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Sunday, January 2, 2011


 I have had enough of snow, of this monochrome world. I'm going back to autumn, November 11, to be exact, when most trees were bare but the sun coughed, rose briefly in its deathbed and gave up one last fervent seventy-degree day. On a weekend, no less. Ahhh. Let's go, kids.


Let's go to Dean's Fork and ride our bikes over the ruts and puddles and through the crackly leaves.


 Let's admire the old house that's leaning into the hill, the house that became a barn that became a corral

and now is home to nothing but mice and phoebes and snakes.


Let's marvel at the cerulean sky and what's left of the fiery leaves. Park our bikes and walk awhile.


Let's look at the light of this hour.


We'll sit in the road that nobody much uses and compose. We'll make poems and pictures with scattered light, sticks and trails through the leaves.


We'll compose pictures around a giant foreground dog.


Who suddenly sits to scratch his eye with a deft toenail. Kuff kuff kuff kuff kuff. How does he do it?


You'll walk in and out of the pictures, not guessing your bear-brown outfit is perfect for the setting.


And you'll sit and breathe and soak up the last of the November sun. Your sunglasses, simply criminal, for they hide your ice-gray eyes.

But you like them, and I can't tell you anything any more.


You, young boy, will run to find a stick to tempt your doggie;


hold it above his head in the universal invitation to play.


You'll whirl and laugh and he will, too.



Until the swift chop when he takes it and breaks it.


Then asks for another. He promises not to break this one but you know he lies.


A day so perfect, we must go back


Sharing the light, the log, the dog, the sun and the Snap Pea Crisps


and a happiness so simple and pure that it might flit right by unappreciated, like a small yellow butterfly


on the last warm day in November


Unless we noticed.

Happy New Year. Resolution: To make my own weather in 2011.

11 comments:

Simply fabulous!

Posted by Anonymous January 2, 2011 at 7:47 PM

Oh, Julie! I think you know how much I savor and appreciate the view from Southeast Ohio when it is mid-winter here. Thank you!

The beauty part is, you and yours are noticers.

And this is what I wish for you forever, so I can tag along, again and again.

I've had a hard time feeling grateful for the little things in 2010. You are helping me recover this...

Dear Julie, I am enjoying your book and just discovered your blog. You see the world the same way i do, taking time to find the special appeal of a bird visiting(goldfinch, sparrow, phoebe,warbler?) and the loveliness of even a cloudy day. Though you are tired of the snow, i am loving our rain in Southern California. we have not had a wet winter like this in many years.
I enjoy your writing and your art very much. Nancy Shomo

Lovely; thanks for taking us with you. (I had you pegged as a weathermaker from the git go.)

Fantastic pictures...lovely thoughts. Makes me feel like I was there with you on that warm autumn day.

Simply heart warming on this cold January day.

I LOVE this photo set! And ESPECIALLY the Trader Joe's Crispy Snap Peas! I'll bet you buy them by the case!

Thanks for the memories of my old stompin' grounds (or many a country road like it!)

I love this post Julie. Makes me feel like I was there too. Thanks for sharing.
Lynda in Michigan.

Posted by Anonymous January 4, 2011 at 1:27 PM
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