Wednesday, January 2, 2013

 Hello my friend, it's been some time.  Happy 2013!  It's good to be back in this space again.  I've missed our constant correspondence and look forward to these weekly letters sent back and forth.

It's a New Year and yet somehow things don't feel much different.  Usually on New Year's Day I start with a cup of tea and a slow walk through the back path in the woods, but this year my girls had friends sleep over to celebrate and so after very little sleep I found myself cooking bacon and flipping French toast on a griddle in the early hours to a crowd of hungry girls and a living room that looked as if a tornado just hurled through.

We were all tired and cranky. My Em especially needs her sleep and was a monster all day and we spent the majority of the day under blankets watching back to back episodes of Doc Martin.  I often think of you as we watch all our British imports television.  I love them so much more than some of the other drivel that comes on here.  I love that most of the shows I watch run 45 minutes to an hour and a half, allowing me to get engrossed and more often than not, run past my bedtime.  I am wondering though if we get a skewed vision of British television and it's not all what we get on PBS our public broadcasting system.  I wonder what television we have ends up there?  We used to get BBC America until I became too cheap to pay for the extra channels.  We watch most everything on rented DVD or instant streaming now anyway, I don't know why we even have a television.

So, a rough start to 2013.  We had a lovely Christmas, as we've said before about it being our favorite time of year, but I am tired.  I am reading a book titled  The Wild Out Your Window that my grandmother bought me as well as a book of Mary Oliver poems.  I am afraid my reading time had all but lapsed in December.  The photo above I took of K this morning. Today was the girl's first day back to school after the winter holiday.   She got a Kindle for Christmas but I love that she has the real book beside her too.  We somehow can't get over holding that book in our hands. 

She's reading the Skulduggery Pleasant series from Irish author Derek Landy.  Em is obsessed with it right now and pulled her sister in as well. I was given the task of finding Em a coat based only on an illustration of the book so that she could mimic the twelve year old hero.  Only three have been published here in the States and my sister bought her copies off the internet for Christmas as well.  She is all in an uproar that she cannot enter the U.K. contests and register for the fan club.  She's also taken to wearing her dark spy glasses along with the black, wool button down coat when we go out, with her lanky frame, tousled short hair, black coat and spy glasses, you would think she was trouble, but she can't hide how blasted cute she is.  She has reached the age where she doesn't appreciate as much having her photo taken.  It's all eye rolls and frustration from her these days.  I think it's called hormones.  Bless the gift of girls.  I can't complain, I'm lucky.

So I look forward to hearing from you.  I heard you saw last year out with more of the dreaded rain, hope it has not brought your spirits down.  I wish you could have enjoyed the snow we had here.  It was just enough to be pretty but not cause trouble.

Lots more to tell, but until next time.

xoxoxo

Jen