Settling back into Indiana life, just in the nick of time...

Settling back into Indiana life, just in the nick of time - KPCNews: Kpcnews

Dear Folks,

Here is the link to this week's column. As always, I appreciate your reading. I have made some changes to my Blog; I hope you enjoy them as well.

Until tomorrow,

Lou Ann

"Burning the Christmas Greens"

My Christmas tree with the candles lit.

Dear Friends,

During this week of the Polar Vortex storm, I took down my Christmas tree. I think nothing is as forlorn as taking down a tree. It only matches the uplifting joy of putting up the greens.

As most of you know I decorate my tree with candles as well. This is a long standing German tradition that I brought home with me from my stay in Germany years ago.

However returning home this week, I found my tree was shedding its share of needles and needed to be taken down. Candle by candle....trinket by trinket...went back into the box.

I was hoping someone would brave the blizzard winds to come over and help me haul it out, but in the end I did it myself. I usually carry my tree out to the bird feeders to act as a buffer. This year I didn't quite make it that far with the deepening snow. I will get it there sometime this weekend, stand it up tall, and let birds rest upon its branches during the duration of winter.

When I lived on the farm I cut up the branches and placed them on my herb beds for protection from the winter winds. Those beds were up on a hill and received much bitter cold.

My poet friend, Norbert Krapf, told me about the poem, "Burning the Christmas Greens" by William Carlos Williams. I am sharing a link to the poem at the bottom of this post. Please listen to it as well. I love it, and it is a new poem to me.

Just as a thought, once when living on the farm we did burn the greens in the woodstove. I am surprised we did not burn down the farm house! (At least not then, but that is another story!)

Until tomorrow,
Lou Ann


http://www.pbs.org/newshour/art/blog/2010/12/weekly-poem-burning-the-christmas-greens.html

Another view...

Here is a view of downtown Angola. Thanks again to Jim.

Another view of the downtown.

Here are a couple more photos. These are from the downtown area. I drove through town yesterday, and it was strange peering out from these drifts looking for traffic. I understand the snow was hauled away during the night to an unknown destination. 

Today the schools are closed for freezing fog. Interesting weather we are having in this part of the country. Rain is expected for the weekend which will flood all areas, of course.

In the meantime, there are books to be read, cupboards to clean, and stories to write.

Until tomorrow,

Lou Ann

A ribbon of snow...

Photo by Jim Measel

This photo was taken by Jim Measel, news director for WLKI. He was the first to make it back to work on Monday morning. This is our main highway into town, Route 27. As you can see it is completely silent and void of traffic and folks out and about.

As for out and about? Schools, businesses, libraries, etc. have been closed all week. The storm left mounds of snow, and bitter cold temperatures in its wake. We are beginning to thaw and check on one another once again.

Storm of 2014

Just a few photos from the Storm of 2014

My street

My backyard

My front yard crab apple trees

Karen and Aaron's House

The House at White Picket Gardens

My street again.

These photos were taken on Sunday morning as the snow began to fall. It was still warm outside, in the low 30's, and all the neighbors were outside shoveling away last week's snow in preparation for what was to come. 

I have not been out to take photos since then because of the cold, but we are now up to zero so I guess it is time to venture out and see the world. We have been under a code red since Sunday late evening. All schools, offices, etc., have been closed since then. There still is no school for all the students here in this part of the country. I think tomorrow we will begin to open our doors once more. It has been a fun time with family and friends with dinners and games in the evenings. No one is in a hurry to go to bed or even get up early. Hope all are well and healthy where you are living.

Until tomorrow, 

Lou Ann

New Year's Eve sunset at Southpoint on Ocracoke Island with Lou Ann Homan.

Dear Friends,

We come to yet the ending and beginning of another year. The New Year usually means so much to folks...losing old habits, gaining new ones. For myself, how many times have I made the resolution to lose ten pounds!

It is good we think we can change and make ourselves better, and I believe these resolutions do indeed come with good faith!

This week has been a lazy one on Ocracoke Island. It is nice to lie fallow at times as in winter fields. Some time has been spent on reading, other time on movies, beach walking and in search of the Snowy Owl. (Photo tomorrow!!)

Wishing you health and happiness is in my thoughts for you. Take care, dear readers, thank you for finding my photos and my words of interest to you.

Today's blog will end with a poem, of course! This is in the original Scottish form as written by Robert Burns.

Until tomorrow,

Lou Ann

Should auld acquaintance be forgot, 

And never brought to mind? 

Should auld acquaintance be forgot, 

And auld lang syne! 

Chorus - For auld land syne, my dear, 

For auld lang syne, 

We'll tak a cup o' kindness yet, 

For auld lang syne. 

And surely ye'll be your pint stowp! 

And surely I'll be mine! 

And we'll tak a cup o' kindness yet, 

For auld lang syne. 

Chorus... 

We twa hae run about the braes, 

And pou'd the gowans fine; 

But we've wander'd mony a weary fit 

Sin' auld lang syne. 

Chorus... 

We twa hae paidl'd in the burn, 

Frae morning sun till dine; 

But seas between us briad hae roar'd 

Sin' auld lang syne. 

Chorus... 

And there's a hand, my trusty fere! 

And gie's a hand o' thine! 

And we'll tak' a right gude-willie waught, 

For auld lang syne. 

Chorus... 

Robert Burns

Drifting down the tracks of Christmas memories -

Drifting down the tracks of Christmas memories - KPCNews: Kpcnews


The above link is this week's column sharing Christmas memories. When life changes, it is important to establish new customs and traditions so I did just that fourteen years ago.

The Christmases I spent on the farm with the boys cannot be replaced. I knew when I was divorced that it would be impossible to continue the traditions without the farm...without the children...without the past.

It is not easy to venture out to new horizons when we are caught up in our own traditions, but there comes a time that we must do it.

The above link shares a few of the adventures I have embarked upon since those days. I think the challenge is to be able to let go.

I met a woman the other day who said that her Christmas was to be the same as always. She was a single woman who had no reason to be living the same traditions that were making Christmas a season of sadness. I told her to hop a plane or a train and just go somewhere new.

She gazed at me as if I had told her to fly to the moon. Do we need permission to try new outings? Who gives us the permission to go or who tells us not to go? I guess these are things to think about in the new year.

As for this Christmas I decided to take a plane to visit Ocracoke. It is lovely here this time for year...no visitors (sorry about that), and no heat! It is always nice to visit Philip in his village of family and friends as well.

I took this photo of the Methodist Church yesterday in the late afternoon. Enjoy as well.

Until next time, let your mind wander a bit.

Lou Ann