Winter

This calf was standing by the place where I feed them.  His buddy was still lying down in their shelter, which proves even cows sometimes like to stay in bed a little longer when it’s cold outside.

I realize winter doesn’t officially arrive until the 21st of next month, but it feels as though it’s upon us.  It’s cold, and there’s about an inch of wet snow on the ground.  The high today will be 35, so the snow won’t be here long.  I’ve also settled in to my wintertime reading pattern, which means I’m going through books pretty fast.  I had put the digital book “Holy Ghost”, a Virgil Flowers book by John Sandford, on hold a couple months ago.  When I got an email telling me the book had been checked out to me, I was ecstatic... until I realized I unwittingly had checked out the audiobook version.  For some strange reason, I fall asleep listening to audiobooks.  Besides, since I have no headphones, I’d have to listen to it when I’m in the house alone.  That doesn’t happen often in winter.  Cliff is settled in reading books too.  Anyway, it would be no use trying, because I WOULD fall asleep, then wake to find I’ve slept through two chapters.  I hate when that happens.  

A local friend called Wednesday evening to invite me to the “Ladies’ Day” at St. Luke’s.  I have attended this many times in the past, thanks to Diane’s reminding me.  She offered to pick me up as usual, but I really didn’t want to get there too early:  The ladies quilt on Thursdays, and I’m no good at anything like that.  Plus, I’m not used to having conversations with people these days, other than family.  At one point Cliff asked when I wanted him to take me and I said, “I haven’t decided if I’m going yet.”  He asked me why I wouldn’t go; he just doesn’t understand how difficult it is for me to get in a group and try to converse with people I don’t know that well.  But I did it!  As far as I know, I didn’t even accidentally insult anyone, although of course there were no family members there to let me know if I had.  All joking aside, I enjoyed myself.  And I appreciate my friend Diane, who is one of the few people not afraid to invite me to a public gathering with her.  There was a good meal to enjoy, and a storyteller, who mentioned that we are all story-tellers.  That, of course, made me think about my blog.  When you have nobody around you who cares about your stories, just start a blog and blather away!  The people who enjoy it will read it.  Those who aren’t interested won’t.  Having a blog is a great way to thin the crowd so nobody has to be bored.  I have relatives who seldom read my drivel, and total strangers who don’t miss a single entry.  Isn’t life grand?   

Cliff dropped me off at the church, which is only a little over a mile from here; and he picked me up afterward.  He said Gabe was upset that I wasn’t here for those two or three hours, and kept searching for me, looking out the window.  It’s unusual for me to be gone without Cliff, since I don’t drive, so naturally Gabe was worried.  

I have an Internet friend in Washington (the state).  She is a retired schoolteacher, and has a blog I enjoy.  One thing that keeps me going back to her blog is the list of books she’s read, on the right-had side of her blog page.  I pick most of my reading material from her list!  I just finished “Eleanor Oliphant is  Completely Fine” in two days.  Funny thing is, I avoid books written by British authors because the locations are unfamiliar to me and they sometimes use different words for things.  But this was one I couldn’t put down.  I even felt a lot of the author’s pain.  Not because I had an abusive childhood as she did, but because during the more than three years I lived alone, I shut myself in my apartment and read books.  It was just me, my books, and the music I listened to then, which was Bob Dylan, Peter, Paul, and Mary, and the Kingston Trio.  Trust me, “Eleanor Oliphant” is a good book.  I’m now starting another book my teacher friend recommended:  “The Woman in the Window”.  

I’m late feeding my three felines, so I’ll be putting on my Muck boots and heading for the barn.

Yours truly, Donna

PS: I used an app on the iPad to compose this entry, and it didn't allow me to make the picture smaller.  Then I came to the computer, but it still won't allow it.  It will soon float down the page as I make other blog entries and won't be so intrusive.  And just as I typed this, I found out there WAS a way to make pictures smaller using the app.  So I’ve learned something today.