Stopping at the library to pick up my curated bag of books, and I discovered these lovely ice sculptures outside. What joy! The sun was at the perfect angle to showcase them and the temperatures allowed my phone camera to work without freezing. Hurrah! The children must have made these as part of their outdoor story time. I love the creativity of finding activities to keep little ones engaged outside in the winter. My grandson is attending a forest school one day a week. He was thrilled that they made charcoal last week. They cut willow branches and stripped the bark with a knife (he got to use his special knife!) carved them and then added them to the outdoor fire. The community grows hardy children here!

My granddaughter at one years old, goes cross country skiing on her mom’s back. When they go zooming down the hills, she is saying, “Whee” even though her eyes are streaming water from the wind and cold. I love that spirit. I have to stay fit to keep up with them. I was on snowshoes while the others were on skiis. I was lagging behind after one of their downhills, though I could catch up on the uphill as I sprinted. My grandson slowed down to be next to me, telling me that he wanted to be with me. Sweet angel.

More of the children’s creations. My grandson and I will make our own now.

My night was full of dreams, then awake and drifting. One was heart pounding, I awoke and had to seek out a favorite book to calm my mind. I thought back to the rose moment of my day. My daughter does the rose practice with my grandson each night. She asks what was your thorn…..any difficult moment. What was your bud…..something you are intending or hoping for. What was your rose….the best moment of the day. My rose was sitting at my elder son’s house and hearing him play the first eight notes of the Pachabel Canon on the cello. He used to play it as a child on his violin. He is now teaching himself to play the cello. We both had tears in our eyes as the music lifted our hearts.

As I was driving to my son’s, my oil light indicator started flashing. I thought it was most likely due to my car not being driven for the past week or so when we had the negative double digit temperatures. Yet…..it might not be. I decided to take two minutes to turn around and go to the village garage. The owner came out, checked my oil then took it for a short drive to observe if the light came on. He said it was as I suspected and my oil was fine. He did check the sticker and see I was a bit overdue for an oil change. He suggested I drop my car in tomorrow to get it done. This is one of the joys of living in a small town. He knows me and will drop what he is doing to help me out. When he took my car for a drive, I ran the two houses away to mine to get some lemon bars that my grandson and I had made, to gift him. This morning when I dropped my car, I asked his wife how she liked the lemon bars….she asked, “What lemon bars?”. The young mechanic overheard and said that he and the owner had eaten them all! Next time, I will make sure she gets some.

Balloons filled with colored water and left outside to freeze. Beautiful globes.

Life is good. This morning I opened the curtains to a glorious sunrise. My grandson arrived for his school day with me. We went down to say hello to his cousin and uncle and ended up eating our breakfast together. My former hubby showed up with loaves of bread to bake as his oven stopped working. It was a spontaneous gathering which is one of the joys of living close together. I feel so blessed.