This morning dawned blue-grey. All of the trees are black against the snow. More snow is predicted today and tomorrow, and the flakes float down, are eddied about by the wind. A soft glow of lit windows casts light and shadow on the deepening snows. All there is, is silence... no bustling cars driving by, intent on places to be, no folks yammering in the street, no birds chirping... the deep of winter has come at last.

Sasha the Afghan sits by the window, her blonde and touseled bed-head...

What I want for the New Year...

I want my body to just get up and get over itself and stop refusing to do the things I need it to do. I hate being sick most of the time, and having only a handful of "good days".

I want to spend more time doing all the things I moved here to do, and less time doing the things I HAVE to do. Sigh. I hate "havetas". I don't mind cooking and cleaning so much; I mind not being able or having the time to go outside, prep...

There's suposed to be blizzard conditions here tonight and tomorrow.

Fortunately the wood box is full, the food is readily available, and we have no place we need to be.

I'm worried about the Jr. High kids going 140 miles away to the basketball game today; they may be coming back in it and that worries me. They are good kids. Of course the coach was born and raised in this state and is used to rapidly deteriorating weather conditions; still, that is an awesome responsibility....

And I really really like it.

For soo long I have languished in the hot humidity of the southern states, and the bitter taste of 'mefirsts' demanding that I and everyone else owed them a living. Out here the air is fresh and sweet, undisturbed by the thousands of cars flitting madly about on their endless little errands. The sound at night of the coyotes on the hills, or the evening sound of another wedge of geese crying overhead... all is silence, breathable and clean, fresh and new....

Why do folks find it so hard to walk away?

I used to be one who wrote newspaper columns on how to do things the right way. I received a lot of grief for it. As a minor politician, I discovered that people all wanted a 'good ol boy' system - but one that catered to them and their individual wants, needs, and desires. They expected the world, the government, and me to cater to their every demand, wish, and want, with no respect for my life, or my person, or the ideals with which I presented...