Because the winter sun doesn't hit the backyard like in summer there is some remaining snow, lingering on evergreens, in patches of shade and the like but with a full day of sun it all should be melted by the end of the day. We might get a few more flurries this upcoming week...guess winter finally got its act together, of late, and now when our hearts and minds turn to spring, we have this late wave of colder temps and a few snow flurries. The temperature is 18 degrees right now.
One of my errands today is dropping off some stuff at Goodwill. It is the continuous journey of going through closets. From early on nothing has ever been held onto too tightly by me but maybe the exception is books. The last two book clean outs are barely a blip on the screen but it is the honest evaluation of so many of these books, I'll not read them again or they aren't in a genre that holds my interest. There are a few though, that will stick around a little longer. Back in the early days of my collecting first edition southern fiction, I came across memoirs and stories that aren't the predictable, stereotype niche of growing up poor or southern or whatever. I found a book several weeks ago that had been put away. It had been recommended by a young friend and I skimmed it when I first bought it but it has been in the depths of a box. I was somewhat excited when I came across it because it seemed to fit in with the Taste and See study that we will be starting in a couple of weeks. This thin book is drudgery to go through. It is one of those happy, slappy, snappy books written by a bright and bubbly persona that seems to include some not so good days in her story, mainly cause something has got to cut the cuteness and sweetness of the stories and observations. She is the typical women's ministry go to speaker type and I struggle with that constant barrage of imagery. There are several Christian authors who use this same blueprint and I have tried to finish their books and I just can't even though I am drawn to their subject matter. I'll skim the rest of the book but I can already sense that hers will be the same theme, different foods, other gatherings, and the same formula that this book has showed in the first three chapters. Such a contrast to Taste and See. Margaret Feinberg tells interesting stories, great Bible examples and with so much research. Each time I go through the book, I underline in different colors because her study is multilayered Maybe I identify with Margaret because she and her husband don't have children either and she is basically untethered to roam about and experience life without having to be back home to help with homework and stuff like that.
In the midst of the ordinary yesterday, and I love me some ordinary, I received an encouraging note. A long time friend, first time caller.... No, a long time friend messaged me that she is traveling the heart issue road and the upcoming procedures, the medicines and all the like...and that Monablog had helped her. She had gone back to 2008 beginning in September as I wrote through the twists and turns of my journey. For so many reasons I continue to blog, and now it ain't cool anymore but who cares? But when I hear from friends and strangers about how much either the heart stuff or things dealing with my father has helped them, I know that this little corner of the world, I am doing the right thing. You can survive a traumatic childhood, dramatic adulthood, making a livelihood, the scary-hood, and new neighborhood and come out okay, better than okay. If some of the abuse and trauma, or the illness and recovery helps someone, my little heart and life are encouraged. Well, my heart isn't little but enlarged...but you get the idea. And if other posts have brought you laughter and joy, that's good too...and I cannot forget to mention all the boring posts...they have their place as well, cause boring posts are for me, to remember a day or an event.
One last observation and this will be of the feral kind, I watched Punky and Ranger eating this morning. On any given moment, Punky will chase Ranger out of the yard and down the gravel road. While the cousins have totally accepted Ranger, Punky has mixed reactions. Punky and Ranger found the food on the back porch steps earlier. As long as Punky was eating, Ranger would eat...if Punky looked up, Ranger looked up...because one never knows what a hormonal cat will do, continue eating or chasing. Last night as I was making my rounds, turning off lights and such...I saw Strawyer coming up our road...dang, he had been hanging out near the busy, mainline highway with constant traffic last night. These stubborn ferals....
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