In January I had plans to update smithposts… weekly but time has once again slipped by and, well, it’s a month later almost to the day. Not sure whether that means life is so exciting that I don’t have time to update or life is boring and I don’t have much to write about. I think it is a little boring but I will let you decide.
So, late January, around the time we had fully recovered from our Holy Land trip, the fact that I had not sent out Christmas cards got the best of me. I love receiving Christmas cards and letters but the dirty little secret among the dwindling number of us who still practice the tradition is that “to receive you have to write!” This is a time consuming project in the middle of the busiest time of the year!!
I have held sacred the tradition of writing a Christmas letter and mailing cards since 1994, but in 2011, I broke the streak by sending only cards with a generic handwritten “Merry Christmas, Happy New Year’s” at the bottom. Oh dear! Then last year, nothing….
So over a couple of days I composed my letter, signed cards and addressed envelopes, Happy Valentine’s Day cards! I even got John into the act for his relatives. Two major trips with John’s cancer in the middle pretty much summed up our year. We bicycled and hiked but had no nights under the stars to write about (a first for me in 16 years). Not sure if we are getting old or lazy but we do hope to get out for some mini adventures this year!
While I will resume the Christmas card tradition this year, I enjoyed sending Valentine’s Day cards and letters. I received several back from friends and family, which really brightened up my Valentine’s Day.
Meanwhile, we have had several light winter snows as seen below through the windows on our front door…
And a string of beautiful winter sunrises and sunsets. The sunrise below was captured through our kitchen window a week or so ago. The low clouds in the middle of the picture are hovering above the Tennessee River.
Then came Valentine’s Day. John gave me the orchid I have been coveting at one of our local stores…
And this beautiful bouquet of tulips. I hope I don’t kill the orchid before the tulips fade. For some reason I, who has a relatively green thumb, am frightened to grow them.
We are out walking again and having a great time. Saturday we walked several miles at Victor Ashe Park. The loop is about .6-miles, we walked it 4 times. The day was breezy and cold but the sunshine fooled us when we left the house and we were woefully underdressed.
The sun came and went and the wind was unrelenting. John had a hat and light jacket, me, not so much. We were frozen by the time we got in the car!!
Sunday we headed to the riverfront greenway for an out and back walk. I don’t think John could bear the idea of walking in circles for a second day in a row. This time we were dressed for the cold but the sun stayed out and warmed us.
We had several opportunities to inspect the mess called the Henley Street Bridge, a major link to the part of town we live in. Closed already for a year and a half, the project will go on another 8 months. Don’t know if it is incompetence on TDOT’s part for selecting the repair company or total incompetence on the repair company’s part (or both probably) but it is an expensive disaster. Well that’s a blog post all it’s own, I will spare you my rants.
Thanks for reading!
-B
