Things I Like About January

Sometime around the middle of December, I begin to dread January. December is so full of joy and light and fun and family. January is so q-u-i-e-t, dark, empty, long. But this January (so far) seems different. I'm really enjoying this one. I don't know if this year is different, or if I'm different, but here are the things I like about (this) January.

Beauty
Sunsets and sunrises. Frosted leaves and grass. Snow silently falling. Clear cold days and nights (there have been a few!).

Birds
I guess it is living here on the slough - but I've never seen such a concentration of birds - cool birds, not just your run-of-the-mill robins and chickadees. I didn't know there were so many kinds of ducks. Mallards I knew, but Buffle Heads, Coots, Wood Ducks, to name a few I didn't know. They are beautiful and quirky and all so different. Chris (our family Duck Commander) delights in pointing out the different varieties and helping us identify them. Yesterday a Blue Heron hung out behind the house. He/she was in no hurry - long neck turning this way and that. A Snowy Owl perched on my back fence long enough for me to get a good look before swooping away. A Red Tailed Hawk lives in the tree directly across the slough from our house. I watch him circle and land nearly every day. And just now, a Bald Eagle came rocketing down to pick up a little something to eat from the bounty of the slough.

Balance
I think I need January as a place to regain equilibrium and balance. The calm, quiet of January is a perfect time to reflect and recoup from the frenzy of the Fall months. Long nights and short days offer an excuse to rest.

This year I have no job to rush off to every day. I didn't have a long list of "new" initiatives to begin or programs to implement. I think this has given me time to be aware of how wonderful the month of January really is. Maybe next year, regardless of my employment situation, I will be more aware of the beauty and I won't dread it so much.

The Last Days of Summer

Our big move is complete and we are living in a lovely little house which sits on the edge of a slough. Now I know that sounds icky - but it's really beautiful. Maybe it has another name, but I don't know it yet. It is home to all kinds of birds, grasses and water foliage. The sun comes up each morning and slanted westerly through the mist rising above it- takes on an other-worldly quality that I love. The other redeeming quality of the slough is that there are no backyard neighbors - just water, grass and trees.

The neighborhood is quiet - really much quieter than the Orion Place house from which we could always hear freeway noise and trains. I'm filling my days with reading for class, getting the house set up and letting the dust settle in my soul after a summer of hard work.

I always love these Indian Summer days - warm sunny days, cool clear nights, earth tilting, sun slanting, grasses rustling, leaves turning - fall coming. I love, love, love summer, but fall has to be my second favorite. There is something calming and restful about it that feeds my spirit and gives me peace. Add to the mix the fact that I am not working outside the home for the first time in 22 years and you have a recipe for rest. I know its not forever, so I'm relishing every minute.

I will cherish these restful days, where I can sit in the shade of my back patio and watch the humming birds in the fushia bushes and the ducks landing in the slough. Where I can read and study and write and think.

Thank you Jesus for these quiet, filtered-sunlit-days. I'm resting in You.