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One year

Tomorrow is my big blog anniversary. One whole year of adventures in blogland. It's been a great year. Blogging has changed a lot about how I look at the world. I've discovered that I really enjoy photography. I've found that there are lots of people out there who love the exact things I do. I've made new friends from all around the globe. Blogging has helped me appreciate all the tiny details in life, the beauty in the mundane tasks, the hope in a tiny bud, the humor entwined with midlife frustrations. I'm grateful for this new perspective and I look forward to tapping away at the keyboard and posting my way through this next year too.

 ~

Things are slowly waking up here in Montana. Oh. So. Slowly. It takes a long time for winter to pack up and leave. There's a lot of deep thawing involved. But there are daffodils poking through the dirt and most days it's warm enough to put the bunnies out in the garden area and let them explore and roll in the grass. Opal put on too many pounds this winter and needs to do some serious hopping. She's sporting a triple chin.

I put a few bird feeders outside the windows by my desk and it's been fun watching the birds come and go. Mostly chickadees and nuthatches so far. Oh, and a squirrel I call Hazel who continually gets more and more brave. She spends half the day trying to tiptoe past the dogs before they spy her and run her back into the creek bed. I'm a little worried one of them will actually snag her — that wouldn't be pretty.

Despite the warmer days I bought myself a new winter toy — an electric wood stove. I'd been eyeing them all winter but never pulled the trigger. Then I happened to be in Lowe's the other day, saw them on clearance, and decided to go for it. We set it up in the little TV room off the kitchen and I love it so much. I was worried it would feel cheesy, fake flames and all, but it's wonderful. It even has an optional heat blower, which makes that room extra toasty. Man, I just love it.

Hope you all are enjoying your Friday and plotting fun adventures for your weekend.

Coming full circle

It seems that my inspiration tank is running low. I'm suspecting that someone is siphoning from my supply while I'm sleeping. Either that, or it's February, which is usually a bit of a flimsy, banal month for me.

I've been searching all week for something happy to photograph but simply could not find the beauty in crusty, dirt-peppered snow or endless gray skies. Thank goodness for the full moon, making her appearance among the trees behind my house the other night. The Snow Moon is the name for February's full moon, and she was a beauty. Could you see her from where you were too?

~

March is waiting in the wings. She's nervously tugging on her rain boots, amassing a variety of winds (I hope her entourage includes a few warm breezes) and finalizing her agenda — hmmm, a little snow, some gusts, a sunny day, then a drizzle or two, some balmy wind, a warm spell, a sneaky overnight snowfall, followed by one delightfully warmer day (suited for putting car windows down).

I've become suddenly aware of the seasons of this blog and as I enter into March I will be coming into a full year of blogging. What a great year it's been! More on that later.

For now, wishing you good things.

My writing life

"Why can't I write?!" I asked the air
When I've finally found a day to spare
Me thinks the house may silence my pen
too much laundry, dust and lack of zen

I packed my bag and sought a chair
at the local Barnes & Noble, where
I thought the words would flow like wine
in the tapas bar on 3rd and Pine

But, hark! I found it worse than home
Distractions lurked like night in Nome
Poetry, classics, mags by the ton
I'd stopped writing before I'd even begun

Then spent the day with nose in book
Browsing covers for a Nook
Reading Oliver's latest poems
And pondering purchasing several tomes

At days end, I'd nothing to show
No letters written in a tiny row
Just a messy house, dishes in the sink
And a caffeine crash (from the latte, I think)

I called the day "a piece of crap"
My writing life is a lot like that.

~ Jenny Scheuch ©