A New Week's Worth of Hope

Lovely yesterday afternoon.

I always approach Mondays with a bit of trepidation.  I always hope for a good week.  Experience often teaches something different.  So, this week, I am again, hoping for some good things.

Our Saturdays have been weird lately.  No movies worth seeing, and our friends have been busy so we haven't seen them much.  We did spend some time on Saturday getting ready for our appointment with the tax guy - a new one this year. Our previous one had to retire and was temporarily replaced with a woman that was ok, we just didn't have quite the same connection to her.  Then they decided to move office locations, farther away.  And that was the tipping point for me.  So this year we're trying someone new.  I hope it works out.

Yesterday at church I made a concerted effort to speak to a couple people.  I tried to reach out to some who I know are personally struggling.  Not with the intent to question them about their challenges, but more with the intent to just let them see a friendly face (had to work hard on smiling, I've been in a somewhat permanent (I truly hope not) state of grump) and hear a friendly voice and know that someone cares that they're around.  In the process, I embarrassed myself a bit, but that's not unusual. I hope it kinda-sorta made a bit of a positive difference for them.

Icy boxwood plant.

It was such a beautiful day that I took a half hour and made a quick circle on the trail.  Wanted to see what the trail was like after all the snow and if it'd be ok for a walk in the morning.  The wind seemed to be aimed just at me (when does it not blow here in Draper?) so it felt colder than it looked, but still, I reveled in being out there.  I so love my walks outside and have missed them this last week.  I hope I'll be able to get out there tomorrow - the prediction is for - yes....more snow. I hope it holds off until I can walk outside.

This little boxwood plant is under the corner of the porch gutter where it often drips.  The leaves are perfectly encased in clear ice.  It looked really pretty in the afternoon sun. I hope the dear little plant survives this strange winter.

Perfect morning walk.

And I did get out on the trail this morning. Windy? Quite.  Cold? Yup. Peaceful?  Immensely.  The perfect way to start any day.  The air was so crisp and clear I swear I could almost see the individual needles on the pines up on the hillside. I had to be extra careful on the snowy, icy patches on the trail.  Didn't mind doing that.  There were very few people out and I love the solitude.  And now that the sun is rising a bit earlier, I didn't even need to take a flashlight along.

Included in my prayers this morning were concerns for several friends.  I hope I can figure out how to somehow ease their burdens.  I know I'm just one old lady.  But I think I've still got a bit of good left in me that can help another if only in a teensy small way. I hope so.

Finally finished the blanket.

And I finished the blanket.  A couple years ago I had a hankering to knit something in a stitch I hadn't tried before (which would actually be most knitting stitches).  Figured a little baby blanket would work.  I did practically the whole thing - only about 11 rows to go - and just got tired of working on it so put it aside for a while.  Decided it needed to be done so pulled it out the other night and finished it in a couple hours. It's not too terrible for my first basketweave stitch and I enjoyed working on it.  I hope there'll be some little person who I might be able to give this to.

And today I'm feeling gratitude.  Gratitude that I didn't come home from church totally grouchy.  Gratitude for finishing another project.  Gratitude for being able to walk outside on the trail again. Gratitude for people who act like it's fine to talk to me. Gratitude for that friend who waved big at me as he drove past this morning.  And gratitude for the hope that helps me carry on.