retinal perspectives

walking in a winter wonderland

i do enjoy snow - for a day or two at least.

it covers everything with a blanket of white and muffles sound so that all the world seems quiet and still.

you are, you know

so deeply loved.

wishing you every blessing

you may celebrate this time of year. you may not. it may be christmas, hanukkah, winter solstice, zombie yule, something else entirely, or nothing at all in particular.

regardless of the season, i wish you blessings of love and peace and joy.

from my heart to yours.

it's a hard knock life

.. for a cute little rein-dog.

i put the antlers on my head to show him that they weren't all that bad. i had to admit, they were kind of uncomfortable. possibly because my head is larger than his.

so, i just put them on him for one second - to grab an updated photo - and that was it.

poor, poor, put-upon puppy.

on the other hand, this poor puppy is in the middle of a fairy tale told just for him, so he can't complain too much. it's the tale of a scullery maid named liza (she's actually a princess who was stolen from her parents at birth) and a puppy she found in the woods and named grendel. when we left them last, grendel had snuck away from his usual spot by the fireplace and - while liza was looking frantically through the castle for him - had found and made friends with the royal kitty.

what can i say. i already make up songs for him. and i like to tell him stories. and i love fairy tales. it was bound to happen eventually.

here comes sinter klaus

this is the greatest christmas decoration ever invented.

do you know why?

it's a smoking santa! you put a lighted wick inside him and, as it burns, puffs of smoke come out of his mouth.

i bought it at a christmas market in germany, and have been rationing the wicks ever since.

i picked this one for a few reasons. first, i loved it. second, i loved the idea of a santa who both skied and smoked a pipe. third, without the pipe, the smoke makes it look like you're seeing his breath in the frosty air.

like i said, greatest christmas decoration ever.

the best of 2009, volume 4

continuing on with gwen bell's best of 2009 blog challenge ..

rush .. you'll laugh, but my biggest rush of the year came this weekend, as i sat in a chair and had a hole poked in each year. i have wanted to pierce my ears for forever and a day, but (she confesses) i was scared. i thought it was going to hurt. if i had known how little it actually did hurt, i would have done it long ago. 

packaging .. if i had bought anything from apple this year, they would win hands down. i saved my computer box for six years. but i haven't. i have, however, bought quite a few things from etsy sellers. i like supporting home-made but, even more, i like getting something in the mail from an etsy seller. it feels more like getting a present than a product. almost everything i receive is packaged so beautifully - sometimes even with a extra surprise inside. (truth be told, part of the reason i want to open an etsy shop is for the fun of packaging things. forget the sales. i just want to package. hmmmm .. perhaps i should partner with someone instead and be the shipping arm.)

tea .. you know, i wasn't a tea drinker at the start of 2009. did not like it at all. (it is deceiving - you smell the wonderful smell and then you taste it and it does not taste at all like it smells.) this summer, however, i discovered honest tea's pomegranate and goji berry iced red tea. that stuff is fantastic. fruity and red and caffeine free. then, this winter, i started drinking african red tea in the morning - with a giant (and i do mean giant) spoonful of manuka honey and a glug of cream or half-and-half. i am growing to love the ritual of a hot mug of tea on cold mornings - and it turns out that, with the addition of honey, i do enjoy the taste. we are becoming friends this year, tea and i.

word or phrase .. "yes" was my word of 2009. truth be told, i forgot about it almost immediately after i chose it. regardless, in reflecting back on the year, it was indeed my year of yes.

catching the light

"The
Earth
Lifts its glass to the sun
And light - light
Is poured."

- Hafiz

look at me

(i like digging through my archives. it reminds me that i have definitely gotten better at puppy photos over the years. and also that atlas still looks so much like the little puppy that came home to live with me. though as a coworker said the first time he saw atlas: they fooled you! they gave you a dog and told you it was a puppy!)

while i work (ok, or play) on the computer, atlas naps on the bed. periodically, he will hop off the bed and come stand next to me. stand and stare.

the first million or so times he did this, i thought he needed something. nope, that was never it.

the next million or so times, i thought he wanted the blankets fixed. i'd get up, walk over to the bed, and start to shake out the blankets for him. except he'd hop right back onto the bed in the middle of my efforts so clearly that wasn't it.

eventually, i realized what it was. it was his way of saying, "hey. just letting you know i'm still here. haven't gone anywhere."

when he does this now, i get up, walk over to the bed, wait for him to jump on, and then give him a quick scratch or tummy rub. and then he closes his eyes again happily.

oh, how i love my (giant) little puppy. 

the best of 2009, volume 3

continuing on with gwen bell's best of 2009 blog challenge ..

album .. after seeing the name fabeku and the album remembering through resonance mentioned on a few blogs, i was intrigued and checked it out. bought it. loved it. for many weeks, i listened to it almost every night while falling asleep. (the only reason i stopped is because the doggone computer stopped going to sleep afterwards - so the computer noise would wake me up and i'd have to get out of bed in the middle of the night to turn it off. seriously annoying.)

best place .. for me, there will never be anything quite like time spent on the oregon coast. the feel of the sand beneath my feet. the sound of the surf in my ear. the feel of the cool wind on my cheeks. the smell of the salty air. the sight of the vast ocean. the love in my heart as i watch the pup do his happy crazy circle-y run all around me. everything else falls away. my soul sings with joy. and i am completely present. no matter the weather.

best change to my home .. i wrote about this before but, while creating a vision board this spring, i realized that i wanted more color in my life. throughout the year, more color slowly made its way into my home. i framed and hung some of my photos in the dining room and kitchen and had another photo put on canvas for my bedroom. i found lime green file boxes. i took my orange blankets out of the closet and put them in a basket downstairs (so they were always within reach). i finished a painting. i fell in love with another painting. the list goes on. clearly there is much to be said for setting an intention, even if it is done unconsciously. and the color in my home now makes me oh so happy.

the warm, it is calling me

i decided to move to california during my senior year at college. i was cold that winter (so very cold) and could not stand it anymore. i decided that california was the place for me. having never been there, i pictured it to be a magical land of desert and palm trees and sun.

imagine my surprise when i arrived in silicon valley for an interview. where was the desert? the palm trees? (actually, i saw a few palm trees - but decidedly less than i expected.) the sun, on the other hand, was smiling down at me.

winters in california were warmer than winters in oregon are - but i am still not sorry i left. (besides, winters in oregon are warmer than winters in michigan were, even though anything below 70 feels cold to me now.)