hippo birdie too mee

in which our plucky heroine marks another trip around the sun...

This is just plain lovely... happy Solstice one and all!

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"And so the Shortest Day came
and the year died.
And everywhere down the centuries of the snow-white world
Came people singing, dancing,
To drive the dark away.
They lighted candles in the winter trees;
They hung their homes with evergreen;
They burned beseeching fires all night long
To keep the year alive.
And when the new year's sunshine blazed awake
They shouted, revelling.
Through all the frosty ages you can hear them
Echoing behind us - listen!
All the long echoes, sing the same delight,
This Shortest Day,
As promise wakens in the sleeping land:
They carol, feast, give thanks,
And dearly love their friends,
And hope for peace.
And now so do we, here, now,
This year and every year."

~ Susan Cooper

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The cold front is coming, I can feel the shift when I go out to ride my bike, so much colder than it was earlier today.  I can sit indoors and enjoy the lovely picture book. I can listen to the next installment of The Dark Is Rising.

My garden-ish friends warned everyone that the intense cold will be deadly to rosemary, so I found some tarps and covered the bush in the front yard. The rest of the yard plants will have to take their chances. We will have two days of wintery mix and ice, and then the rain will return, along with the less severe temperatures.

I can make food to eat, (though not the gyoza I had intended to cook, since the stashed frozen wrappers turned out to be freezer burned). If I want to have something fun for dinner, it is far too cold for me to ride my bike to The Fishwife for calamari takeout... and I am just not feeling like kitchen experimentation. Maybe a simple stir fry and a green salad will do.

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out and about:

continuing my effort to document paying attention and finding something beautiful even when it is a challenge. Just look at how the variegated holly leaves set off the red berries. I actually had to stop my bike ride and find a way to clamber around and be able to hold my bike and be able to take a photo. (I really need to figure out a kickstand for my bike in 2023! I had one a few years ago, but it didn't actually hold my bike upright, so I removed it)

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~ creativity challenge~

for some reason I am just really pleased with the look of this quick sketch...  This was done to show SR the various options for where the handwoven trim could be placed on the daypack. I was trying to figure out how I could both color in a mostly black/blue design and also show the structure. I thought I remembered picking up an opaque white Gelly Roll pen a while ago, and wowzers was that just the right thing!

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December SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	skull collar #2	over sink light	recycle bin
2	2 baprons for Liam	crock pot lid	recycle bin
3	8 jars strawberry rhubarb	replace furnace filter	recycle bin
4	quince paste	alter colorful huipil	-
5	8 jars persimmon ketchup	vertical loom	-
6	4 more Liam baprons	x	x
7	calendar masters	x	x
8	6 jars quincemeat	x	x
9	x	x	x
10	x	x	x
11	x	x	x
12	x	x	x
13	x	x	x
14	x	x	x
15	x	x	x

today's gratitudes -
1. I'm still here, still above ground, still making and sharing as best as can be managed in this second third year of the COVID plague...
2. My experimental lasagna (using 5 flavor eggplant) was a success...
3. a box of treats from Ursel, including a Roman style Samian ware bowl from Leah and Randall that would be perfect for some future Saturnalia party, if there ever are in person parties again...

Time of Isolation - Day 1021