This one was from Christmas Eve. I had an invitation to go to my cousin's home for the evening..well, the whole family was there too, not just me, of course.. but it was nice. A very loaded table of food.. good company... and even carollers.. I thought that going carolling was a tradition which was dying out, but obviously not for the people who went around the town on Christmas Eve. I'm so pleased with how this picture turned out... :o)
The kids got a nice lot of presents.. and I also received some nice gifts. Although this *isn't* a good picture, this is the pig keyring my sister sent to me.. 
This picture of the tree on Christmas Eve, was taken in a dark room.. with just the twinkle lights on the tree on... can you believe it? It looks so light, doesn't it? I loved having the tree up this year.. I'm always just a tiny bit sad to take down the decorations at the end of the holiday season, but it's time... tomorrow I will do it.. take it down, and pack everything away safely for another year... 
And this last picture was just taken today. I was washing dishes in the kitchen, and looked up at the sky, just as the sun was starting to peek out a tad.. it just grabbed me, so I went and grabbed the camera, turned off the flash, and "pointed and clicked" out of the kitchen window... surprisingly, I didn't get a glare off the glass.. I suppose because I turned off the flash, d'oh! :o)
I think it was amazing to see this.. the trees are just so stark and empty right now.. and the sky was so grey and full of clouds.. but then with the sun peeking through, and the clouds were shifting a little.. all of a sudden there was a little bit of blue there to see... just like life really. The "rubbish" of life are the clouds... and in some ways the people/person who leaves "rubbish" in your path are/is the stark trees... but there's always some blue sky ahead..
I'm not very clever at putting what I am thinking into words sometimes.. but maybe you know what I mean? :o)
I'm thinking that this year will be the year for me to have a garden again.. or at least flower beds... and it's funny how things go, isn't it? I had just thought that earlier on.. then tonight I was just doing a search on knitting patterns and ended up finding a poem by Naomi Shihab Nye ...
Sewing, Knitting, Crocheting...
A small striped sleeve in her lap,
navy and white,
needles carefully whipping in yarn from two sides.
She reminds me of the wide-angled women
filled with calm
I pretended I was related to
in crowds.
In the next seat
a yellow burst of wool
grows into a hat with a tassel.
She looks young to crochet.
I'm glad history isn't totally lost.
Her silver hook dips gracefuly.
And when's the last time you saw
anyone sew a pocket onto a gray linen shirt
in public?
Her stitches must be invisible.
A bevelled thimble glitters in the light.
On Mother's Day
three women who aren't together
conduct delicate operations
in adjoining seats
between La Guardia and Dallas.
Miraculously, they never speak.
Three different kinds of needles,
three snippy scissors,
everybody else on the plane
snoozing with The Times.
When the flight attendant
offers free wine to celebrate,
you'd think they'd sit back,
chat a minute,
tell who they're making it for,
trade patterns,yes?
But a grave separateness
has invaded the world.
They sip with eyes shut
and never say
Amazing
or
Look at us
or
May your thread
never break.
And then I found another poem by the same woman... this one struck a chord with me too....
My Friend's Divorce
I want her to dig up
every plant in her garden
The pansies,
the pentae,
roses,
renunculas,
thyme, and lilies,
the thing nobody knows
the name of
Unwind the morning glories
from the wire windows
of the fence
Take the blooming
and the almost-blooming
and the dormant,
especially the dormant
And then,
and then,
plant them in her new yard
on the other side
of town
and see how
they breathe.
