Standing at the Trailhead of Winter

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(I think this is an Osage orange tree trunk but I'm not certain.)

 

 (I plan to return to this beauty when it's not in the shade. I'd like more light on the trunk.)

 

 

 

 

For awhile now I've been having trouble with my keyboard. It's wireless, and I've had it four or five years. The last few months, when I try to type, nothing happens or all kinds of gibberish covers the page. When I try to back up, delete, re-type, the cursor doesn't do anything. It reached the point of being extremely frustrating trying to type in my password to my computer. I end up restarting my computer or shutting it down for a few minutes then booting back up to see if the keyboard will behave. A few days ago, I couldn't do anything. I ended up pulling out the laptop so I could get some work done. An hour or so after rebooting, my keyboard decided it was going to behave. I put a message in the family chat about my keyboard woes, and Funny Delightful Son suggested I purchase a mechanical keyboard, one that is not wireless. Angel Baby jumped in and educated me on the difference between a wireless keyboard vs. a wired keyboard. After it was all explained, I knew

A bitter, bitter wind is blowing this morning. Out of the northwest. The sun is shining, though, so there is that. I'm truly grateful for the sun, as it shines through the windows on the south side of the house, in the living room and my bedroom, brightening both rooms as well as offering some heat. Both boys have found the warm spots and tend to claim their spaces there through morning and mid-afternoon. My space is in front of the fireplace. To keep good my promise to myself to try new recipes a couple of times a week, new recipe number 1 today was the French toast recipe from Thug Kitchen. I adore French toast, but since going whole foods plant based, I've not eaten it. I completely cut out bread for the first year, and now I'm reintroducing it slowly. I tend to stick with sour dough, but this week I made a simple, rustic loaf and have been enjoying a slice of it each day. Honestly, I was skeptical about the French toast recipe. I mean, come on, the eggs and milk mixture

Happy New Year!  While Christmas day was wonderful this year, and I will forever (at least I hope) remember sitting here with my three kiddoes and their partners talking the afternoon and evening away, I couldn't get the tree and other decorations down fast enough. I just wasn't feeling the whole keep the decorations up until New Year's this time around. So all the holiday accouterments were put away days ago, and some went into the thrift store box. I decided to do another deep cleaning, part of which is letting go of things that no longer give me joy. Yesterday, as a challenge to myself, I left the computer off all day. I didn't check in to anything on my phone, either. Instead, I spent time on the porch with the boys, listened to a couple of podcasts that really got me thinking, and I read, finishing up another excellent book: The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne by Brian Moore. Highly recommend it if you're looking for something to read. And today, because it st