Standing at the Trailhead of Winter

One of the best parts about cycling along at 14 miles per hour is the opportunity to really see the nature surrounding us. I love stopping on the bridges spanning the creeks throughout the countryside. Yesterday, I stopped to watch the swallows emerge from under a bridge, dipping and diving through the air, hoping to get me to move along. I turned to look in the opposite direction, wondering how the late-evening sun might look as a backdrop to the creek. That's when I noticed this beauty. I could tell from the size I wasn't looking at a hawk. Given I was probably 100 yards away, I figured I wasn't going to get a very good picture of it, but I was going to try. I pulled out my little camera I carry with me and zoomed in as much as possible. I snapped a photo then enlarged it on the camera screen. To say I was just a tad bit excited to see an eagle would be an understatement. I kept snapping photos, hoping at least one would give me a decent image. This one made the cut. It...

Today would have been my mom's 84th birthday. Seven years ago today, we gathered to remember her a week after she passed away. That day, Dad led me into his bedroom where he'd laid out her jewelry and told me to take what I'd like to have. My two older sisters had already had their turn. Since I don't wear much jewelry, I only took a few pieces that I knew I would enjoy, but mostly, I took the pieces for sentimental reasons. Dad also told me I could have the jewelry box, a Japanese three-drawer piece made of bakelite. I have no idea how Mom came to have the jewelry box, but it had some brooches inside that I knew had been Grandma's, so I took it along with what it contained. Every now and then, I open the drawers just to take out a brooch and wonder on what occasion Grandma wore it. Or Mom. My favorite of all the pins is a silver piece with glittery clear rhinestones. It reminds me of a snowflake. When I wear it on a snowy day, I feel closer to Winter and all th...