Midwinter (Tribute to Christina Rossetti)

Snow on snow, snow on snow

Quiet farmhouse

Cat in sunbeams

Girl in hat, woman in blankets

Fuzzy, sleepy

Lighted tree

Top Withins

My friend Heidi lives in England, and recently took a trip out to Top Withins. Those of you familiar with the Bronte sisters will recognize the feeling of this place. She took this picture, which has fascinated me since. I could look forever at this tree.

Saturday Night

Christina gave a full post to last Saturday night when we got together with our husbands. Kevin and I love keeping company with the Christina and Dave--we always have such fun discussion, complete with good stories and light sarcasm. It was a blast to have dinner, play games, and celebrate Christina's birthday. What's more, these are the first pictures of the inside of our home--you can even see our photograph of Courthouse Towers in Arches, as well as our other friendly visitor: Poe.

Book Review: Eat, Pray, Love

I read Elizabeth Gilbert's memoir, Eat, Pray, Love a few months ago after Rachel introduced me to it. I didn't intend to do a book review here, but this is the type of book that I've kept with me for months, and after Christina reminded me of it yesterday, I figured that I had to do it.

Read is not really the correct word, as I listened to the audio book read by Gilbert herself. She was amazing, adjusting her sound for the voices of the people in her life, and capturing the subtle ironies that I found delightfully amusing.

Apparently, this book has captured the attention of many women. I confess I don't watch Oprah, and haven't had much of a chance to keep up on how this book has impacted others. But I can talk of how this book resonated with me like a week spent with a cosmic twin turned spiritual mentor. Gilbert tells her story of how she came to spiritual crisis, and how she worked herself out of it (through eating, praying, and loving) over a few years time and exotic journeys. Never before had I heard of a woman being so confessional--so honestly forthright--about the demons that haunt her, and then to have such a clever and witty way of examining them. As a childless woman at an age where everyone around me is desperately "baby hungry" (odd term, isn't it?), I stood refreshed at her confession of not wanting children--at least not at according to everyone else's time table--and the sincerity in which she felt and dealt with the issue. Her coming to terms with God, and with meeting God for the first time (and second, and third), was beautiful to me in its openness and liberality.