Friday Happy Hour: Winter is Coming

It’s 17 degrees. I miss California. Before long it will be sweltering again and I will have forgotten the icy mid-winter tundra that has settled on the Northeast. The cold blast has brought us a time to slow down, bundle up and stay warm together. It has brought a sense of home and family that only winter temperatures can bring. My toes may be frozen, but my heart is warm.

The New Year must begin in winter. We are wrapped in the comfort of our homes, making it hard to ignore the deeper workings of our hearts and minds. What better time to step back and reflect. What better time to look forward and plan. What better time to just enjoy the moment and learn to be, when there is little other choice? Enjoy the moment of quiet, for all too soon the birds and bees will be busy again and we will have work to do.

This was the best week ever as snow finally graced the ground here after a nearly two year absence. Here is the story in photos:

Friday Happy Hour Returns

This Friday is greeted with a clear sunrise on cold winter morning. The days and weeks have slipped by without a mention of Happy Hour here at the blog. Until this week I have been missing in action; busy in my own world and little thought has been put into the weekly ritual. Have you been celebrating without me? Have you continued to take the HAPPY HOUR CHALLENGE? In my heart I know it is always the best week ever, even if I haven’t put it down in words. And like any other challenge in life, we can begin again to get it right!

My journey has continued in the absence of blogging. I have continued to push myself into the art world that I have my sights set on. My kids are growing into healthy Vikings. The years are accumulating in birthdays and anniversaries, both of which I feel are great accomplishments to share with my husband and partner in this wild ride called life. And living in the Mid-Atlantic is always an adventure. I’d say this was the best week ever, because every hour I add on to this crazy life is one more hour I have a chance to get it right.

What else made it the best week ever? What makes this moment so great?

·         My middlest son participates in the country’s second largest school instrument program in a public school and performed violin at the school concert. All though I think he would prefer to rock out in a band, this is a great beginning.

·         I balanced the house budget. And it did not take a last minute hostage crisis in congress to get it done.

·         I attended my second reception at the Circle Gallery in Annapolis for one of my pastel paintings that was juried into a show. Later in the week I was called to give an interview about my experience and my art to The Capital newspaper. How exciting!

Juror, Matt Klos, giving Kellee Conrad an art critique for her
Gettysburg  painting  at the Circle gallery in Annapolis.

·         Downton Abby = hopelessly addicted.

·         I am overwhelmed by clutter and projects to be tackled in my comfortable suburban home. And it’s a constant reminder of how happy I am to have this wonderful place to live.

·         Good conversation, good food, great ideas…there is always time to savor a moment with family and friends and that is what truly makes these moments worth celebrating.

Here’s to a New Year and a renewed spirit of the Friday Happy Hour. So, tell me, what have you been celebrating while I was gone?

Let's Begin Again

The long road of winter slows me down every year. I question what I am doing and why. I think about life more than usual. Why am I here? And where am I going? Down the long road…

Somehow in the shuffle of holidays and housekeeping and a heart full of winter worries, I have all but forgotten the blog. I have hidden away my feelings and preserved my thoughts for another day. Sometimes it’s just best to leave things unsaid. But I am traveling the long road and my journey is still taking me in directions unexpected. I am picking up where I left off and I am ready to share again, even if the next step is a challenging one.

So welcome if you’re just joining the journey and welcome back if you’ve been waiting for it to resume. It’s a NEW YEAR and we have this whole long (wonderful, amazing and difficult) road ahead of us. Let’s begin again…

THE ROAD NOT TAKEN

By Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--

I took the one less traveled by,

                             And that has made all the difference