Last week’s perfect packing snow provided raw material for many neighbors’ creativity, which I’m still discovering as the dog and I take our morning walks. Today, for instance, revealed a snow bear in someone’s front yard. Blimpy Burgers used to be adorned with snow bears during the winter; they were smallish and charming, like… Continue reading Snow Play
Author: Nancy J. Moncrieff
Snow Joy
And the children of the land rejoiced. We have several inches of snow on the ground. Yesterday was a snow day with no school. Furthermore, the white stuff is packing snow. Out walking with the dog this morning, I saw a snow snail in all its glory. About waist-high, it was detailed, with antennae, long… Continue reading Snow Joy
Umbrellas and Shreds
Daniel Pinkwater, forty-some years ago, wrote a children’s book called, Roger’s Umbrella. It’s about a little boy whose mother makes him carry an umbrella to school. When Roger objects that that umbrella gives him trouble, his mother tells him that umbrellas are all alike and you just have to know how to talk to them. … Continue reading Umbrellas and Shreds
Getting Through
Sometimes in the morning, setting off on a Bakehouse run, my husband drops Rascal and me off at a location of my choosing. That way, the dog and I can enjoy territory too far from home for it to be reasonable to walk both there and back. Rascal is elated by these extended walks, doing… Continue reading Getting Through
Cold or Cozy
Children who live near us have been entertaining us again, brother and sister playing out on the court. They’re elementary school age and, during this time of post-season games, the boy has been outside throwing a football around. Coming home from walking the dog one day this week, my husband heard the girl ask… Continue reading Cold or Cozy
Jubilating
Riding in the car with my husband recently, I got to thinking about jubilating. We have the noun form, jubilation. Why shouldn’t we have a verb form? Jubilate. It has a nice ring to it. It sounds active. It could mean either to be joyful or to make joyful. Thus, it could be either… Continue reading Jubilating
Christmas Trees
‘Just put the last ornament on the living room Christmas tree. Decorating trees is a labor of love, both retrospective and prospective. Our parents gave us an ornament every year, so that we’d have some ornaments when we grew up and had trees of our own. They weren’t, for the most part, fancy. One… Continue reading Christmas Trees
Maneuvering
If any season of the year feels like it speeds along, it’s this one between Thanksgiving and the end-of-year holidays. Days are short, activities plentiful, and to-do lists long. It feels like we all have a lot of balls in the air. At our friend Pat’s house, more than balls are in the air. … Continue reading Maneuvering
Tubas and the Barrier
A warm and lovely sound filled the air at Farmers Market this Sunday. It was Tuba Christmas. Somewhere north of forty musicians played a concert of Christmas music on tubas, euphoniums, baritone horns, and sousaphones. The bell of one of the sousaphones even sported a Christmas wreath. As usual, the performers seemed to be… Continue reading Tubas and the Barrier
Dogs and Dishtowels
My husband and I realized with sorrow, yesterday, that the Thanksgiving leftovers are nearly gone. We’ve eaten our way through the special-occasion fuss-and-bother favorite foods. We’ve even finished the treats Cindy brought us a couple days after the feast—homemade sticky buns and pumpkin pie with whipped cream. Everything looked gorgeous and tasted so good. All… Continue reading Dogs and Dishtowels