Restless

I should be working on my Sunday School lesson.  And I was.  But I'm restless.  I'm rarely - if ever - bored.  But I do have times when I just don't want to do what I should be doing.  It makes me restless for something different.  Today's different:  staying home all day.  And therein probably is the problem.  I've had somewhere to go every day this week.  Was determined to stay at home today. And wouldn't you know?  I'm restless to go somewhere.

It's cold and wet way back there.

I've a growing stack of books from the library to be read - ones that have to be read in the original check-out period since they're new acquisitions that can't be renewed.  I've a teensy bit of Christmas wrapping that could be done. There's a Sunday School lesson to prepare/refine.  I've a note to write. Stitching to do and there's always vacuuming.  But I just plain don't want to do any of it.   So I'll sit here at my computer instead.

Pretty blue lights.

The last two mornings have found me out on the trail for my morning walk.  (There's no way on earth that what I do could be described as a workout.  But for me, well, it is what passes for exercise. Moving my body for an hour or so at a time is about as good as it gets for this 65 year old.)  The best thing about those walks has been the solitary nature of them.  Yesterday I only saw one person. Today, only 2 (a couple guys manly enough to brave the cold and dark to be out).  I loved being out there alone.

Not so blurry.

I narrowed today's camera work down to two shots - one of the misty clouds deep in the canyons over the mountain tops making it snow.  Yes, it looked cold.  A starkly beautiful cold.  The other is one of the lighted trees over in the park.  As I walked through the park one by one, the sensors (or timers, whatever it is) on the trees would trigger the lights to turn off.  This tree was the only one still glowing in that corner. I love love love the blue lights.  (And the red ones, and the green ones and the - well, you get the drift.) And I just now added a different picture of the same tree, one from nearly underneath because I guess I twitched - didn't realize that first picture was so blurry, maybe this one will be sharper.

I'm still whining about missing the newspaper.  And no, won't be subscribing again.  It's just that the iPad / computer isn't the same as reading the physical paper.  I've been reading it for decades, it'll take a long mourning period.

And in my reading this morning, this particular quote was in a columnist I really enjoy.  I wasn't quite so taken with another few sentences quoted by this person, but yes, I was reached by this one.

“The answer must be, I think, that beauty and grace are performed whether or not we will or sense them. The least we can do is try to be there.”

― Annie Dillard, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek

So today, I'm grateful for words that are powerful in our lives.  Especially ones like "thank you". Ones that convey attention to you and that you matter.  And particularly - I love you.  I'm grateful for lots of good stuff to read that doesn't require me to filter out profanity.  I'm grateful for the ability to choose what I want to do at any given moment.  For chocolate milk (for my bones, you know) and for grace, I love the concept.