This beautiful dish garden was a gift from Kim and Ken. I’m amazed at how quickly the flowers have grown, when it arrived from White Flower Farm a few weeks ago there were just a few tiny green spikes. Now we have white tulips in full bloom with the promise of hyacinths, grape hyacinths, and daffodils to come. It’s a tangible reminder that spring will come again, that there is beauty in the world, and that there is always a reason for hope.

And all I have to say now is that I hope you have a great weekend!

On Tuesday night we put away the obvious Christmas decor . . . the tree, the window lights, the Merry Christmas signs and Santas. But the winter decor . . . that’s another story. There are still twinkle lights and greens and small trees. And this bedroom tree. Because it brings me so much joy.

I hope you find lots of things that bring you joy this weekend.

This photo is from 2 weeks ago . . . I guess the good news about a blog break is that I have a backlog of special photos to share with you. The story behind this photo is that Dale and I had taken Jackie grocery shopping and he fell asleep in the car on the way home. I managed to carry him in and lay him on our bed and he didn’t wake up! It was a pre-Christmas miracle, for certain.

I hope his dreams were merry and bright and that’s what I hope for your first weekend of 2020, too.

Hello, friends. I’m just checking in to tell you that we are okay. We are sad but coping. We are struggling but surrounded by love. And we definitely feel that love.  It is expressed in so many ways: whispered words of sorrow, strong hugs, cards in the mail, deliveries of flowers and food, messages here and on social media, phone calls and so much more. All of those things are keeping us going and it means so much to us.

Last Friday I hoped for a weekend of beauty and then our world turned upside down. I’m going to be brave and wish for a beautiful weekend again. Because, in the end, hope is what keeps us moving forward.

Another Friday, another snowy photo. This one is from my office window at the COA, not far at all from those pine trees I showed you last week. I took it on Wednesday; it had snowed steadily all morning but right around lunch time the snow stopped and the skies brightened. I do love when the snow is freshly fallen and clinging to the branches like it is in this photo . . . not so much when it’s on the roads.

Cheers to a weekend of beauty and snow free roads, especially if you’re out there doing Christmas errands!