the gift of warmth

If you had asked me 20 years ago what the best month for a wedding would be, I would for sure have said October. Maybe September. Certainly not January. But that's how it worked out for me…a January wedding, in a string of weeks of below-freezing days, and on day three of a terrible head cold for me. Not ideal, but hey, in the end, we were married, and that was what mattered the most.

We received so many amazing gifts that day and in the days leading up to the wedding, and a few in the days since…some beautiful things we would never have thought of needing, and some totally practical things we knew we "needed" (I realize that the term "need" is relative, and could be a whole post on its own…). Anyway, one of my favorite gifts was from a friend and bridesmaid and knitter extraordinaire…the gift of a great cozy blanket to chase away the chills of a winter honeymoon (yes, we stayed up North).


Several things I love about this blanket:
1. made by hand by Andrea.
2. made by hand by Andrea while traveling all through central Europe…this blanket has been to several different countries at various stages of it's development, while Andrea traveled to teaching engagements and kids camp, etc. in her life as a missionary in the Czech Republic
3. the color, the pattern, the weight of the yarn…it all comes together to make the perfect blanket for a graphic designer who loves neutral colors and a heavy blanket on me as I sleep! And it goes great with the blue coverlet we found…bonus!



the top photo is where the blanket has found its home…at the foot of the bed during the day (on the days that I make the bed…which are far more than they used to be!!). the middle photo is at the house where we stayed for a week after the wedding…a really lovely rental property in Niagara-on-the-lake that my husband found for us.

sputter

like a car that hasn't been started in ages…the cough, sputter, groan, whir of the engine…the driver (author) bangs the heel of her hand on the steering wheel, partly in frustration, partly in encouragement, straining to hear the full roar of life coming from under the hood…c'mon, girl, let's get moving!

back when I first started to discover the wide world of blogs…when I was just reading others', with no thought of starting my own…I would find one that I enjoyed…read backwards for a few posts, then just settle down with the archives and read the entire blog in a sitting or two, getting to know this stranger and her kids and her daily life and her creative inspiration. Once I had caught up, I would visit the blog every day or so, hoping for more tidbits…maybe of a life that I wished I had, maybe of a life that just fascinated me for whatever reason. Sometimes there would be thoughtful essays that would make me ponder deeper things, sometimes it would just be a photo of a loaf of bread and I would try to imagine a life that would have me baking loaves of bread just because I wanted to.

What would frustrate me, the inveterate lurker, was when a blogger would simply cease blogging. No explanation, no visit me at my new site, no hint of impending doom in the last post…the last sentence trailing off in screams… She would just not post anymore. And I would get annoyed. As if she was posting for me in the first place. And as if I had every right to know the details of her baby's birth, her new job, her move cross-country, her garden wedding in New Hampshire, her book being published…or just if she got the haircut she was thinking about eight posts ago and if she finished the quilt she was working on and could I see it, please??

Now I get it.

And after three huge life changes all at once, I'm back.

For me, mostly.

Though I hope you enjoy the ride as well.