A Myriad of Joy Before Even Cracking One...

Eggs.... fresh from the hen house. They are a gift from M this morning before we headed home. She has several kinds of chickens and they produce the most beautiful eggs. She had a full dozen of them waiting for us in the refrigerator of our cabin when we got there.

I love this picture. I love the color of the eggs...browns, rusts, blues, greens, and blends of all of them...speckled with brown dots... people pay good money to buy fake ones at the boutiques... I have the real deal here... I was so taken with the color, shape and pure beauty of them that I put them in this bowl, set it down on the floor and began shooting pictures. I took about 8 on my digital camera and probably the same amount with the SRL camera. I thought it would be a great shot of shape, color and lighting and I am thrilled with it. I love the quirkiness of it..shadows, sillouette, trace shadow of lace curtains nudging the bowl. I have it as my computer wallpaper... and it is a pure delight to look at. Simple beauty...simple pleasure.... simple abundance.

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I just got back from up on the mountain...a log cabin, two teenagers, some good food, good drink, good books and two whole days to do nothing but stoke the wood-burning stove, decide what type of drink to fix, dinner to make, book to read... all in a glorious setting of ponderosa pine, oak and the most shimmering blanket of snow laid down amongst the trunks. Two feet of snow greeted us - the forest had put on her best dress...white silk...and draped diamonds from her boughs.

We unpacked our stuff and hauled it up the path to the cabin that M had plowed. Unpacking at D.S. is like coming home from a trip and settling back in to peace and solitude. Soon, the stove was full of oak and one match was all it took to keep it warming us right up until we left. Of course, I brought the customary candle to keep sentry during our stay... a new scent - Vanilla Oak - (I thought that was particularly fitting) - and we began our R & R with the cermonial lighting. Thus, our getaway was under way...

The girls played in the snow for several hours. Their imagination and a forest full of wet, icy snow lead them to build an igloo. They came in happy, exhilerated, tired and sopping wet. Hot, steamy showers of the best well water around and clothes hung up around the stove to dry and the evening was soon settling on us. Dinner was my famous shrimp pasta dish, complete with garlic bread - and a visit with my dear buddy M. It was good to get caught up with her... I love her dearly and was only sorry that I had sadness to tell of my current situation. But M holds me close to her heart, as does her husband, E, so it was ok to fill in the spaces from a previous email. It was one more baby step to be taken.

Yesterday was spent in my favorite flannel pajamas, puffy pink slippers, cozy afghan and the book "The Pact" by Jodi Picoult. Every so often I'd carefully place another hunk of oak in the stove on top of the sunset red embers from the previous log. The girls continued building their igloo and we stayed in touch with walkie-talkies. I read and read and read....what a decadent thing to do!!!! (I got over my guilt quickly, though). Later on, I did brunch dishes, cleaned up the kitchen, swept the floor, tidied up the fire logs, folded afghans, made my bed and fluffed up the place and then settled back down with my book and a mug of hot tea with honey. Pure decadence, I tell ya!

It's amazing how two days spent in peace, solitude and away from phones, mail, computers and all the other stuff in my life can feel like two weeks!!! What does that say?!?! I needed it and am forever grateful that I have a place that I can go to like D.S.

This corner of Earth smiles for me.