buying and making Christmas gifts, I still don't have enough time?

Mystery #4: Why hasn't there been a clear blue sky in the Biggest Little City (land of three hundred and fifty days of sunshine) so I can take decent photos of our red-and-green completely decked-out cottage to share?

Mystery #5: How is it possible that little ms. pogonip hasn't contributed one single craft to the blogosphere this December?

Mystery #6: What exactly has ms. pogonip been doing? Because it sure hasn't been blogging!

Answer #1: I solved the tape issue by no longer using "Magic" Transparent tape. Now I use old school tape--no more "magic" for this girl--and everything is staying closed (so far). And fortunately, Bob's Original Peppermint Candy Canes unwrap fairly easily so that even if they do still stick to me, I only have to persuade two pieces of cellophane per cane to jump in the circular file.

Answer #2: Flight crew enjoyed too much eggnog or they had to finish their shopping while they were in P-town or the plane just threw a hissy fit like the rest of us. I can sympathize with all those reasons.  If I were a conspiracy theorist I might have some other ideas!  But think how happy we'll finally be to see Pooh and the Professor and Tigger when they do touch down at midnight!

Answer #3: I guess Christmas is just such a wonderful event that I can't expect it to fit a time schedule. And it's probably good for me to relinquish control just a teensy bit.

Answer #4: I blame global warming. Otherwise we'd be enjoying sunshine between snowstorms instead of slogging through grey soggy skies.

Answer #5: I've been winding up some furniture refinishing, during our rainy but relatively warm days, as well as trying to bring some order to the chaos created by the contents of the storage unit that we liberated for my cousin this summer. Yeah, it's still going on all these months later. Lots of vintage delights. Lots of books--antique and newer. Lots of amazing genealogical treasures. And that control thing...yeah, I seem to need to go through every. single. thing. and ponder what should be done with it.

Answer #6: See Answers #4 and #5. And add piles of clutter around the cottage that I just couldn't stand to look at any more...and the need for Christmas decorating to happen...but that's all in the past and I can't wait to share some holiday cheer with y'all!  Now I just have to hope that you have the time to read a few new posts as I play catch up.

Cheerily,

My Guideposts -- Week47

All the great blessings of my life are present in my thoughts today.  

~Phoebe Cary

Merrily,