Second Day of Christmas Snow!

I'm usually the first to wake up in our house, and this morning followed that pattern.

Part of me had a hard time refraining from waking up the other to share the news, but part of me loved being alone with time to take in the quiet beauty. Snow had been forecast, but you never know whether it will or not. This time it did, and it did so in such a lovely way.

  

This is what I saw out the north window of the attic room which is my office space.

And out the kitchen windows to the west, snow on the walkway below.

My first time to look out (?) the window in the roof over my desk in the attic room with snow falling.

 

The view from the north kitchen window.

Looking out on the street later in the day.

Every morning many little sparrows come to this tall evergreen. Or maybe they sleep there during the night. I don't know if I'll ever know about that. But they are always there in the early morning. This isn't a great picture, but it was so cute to see them there with the snow. I often wonder what all the little creatures think about the weather, especially snow!

These will have to suffice as our "two turtle doves" on this second day of Christmas.

We have a rather artistic neighbor, and when we went out in the evening to visit some cousins, we saw he had been at work bringing into being creatures of a different species.

The forecast is saying we could get another snowfall during the night. I hope so. Let it snow!

All Creatures of Our God and King

It snowed here last night. Because I'm recovering from foot surgery, I won't be going out in it, and there really isn't enough to make me want to take pictures through the windows. But it brought me to my blog, nonetheless.

While I don't intend for my blog to be primarily a record of deaths, it seems that in this period of limited time and energy for writing, deaths and anniversaries of deaths are what have brought me here to write more than anything.

Of course that is because the lives of those who have died are so beautiful and are so much a part of my life that it doesn't seem right not to remember and celebrate them.

I haven't written about it yet here, but our sweet dog Paolo died on December 4. We never knew his exact age, but based on what we knew, we think he was nearly 17 years old. He had been with us since October, 2000.

I hope to write more later about him, his life and his death. Especially after thinking so much about St. Francis in order to write the previous post, he who is known for his love of all God's creatures, it would not seem right not to write about the little doggie who has been my companion and friend since before I had even considered having a blog.

For now I share simply that he is buried under the tree in the photo, at the home of some dear friends, where the concrete planters are standing guard over him until spring.

And that Wednesday I received this photo along with the following message:  "Thinking of you. Beautiful blanket of snow over Paolo's resting place. Kids keeping him company today as they sled in this teeny snow."

Everything about this says "Alleluia!" The sweetness of this dog, the loving kindness of these friends, the peaceful beauty of this hillside and its trees, the quiet beauty of snow, the joy of children sledding.

Be praised, my Lord, through all your creatures.