December 2011 Pictures

There's been a bit of snow, but not much. No sledding this year while tree hunting. This is the most snow I found that day.

And some more smatterings of snow, and gnarled roots, and the green of trees...

my tree in the wild

Ice carving was the same day as tree hunting, so I walked around to check it out when we got back. There were a lot of new carvers this year. This is a moose just down the block from my favorite coffee place.

This is the grand prize winner - it's a phoenix, and the picture does not do it justice.

My porch decorations - maybe $5 worth from the thrift store. Still, it looks festive, and since I have no outside electricity, lights are out.

door wreath

festive table decorations, including my funky skiing girl

kitchen window - I found big light bulbs (yes, the thrift store) and tied them onto a jute cord to create garland

Christmas tree with lights and decorations

frosty fence

bag number one of packages mailed

and bag number two

Rejections

The picture is from the Moss Mansion in Billings, April 6th (unfortunately not here!)

You can't win if you don't play, but playing and being rejected kind of sucks. I've been struggling with the job search, and the weather (predicted chances of snow for the next week makes it seem like spring will never arrive). I have to just keep going, and trust that what happens is what is supposed to happen. Or maybe just accept that what happens has happened and is now over. Move on. Keep moving on. And eventually something will develop on the job front. Or the school front. Or some front somewhere.

I don't like uncertainty, but I have gotten a lot of practice with living with uncertainty the past few years. I can still say, whatever happens, that I have learned a lot about myself, and I am stronger. I don't like rejections, either, but I've gotten rather good at dealing with them. And so it goes. Life. Still better than the alternative.

Inspirations

My new mantra at work:

Take what you can use and let the rest go by.

--Ken Kesey

Quotes that have been inspiring me lately:

If you limit your choices only to what seems possible or reasonable, you disconnect yourself from what you truly want, and all that is left is a compromise.

--Robert Fritz

The essential conditions of everything you do must be choice, love, passion.

--Nadia Boulanger

Do not be too timid and squeamish about your actions. All life is an experiment.

--Ralph Waldo Emerson

Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation) there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too.

--W.H. Murray

You will make all kinds of mistakes; but as long as you are generous and true, and also fierce, you cannot hurt the world or even seriously distress her.

--Winston Churchill