So many choices! The world offers a bounty of ready-to-grant wishes large and small, from cooking a meal for that sick family to shoveling the neighbors’ front walks to delivering a stack of blankets to the animal shelter. And I know my husband has a long list that includes filing (ugh) and decluttering (sigh) and paying more attention to him (some wishes are fun to grant).
For another resolution, please see Share.
Today is the birthday of now-grown-up Emily, and I could not resist putting up this less than stellar sketch of her, simply because of the backstory. It was a quickie made after a big holiday party my husband and I threw years ago when Emily was almost four.
For this event, I had made a Cookie Tree of stacked largest to smallest star-shaped cookies, the whole decorated with green frosting, M&Ms, and yogurt-covered raisins. (BTW, this is a really fun holiday project if you are not already doing seven thousand other things.) Emily found the Cookie Tree irresistible and, unbeknownst to anyone, was diligently removing and consuming the edible ornaments when her festive holiday deely-bobbers (remember deely-bobbers, anyone?) CAUGHT FIRE from a nearby candle.
Neither Emily nor anyone near her noticed, but my husband (ever the alert host even when in conversation on the opposite side of the room) saw what was happening and struggled through the noisy, chatty throng, grabbed Emily’s flaming headgear, and doused it in somebody’s apple cider. Whew! But poor Emily had to go home bereft of antennae. Happy Birthday, Emily! I hope the only flames today are on your candles.
Emily
In honor of Carl Sandburg (1878-1967).
For another take on Epiphany, please see The Three Wise Women.
Nathan
—Charles Wright
Alanna
You can’t open a newspaper or peruse the new book shelves at the library without coming across yet further evidence of the many benefits of meditation: stronger immune systems, lower stress levels, greater serenity, improved relationships… world peace! May this be the year.
For another resolution, please see Declutter.
Every year I plan to be organized enough to start our vegetables INDOORS instead of succumbing to the purchase of seedlings at the garden center. I’ve managed it only twice, but I remain hopeful. The beautiful High Mowing Organic Seeds catalogue just arrived in the mail, with its tempting photographs of artichokes, fennel, and ornamental gourds… items I know will never be seen in our tiny, semi-shaded Mid-Atlantic garden unless they fall out of the grocery bag on the way to the house. However, those Japanese greens and Red Russian kale look pretty interesting.
I still have time. (And so do you!)
Remember the sketch of Don (December 27th)? Here is the other half: Helga, lovely, artistic, playful, generous, kind, and madly in love with Don. When I bring a bouquet from the garden into the house, I think of Helga, who taught me its transformative power. Today is her birthday, but cancer sent her across the rainbow bridge eleven years ago when she was far too young to go. Happy Birthday, Helga. I hope you are surrounded by flowers, with a dog in your lap.
Helga
When our son was spending his first New Year’s Eve in Japan, he reported to us on the local celebrations of this most important holiday.
While we at home in the U.S. are staying up late to eat and drink, dance, and generally whoop it up with family, friends, and total strangers, in Japan the courtyards of shrines and temples are slowly filling with hundreds, even thousands, of patient, silent people waiting to make hatsumode—the first visit of the New Year.
On the stroke of midnight, all over the country, the doors open, and the temple bells begin to ring. And they ring for a total of one hundred eight times, representing the 108 sins (such as vanity, garrulity, prejudice, ingratitude, and unruliness) from which humankind must be freed before achieving nirvana. It’s part of a longer turning-of-the-year celebration during which people visit family, pay debts, eat special symbolic foods, and exchange gifts. (Although it seems that in Japan EVERY event—first trip to the dentist?—is an opportunity to exchange gifts.) What a contrast to Times Square, and beyond, where people are probably racking up those 108 sins right and left.
This is a sketch of a temple courtyard (but not on New Year’s Eve) from one of my Japan sketchbooks.
Christopher
If you have never been to the Garden of Lights at Brookside Gardens in Wheaton, Maryland, I recommend it. Inside the Conservatory, different local musicians perform each evening, and you can fortify yourself with hot cocoa. Then, sufficiently warmed, you can venture out into the gardens. In summer this is a place of sunshine and glorious blooming color, but at the moment it’s a magical fairyland of lights twinkling in the darkness.
The best time to visit is when it’s bitterly cold, because it is not crowded. However, you might then be wishing for Irish coffee and hot toddies instead of cocoa.
In going through a stack of old sketchbooks, I came across this sketch of Don—whose birthday it just happens to be today—sitting in his shirt-sleeves in his sunny garden, whereas at the moment he is undoubtedly surrounded by heaps of snow. Surprise! and happy birthday, Don! I hope you are having a lovely celebration despite the weather.
And beware, anyone else whom I may have sketched. You may turn up here on your own birthday.
Lauren
Don
Karla & Rob
