Monday Blues

We've got a bad case of the Monday Blues around here -- nasty head cold included. So here are some happy shots from the weekend. All hail central Oregon's beautiful Mt. Bachelor... and Simple Ink's newest Ski Racer.

Snowflakes

My last post revealed that I can, well, sometimes resent the snow. There can be a lot of it here in Bend. And I'm not just saying that. I mean A LOT.

However, when I'm not dwelling on the sheer volume of it, I can appreciate its beauty. The snow where I grew up was much, shall we say, "wetter" (thus the nickname, "Sierra Cement") than here. It fell in globs, not whispering flakes.

In Central Oregon the snow is more like dry powder -- so much that you can see the individual crystalline shapes of the flakes as they fall on your jacket.

It was that first experience actually seeing the intricacy of little snowflakes with my naked eye that inspired one of this year's holiday cards. Well, that and Eckhart Tolle. I discovered The Zen proverb on the front of the cards in his A New Earth.

Everyone needs a little Zen in her life... especially around the holidays... right?

Snoopy Doopy

Ben pulled this old book of Snoopy cartoons off the shelf today and begged me to read them. At age three, I thought he might not appreciate Snoopy's sometime-nuanced humor, but he giggled right along (whether he got it or not).

When he turned the page to the cartoon above, I noticed that Snoopy and I have the same feelings about winter's arrival.

I feel ya, Snoop. I'm not ready either.

Central Oregon Day

It's easy to become blase about the place you live. At first you see the beauty, all it has to offer, but after a time the rudimentary details take over. What's the quickest route to the grocery store? Could the bike lanes not be just the tiniest bit wider? Why is that one street always flooded...?

But on Saturday a simple walk (a stone's throw from my home) reminded me of Bend. The real Bend. The Bend that makes living here more than rudimentary. What makes it exceptional.

Glad to see you, Friend.