the best

12.29.2015


Christmas has come and gone, and I'm starting to feel a winter of quiet and coziness settling in.  I usually have a bit of a hard time with the Christmas holiday, but this year seemed to go so swimmingly, due in large part, I am sure, by the fact that my sister was here for a whole week.  A whole week.  I usually see her throughout the year for a couple of days here and there when we meet in Walla Walla, but she had not been back to stay in Portland since we moved back, the town she too considers home.  It was the best.  I wish we could have made it to the beach or out to Walla Walla to see our sister Vicky, but we will have to save some things for her next visit.

Sunday Thor went down to Salem to stay with a friend for a birthday party, so my husband and I put on our boots and went and hiked to the top of Multnomah Falls.  It had been a long time.  I felt like I was sprinting to the top, trying to keep up with my husband who walks very fast and takes one step for my every two, but, oh, how beautiful it was up there.  We were thrilled to see snow, just a little, but just enough.  Just enough for my husband to build a little mossy-haired mini snowman that was without a doubt the cutest snowman I have ever seen.  On the way home it started snowing, and by the time we pulled into our driveway the grass, roof, and my car had a nice white layer on them.  It was wonderful, but I was quite disappointed for Thor that it snowed in the very small window of time he was actually not here.  We'll keep hoping for more!  

With the holiday behind us now, I am quite happy and content that it's winter, that things are slowing down, and I am nestling in with my boys, new books, and a heart that is full to savor the cozy cold months I love.  Here's to lots of reading by the fire and getting out into the winter woods!

Peace and love to you ~ wishing you the very best for the new year ahead.  ♥

light

12.10.2015


Silver Falls State Park on a golden, icy, gorgeous day weekend before last.  We miss Silverton and Silver Falls being as close to us as it was at one time, but it is definitely worth the drive to get there from Portland.  It's a place of such peace and light to us.

I spent considerable time reading the news online this morning as my work was slow, and my heart feels so heavy from all the hate, sadness, and fear out there.  Such incivility in our "civilized" world.  The other day in the car as we were coming home from school Thor said, "You know, Mom, I really hope Donald Trump does not become our President.  He is just mean and would make everything worse.  We might have to move to Canada."  I love my boy, and I love that he has thought about it and formed this opinion.  At first it amused me, but then it sort of began to hurt.  It hurts that he sees and is becoming cognizant of the ugliness that is going on in the world.  

Darkness, sadness, and fear is alive and well out there for many people, for many reasons, in every place.  How can we make people feel more loved, more accepted, more appreciated, more understood?  How can we make the world a brighter place?  Not by choosing to let fear take over our hearts, not by thinking we are better than others, not by propagating hate. 

Be a light.
by mlekoshi