Snow Dazed

Oh yes, it snowed again!  This amazing image on top is part of a gift of Numi flowering teas I received from a beloved friend. They are AMAZING.  You put the bud in hot water (and the teas come with a little perfect glass teapot) and they slowly unfurl into bursts of color--plus the teas are delicious! We also got a gift of a dozen oranges and tangerines, so now we can have tea and oranges, like like the Leonard Cohen song!

This through-the-screen  shot  (I am too cold to open the damn window)  is of our urban backyard and the little iron table covered in snow.  You can't really see it, but there is this beautiful little bluestone wall by the table that separates our garden from the rest, which is brick, with all sorts of plants lining the edges. It all leads up to a wood deck and then to our beloved house. The wood fence is one we put in when we first moved, unlike the neighbors'  low wire numbers.  We wanted privacy, which we get, but the neighbors who lived there were upset, and one even tried to stop us from putting up the fence. That particular neighbor is gone now, replaced by ones who also like privacy. I know it looks scrubby now, but when it is green and lush with plants, it is an amazing little oasis of green in the city.

And we are all off to another show with our star boy Max, this time with relatives, and then tomorrow is the closing night, and my niece, whom I adore, is coming with her husband.  This means Jeff and I have been cleaning the house like banshees, which isn't easy when you are pack rats like we are.

I still managed to write 800 words yesterday, between cleaning my office and the bedrooms for company! I'm happy, too, because I have some things coming out: a personal essay in Hallmark, another essay that Scholastic asked me to do, and my Grief Diet essay, which is getting some buzz (if you scroll down, you can find the link and read it. Email me if you can't!) If you're a writer, you always want to have something out there because that something usually generates other things, and at the very least, it makes your endorphins rock and roll a bit.