Winter mornings are about books, paper, pencils, crayons, scissors and paste. I fill my yellow teapot with hot tea and pour a cup. There are questions and answers about the Battle of Marathon. There are riddles: What is destroyed as soon as you speak its name? There is a soft, brown bunny quietly hopping about our feet under the dining room table. There is sunlight shining through rainbow colored window stars.
PS: Did you watch the Super Bowl last night? I'm not much of a football fan, but I think the commercials are fun. This one was my favorite, because of the song, which is one that always makes me feel happy :- )
::
Winter afternoons are about sugar, flour, butter, and eggs. I put them in a bowl and stir. I have a choice: ginger, cloves, and cinnamon or two fragrant lemons?. I go with the lemons. The yellow parakeet sings softly to me from the corner. The sky is stunningly blue out the window. I begin to think about the garden, and then about the letter I read in the paper yesterday by the ninety year old Jewish woman who lost her faith during the war. I don't blame her; my own faith is a tenuous thing without having faced extermination.::
Winter evenings are about wool, sticks, and television. The yarn is teal and too bright; I don't like it. I practice holding it a new way. I am too aware of my hands. I try to think about the alligators on the television. I relax my fingers and try not to think about them. Alligators have four toes on their front feet and five toes on their back feet. They have eighty teeth. My wooden needles tap a rhythm: snick, snick, snick. ::
Winter nights are about nightgowns, quilts, and bedtime stories. I put on the same cranberry colored thermal nightgown that I have worn for eighteen years. It was made in Germany. I open the book I am reading and fall into the story until my eyelids are heavy with sleep, and I am lost in dreams...PS: Did you watch the Super Bowl last night? I'm not much of a football fan, but I think the commercials are fun. This one was my favorite, because of the song, which is one that always makes me feel happy :- )
Silence!!
ReplyDeleteYes? Was I right? :-)
We loved the story of Marathon. Did you get it from Story of the World? If so, research more, as that only tells part of it, and not even the best part.
How lucky you are to have a soft-singing parakeet. Our budgie is very noisy and sometimes has fits of insanity. But we love her.
You write so beautifully about even the simplest things. You give my spirit something it lacks, and for that I thank you.
Yes! You guessed right, you may now cross the bridge :-)
DeleteWe read the story of Marathon from a book called, The Human Odyssey, which is published by K-12. I really like this book. Zach and I are writing a shredding metal song together about Darius' son Xerxes at the Battle of Salamis. How's that for a history lesson?
We have four parakeets, which is a little crazy. Three live together in a cage in the dining room: two females and a white male named Caspar who I have had for a while. Caspar is loud. The yellow keet in the kitchen is a yellow and green male named Marty. He is the off-spring of my brother's mated pair. He is very tame, and sings softly all the time. We have high hopes that he will become a "talker".
Sarah, thank you for the warm compliment, and for being my friend.
you are a gifted writer susan, i enjoyed this very much. i think maybe you need some new wool. thank you for sharing, i didn't even notice there weren't any pictures :)
ReplyDeleteLori Ann, thank you for your kind thoughts :-)
DeleteI am hoping that while you were knitting you found your new rhythm...without pain. 18 years with the same nightgown? I bet it is s-o-f-t!!!!!
ReplyDeleteKaren, my nightgown is sooooo soft. I wonder how many more years it will last me? I'm working on my knitting rhythm, and I think it's getting better. The pain in my hand is tolerable (more discomfort now than, pain). I'm practicing the Norwegian purl, which has actually improved my overall fabric tension. I need to work on gaining speed with it, though, or it won't be practical for knitting stockinette.
Delete