February Evensong

After so many days of clouds and rain it was a joy to drive home in sunshine this evening.  My favorite sunset journey is down Highway 5, south from Ava, headed straight for home.  Especially pretty when the sun is slowly sinking behind the hills to the west.  The light is just so soft and glowing.  Each treeline is outlined in gold and crimson.  Not a bright light that you see in the fall, nor the sharp light of winter.  But rather a peaceful blend of rose and orange and blue mixed with yellow tints.  Not being a painter, I would be hard pressed to mix the colors of a late winter sunset.

Today as I passed those familiar landmarks...the store at Squires and the turnoff to Thornfield, the Y store and Wasola, Almartha, and then Romance to the left and Nottinghill to the right...I noted each farm and house.  I know many people who live on this road..or just off it a little way.  And as I drove I thought of them.  Some are still living in their homes, some have passed away, but their memory lives on with family and friends.

 I felt a certain peace descend on me as the colors grew more muted, I said a prayer for each and every one who came to mind as I saw their home place bathed in light.

  It reminded me of evensong..that beautiful church tradition that I experienced when I was a young girl.  Songs and meditations and prayers as the sun is setting.  My mind went back to that time.  Sunlight glancing in the stained glass windows, casting wonderful beams of colored light on the pews and altar.  And I remembered the joy and peace I felt as I prayed and sang and listened as a child.

Evensong in February.  For all to see and enjoy.  The perfect end to a perfect day. 

Anxious for spring

I took this picture of a sundial at a nearby college a few years ago.  I was going through my pictures and saw it today.  And that old familiar mid-winter feeling came upon me.  Spring.  When will we see spring?  To say I am looking forward to constant warmer temperatures, budding trees, and green grass is a given.

I know that many of us are impatient to get this winter behind us.  But, stubborn as it is, it just won't let us go.  A few folks have been laid up with the cold, flu and other ailments.  Some are getting over them...and for some they just seem to hang on.

For me, I am looking forward to hanging out my clothes once more.  I miss the fresh smell of sun-kissed sheets and towels.  I want to open up the windows and feel that soft spring breeze coming in.

Today I am going to clean house.  I have really neglected it lately.  What's the use?  I tidy it up and get it looking good and in the next hour or two here comes more muddy boots and dust from the wood stove.  Cloudy days make the windows look especially dreary.

I try to not think about the weeks ahead.  The half winter-half spring mood of the Ozarks.  But it is easy to fall into the habit of not expecting things to improve.  Think I'll get out the seed catalog, look at some bright and sunny pictures of flowers and trees.  Anything to fill the hours..and days..until those spring dreams come true.