Then One Foggy Christmas Eve

Julietta's first Christmastime.  Darling girl.  ♥  While family eats and watches a Christmas movie together back home, Mike, Stuffed, and I are cozy in our little apartment, our cards all taped to the door, our favorite movies playing one after the other, and Stuffed napping here, there, and everywhere around us.  'A strangely foggy Christmas Eve here too, so much so that we can hardly see our neighbors' apartment next door, and the fog after a day with temperatures in the forties and our windows open most of the day while holiday baking was in full-swing.   My favorite day of the year, this.  ♥

It's been an easy-peasy day here, and this entire season's been the most-organized of every holiday season so far for me.  We have been washing dishes as we go all day, so we're even caught up in the kitchen, and unlike every past year, I have the cinnamon rolls baked and waiting to be frosted and it's earlier than midnight!  ;)

Yay for progress!  

Mom reminded me this past weekend that Mike and I did Sloppy Joes for Christmas Eve a few years back, and yes, that sounded good this time too, so after baking sugar cookies and cinnamon rolls today, supper was an easy affair.  Mom, of course, with big meals for more than ten both tonight and tomorrow, has been much busier, and it's been sweet to be able to cheer each other on today.

Happy holidays to you all.  Tonight and all the days ahead, may you find sweetness, love, and wonder.  

♥

Bianca Painted Stuffed!

And as with her gift last year, I could not be more charmed.  She handed it to me Saturday night covered in crushed and crumpled wrapping paper, and my brother explained, "She's had this made and wrapped since ohhhhhhhh, October maybe!?"  :)  Sweet Bee.  ♥  I will treasure her and her artwork all my days. 

Artwork by Bianca

The flu struck the week before Thanksgiving and never really went away.  'Am still sick but can almost say I've managed to pull off another Christmas.  This is niece Bianca's Saturday depiction of the two of us beside the Christmas tree.  (My hair!  Our eyes!)  Rarely have I been more charmed by something (or someone).  :)  ♥  Happy holidays to you all, and catch you in the new year. 

Yesterday's Walk: ~ The more peace there is in us, the more peace there will be in our troubled world.~ Etty Hillesum

I only worked an eight-hour shift overnight Monday as opposed to the usual twelve, so I had more energy than usual after walking home yesterday.  It was a good morning, then, to pack my backpack for a longer walk.  After buying a carrot muffin and some watermelon, I got my bag together, filled my water bottle with iced tea and lemon slices, reapplied my sunscreen and lip balm (this kind, thank you, and I could EAT it, it smells and tastes so good), and set back out into the sun.  At the two-mile mark, I found myself admiring this fountain as I always do.  It is my favorite sculpture in one of my favorite spots in the city.  The University of Pittsburgh's Cathedral of Learning stands in the background, another of the city's great beauties.  In the nine years I've lived here, I've spent many hours on the benches that surround this fountain, sometimes with an ice cream cone and sometimes with a book, but always grateful for the oasis this spot provides.  May 2011.  And that a human being created this!  ♥

It was a hot and humid walk, even so early in the morning, but there was a nice enough breeze.  Nature provided hearts along the way, as it tends to do. 

When I last showed you Neptune, his pool was not yet filled with lily pads.  He has a more colorful world to guard now in the summer.

And into the woods. . . .

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.  Bliss.

The pond wasn't looking its best, and I couldn't take a step on its shores without crossing paths with dragonflies skimming the water.  I passed a man who was out walking and a few young women running through the woods, but it was a quiet park yesterday.  'Too buggy to lunch here, but peaceful.  And breezy enough to give relief, but not so windy as to keep the flowers from standing still for pictures. 

I returned to the park to find a shady spot for lunch. 

The site of what used to be Forbes Field, one of the Pittsburgh Pirates' earliest stadiums, ended up being the ideal place to put down my backpack finally and take a break.  Dappled shade and solitude!  It's another of my favorite places in the city.  It's a quiet and small spot, neatly tucked away into the campus that now surrounds it, but is one with so much history.  In 1935, Babe Ruth hit three home runs here in a single game.  Bill Mazeroski's home run that won the 1960 World Series for the Pirates was hit here too.  I never walk around what remains of the outfield wall without remembering that my grandfather and my dad got to see many of the greats play ball here.  

One set of three-tier bleachers was in full sun yesterday afternoon, but the other made a perfect dining room.  Shade!  The frosting and flowers I spread onto my muffin-now-turned-cupcake were pretty but not quite what I was feeling like after so much walking--it would be eight miles by the time I arrived back at home later--but the iced tea was soon almost gone and I could have happily eaten my weight in watermelon. 

After eating, I wandered around more before starting the walk home and noticed a table and chair set in the distance behind the outfield wall.  I don't remember it having been there before, but it will surely be one of my next lunch spots.  How dear is this! 

A rabbit sat still long enough for me to get its picture as I walked home.  Usually, they're too skittish and disappear as soon as I raise the camera. 

Two miles back to the apartment--

--and soon I was crawling into bed--finally--to sleep away the rest of the afternoon. 

♥

Six Beauties

A visit to a local butterfly forest exhibit this rain-drenched week was sadly underwhelming in terms of butterflies, but the garden center's statuary and spring blooms were as beautiful as ever.  

♥

Neighbors

Last week at this time, I was delighted to find the above postcard in the day's mail:  The stranger I'd briefly talked with on a walk in February to whom I'd sent a surprise Valentine had written back.  The postcard's front was one of Monet's dreamy water lily paintings.  The note on the back mentions that, "[His] water lilies also resemble hearts."  Yes.  The postcard had made my day anyway, but that observation continues to tickle me.  How sweet this world can be.   

♥

Weekend Walks: 27 Pictures (or A Pig, a Snowman, a Shadow, Some Hearts. . . .)

That pig just spoke to me.  :)  Fourteen miles walked this weekend and so much beauty seen.  Sunsets this time of year are glorious.  Flowers are crisp and snow-capped and bent in the most striking postures.  Tree branches are black silhouettes against sun and sky.  Snow sparkles and icicles glow warm in the cold sunsets.  If fall walks are my favorites, winter walks are a close second.  While I was taking a picture outside  a local school Friday afternoon, a man sarcastically yelled across the street to me, "Nice weather for that, huh?!" and I called back, "It is, though!  It's so pretty!"  I couldn't help but laugh when he responded, "Yeah, if you're a polar bear!"  I like coming home to the warm apartment, yes, but truly, it is nice weather for this:  Walking with my camera forces me to focus on looking for the good and the beautiful, taking the time to look at--to really see--the good and beautiful, and saying thank You for the good and beautiful.  Anyone can see the beauty in spring or summer or autumn leaves, but to be able to enjoy the brilliance of winter is almost a skill that needs to be learned and relearned for most of us.  Walking in winter when--let's face it--I'd rather be curled up in a chair with a book stretches me in all senses of the word.  Ohh, this is just good for me, body and soul. 

The art on a local shop's side made me smile.  I'd walked past this flock of birds so many times before, but this weekend, against all the snow, it was such an appreciated burst of color.

This card was in a stationery store window.  I'll be going back to buy this one for my parents, who are suffering extreme cabin fever already this winter. 

Hearts appeared in the snow throughout the weekend.

The snowman below, with his eyes at his feet, made me laugh.  

The takeout bag below made me smile too, and its yellow face was a fun burst of color against the snow and pavement.  My personal walker-code dictates that if I take a picture of litter, I throw out the litter too, though, so this smiling face is now in a trash can. 

It was dark by the time I turned around and headed home this evening, and the streetlamps cast such a pretty light onto the sidewalks, as warm and soft as candle-glow. 

Enough light for even a somewhat murky shadow-picture, and I was soon setting my shoes onto newspaper to dry back inside the apartment.  Chili for supper and a night off-work tonight.  "Downton Abbey" tonight too, and a new book to begin.  And another walk tomorrow.  All kinds of winter bliss. 

♥