I love to snerdle, I just didn’t know there was a specific word to describe it.
From the 18th century, snerdle means to wrap up cozily in bed beneath the covers and hold off the day for a little longer, just like my kitty daughter, Bandit. She knew all about snerdling, that’s for sure.
“I’m also just a girl, standing in front of a boy, asking him to love her.”
Sending love and light on Valentine’s Day with a quote from one of my all time favorite rom-coms, Notting Hill. (Click on the title to see that clip of the film.)
Art credit to https://www.facebook.com/WorldofLovehearts
If thoughts were clouds…what would these say?
As I cleaned up the garden from leaves and branches and other debris, I looked up and snapped a photo of the very last of the clouds from that atmospheric rain event that brought us four+ inches of rain in a short period of time.
It’s warm and the sun is drying out the soggy earth.
Stars are dropping thick as stones into the twiggy
Picket of trees whose silhouette is darker
Than the dark of the sky because it is quite starless.
The woods are a well. The stars drop silently.
Stars Over the Dordogne – Sylvia Plath
I have a million seashells, well maybe not actually ONE MILLION, but I have a lot. Some are big, some small; many are so beautiful they’re lovingly displayed on shelves. To me, they’re all enchanted.
During the torrential rain when it was stupidly dangerous to venture out and I was forced to allow my leg to heal, I decided it was the perfect time to dust and rearrange my enchanted treasures.
In the process of relocating one of the seashells, I noticed there was what seemed to be paper stuck deep inside the cavity and that piqued my curiosity.
What was it?
A treasure map? A love note? Jewels?
Tweezers were necessary to extract whatever it was, and when I uncrumpled two pieces of thin yellow paper, I discovered THIS:
It appears to be a receipt from the Chong Hua Hospital pharmacy. It doesn’t say anything else that I can decipher. Google reports that this hospital is located outside of Cebu City in the Philippines.
Crazy, right? From the Philippines? Why was it in a seashell? How did it get there? How did it get HERE?
There was no date, no name, no treasure map, no smuggled diamonds, no love letter.
You can 1000% believe that I’ve peered inside every other seashell around here but they’re all devoid of any surprises.
The mystery remains…
Embrace your “hygge” (pronounced hoo-ga).
This word has been showing up everywhere so I needed to discover what’s it all about.
Hygge is a Danish word and concept that means creating a warm atmosphere and the enjoyment of simple pleasures..
The warm glow of candlelight is hygge; a mug of ginger tea is hygge; fresh sheets still warm out of the dryer is hygge.
It means creating a world of restorative self care and well-being, especially being outdoors in nature, to deeply feel the beauty of a sunset, not to merely look, but to see.
For me, spending time with the Angels is the ultimate hygge, especially if we’re at the beach or when we bake or read together, or when I’m lucky enough to spot a dolphin or a whale. Or a coyote.
It also means mindful appreciation of cozy socks when it’s cold.
Right now hygge is watching the torrential rain through the window; grateful for being indoors, warm and dry.
Sorry for the typo.
I meant to say my Giant Monstera is my soulmate. I certainly should have done a better job of proofreading…my bad.
This guy is the cause of my freak injury. I know I should hate him for it, but he’s so beautiful, especially when backlit by the sun.
I can’t help but love the source of my trauma, my pain.
You can’t really see it in this photo, but the reason why I raced down the stairs in slippery socks (and fell HARD) was to get the Amazon package that contained the moss poles to help my BFF climb to new heights.
When we first met (at Trader Joe’s) and fell in love, he whispered to me that a little support would make him happy. Since I love to oblige, it was an easy request to grant, however, this proclivity of mine set the stage for me to become irrevocably injured.
Deep wounds take a long time to heal, but my love for this Giant Monstera will last forever. Pretty soon I’ll need taller poles and more support because he’s growing and thriving under my care.
Love hurts, but isn’t he gorgeous? My monster(a), my soulmate.
Update on my injury: Stitches came out yesterday (after two weeks) but were replaced by a dozen Steri-strips to help the eight-inch gash finish healing, which it is, but at a snail's pace, probably because I'm not a very patient patient. I'm a much better caregiver. The recommendation was no strenuous activity for at least two more weeks or it'll open up again and I'll need more stitches and the doc threatened me with an aircast to immobilize my leg. "Threatened" might be a SLIGHT exaggeration, but that's how I interpreted her words...
Even while it rains, my early morning view from an east-facing window was otherworldly and spectacular.
No filters or editing, just a landscape filled with rain, the break of day, and a sun who continues to rise and shine, no matter what.
There might be an inspirational message here about the indomitable will to survive in adversity or it’s simply a sunrise. Either way, it brings joy and gratitude on the first of February.
In my dreams…
Those Enchanted places
Where the past shall always be
Where the past shall linger
Quietly, in the present.
Poem by Athey Thompson
Art by Lucy Campbell
A hot blue day had budded into something.
I wasn’t ready. The white clouds rearing
Aside were dragging me in four directions.
I wasn’t ready.
I had no reverence.
I thought I could deny the consequence–
But it was too late for that. Sylvia Plath
Sunday sky. I looked up as jets flew by overhead, so I’m not sure what they are.
I wonder…
…if there’s a message in these clouds.
What do you think?
Enchanted Seashells by Princess Rosebud 