Posts Tagged ‘friends’
Priceless Gift
Our friends left us three days ago to return to their home in Guatemala where it is warm and green. You know that a deep connection was made when you feel a part of you is missing after a friend departs. We are experiencing that, times four. Maybe it is amplified by the intense blast of cold temperatures now arriving in their absence. It’s as if a part of us has frozen.
Deep connections that get stretched across great distances will change over time, but they never end. My experience of returning home from Portugal has given me the opportunity to notice how the long-distance connection matures over time. The special people in our lives become so much a part of us that we are never really separated. I get a sense of Ian Rowcliffe in almost everything I do, and thoughts of him are perfused with the spirits of his family and the local friends to whom we were introduced.
The Morales family are now permanently bonded with us and are with us in everything we do from now on. A seed has been planted that has us imagining what steps we must achieve to allow us to travel to Guatemala to visit them there and meet their family and friends. We also feel a strong desire to lure them back to visit us when Wintervale is warm again and thick with green growing things.
I miss young Marco’s laughter and fullness of life, Jose’s endless energy and honest curiosity, Dunia’s brilliantly happy spirit and keen intuition, and Marco Vini’s wise and artistic peacefulness whether working or playing. I keep hearing the beautiful sound of their voices in my head as I go about the return to my old routine.
We are filled with the richness of the gift of new friendship, a connection with a family of precious people. They are gone from us now, but they will never be forgotten. Their spirits continue to permeate more than just our minds at Wintervale, as our horses and Delilah were influenced, as well.
Their visit and the bond of friendship we have received is a truly priceless precious gift.
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Sledding Fun
Julian created some fun gif images showing our sledding adventures up at the lake place. Here are a couple with he and Jose taking some runs down the hill onto the lake. Just click on them to see the motion!
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Sounds like our guests got out of here in the nick of time. The days ahead are predicted to be colder than it was last week. It has been a long time since we had a winter as cold and snowy as this one has been thus far.
It has me thinking maybe I should have lobbied harder to be allowed to hide in one of their suitcases on their trip home.
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Sweet Sorrow
‘Twas the second day of January, and all through the house, echoes of emptiness kept ringing out.
This morning, I said goodbye to the Morales family as they loaded their luggage into our truck before Cyndie drove them to the airport. Delilah barked her own goodbye, and then we shut out the lights in the house and all went quiet. Too quiet, after you have just had such a fabulous time with company that they come to feel like family who make your life whole.
I expect the feelings of loss related to their departure are magnified by the knowledge that they are traveling over 2000 miles away. It is a familiar feeling, awaking memories of the time Cyndie and I departed from Portugal, saying goodbye to the Rowcliffe family who we had grown close to during a two-week visit there.
It is the feeling I get every time my annual June bicycle trip comes to an end and all the precious souls I have communed with for the preceding week scatter in all directions for the places they call home.
It is a separation from people who have enriched and expanded my world and caused me to grow in ways I never imagined.
I’m pretty sure Delilah will miss the attention she was getting from our friends. Younger son, Jose, turned Delilah into a lap dog with the connection he seemed to make with her.
I expect the horses will miss the extra attention they have been enjoying from people who are “horse-smart.” I know I will miss the support that Marco and Dunia provided toward caring for our herd.
The feelings of sorrow for the parting are easily balanced against the sweetness of experience and the immeasurable joy of memories we now hold. We carry the spirits of our friends in our hearts. They remain near and dear to us, regardless the physical distance that may eventually come between us.
Godspeed, Morales family.
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Our Stars
Inside the igloo at -21°F/-29°C, Marco (dad), Marco (son), Jose, & Dunia
For the last two weeks, the stars of our show have been our precious friends, the Morales family. Cyndie and I have been richly blessed by their visit to our home. We have been able to share Christmas and New Year celebrations, and a hearty dose of a northern winter, with them and they have made every event more special for us.
We are lucky to know them and proud to be able to call them friends. What a sweet way to kick off the year 2014.
Happy New Year everyone!
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Ideal Day
Yesterday we experienced a perfect northern winter day. We were told that there is more snow up here at our lake place now than this region has received during December in over 20 years. Making the deep snow even more spectacular, it had gotten foggy overnight and the moisture was forming long whisker crystals of ice on every surface. The landscape was flocked in a silvery white sheen. The scenery was storybook perfect. I don’t think we could have provided our guests with a better winter experience than what this weather allowed.
The temperature was hovering near the freezing point when we ventured out into the deep snow to play. First order of business was creating a sledding path down the hill onto the lake. 
At the bottom, the boys put a “turn” (what has become our code word for: jump) which worked better and better as the day went on.
Then we started work on building an igloo with my framing device. At the same time, shoveling began to create a small rink for boot hockey. Cyndie and Dunia passed by on snowshoes, and after returning from a long adventure, they initiated rolling snow into large boulders. Soon, the classic form of a snowman appeared, adorned with a scarf and carrot nose.
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Marco’s Pictures
I can’t say enough about what a wonderful fit our two families are, the Morales family from Guatemala and Cyndie and me. We are having a blast together. Also, I am particularly pleased to have access to pictures Marco has been taking. He zoomed in close on Legacy’s eye and captured a reflection of himself, and Dunia and me.
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We are up at the lake place this morning, after driving up yesterday. When we arrived and pulled into the driveway, Cyndie and I decided to give them a tour of the community property before pulling up to our home. As we arrived near the tennis court, I was about to point out the huge pine tree towering over the court where the eagle nest has been in years past. I was cut short by my own exclamation, “There’s an eagle!”
The sun had just set and the light was low, but Marco hopped out of the truck with his camera and attempted to get a picture. Later, as we were reviewing his shots on the computer, we learned the eagle wasn’t facing away from us like we had all 
believed. Though almost out of range, and behind some branches that claimed the actual focus, there was a surprising reflection of two eyes and a hint of the color of his beak.
He had been staring at us the whole time, when all the while we thought he was looking the other way.
Thank you to Marco Morales for sharing these fun images with me for use in the blog!
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Lovely Lips
It looks like Legacy has tried to apply some red lipstick, but it is just the result of what we have come to call our “horse-sicles.” Cyndie found a recipe that involves cutting up fruit, carrots, and celery and putting it in sugar-water that has some food coloring added, and then freezing it.
The first time we set some out, they gobbled them up overnight, and we didn’t have much chance to witness them enjoying the treats, so we have been saving the last two for a time when we could hang around and watch. Legacy was the only one inside the paddocks when we showed up, and the three chestnuts were happy where they were at in the big field, so he got first shot at the fruity-sweet popsicles all by himself.
We pulled up chairs and spent a little time lounging in the bright winter daylight of the cloudy afternoon, amid sprinkles of light falling snowflakes, and watched Legs savor the sweetness.
Earlier in the day, we had taken all 4 horses out at the same time for a walk through our woods. It is the first time since the horses arrived here that we have had enough experienced horse handlers available to do this. It was a challenge to walk in the snow, but the horses all behaved well and nobody got spooked, which is a testament to the handlers all remaining calm and projecting a confidence that communicated everything was safe and under control.
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I was the least experienced one of the bunch, and after leading Legacy out, Cyndie switched me off to get some pictures of everyone, and Jose took over the lead with Legs, Cyndie was with Hunter, Marco Sr. had Cayenne, and Dunia walked with Dezirea. After a switch, I ended up with Hunter and was able to experience the cooperative communication of being in charge of such a large animal who could easily toss me aside and do what he pleases.
After heading toward the labyrinth and then doing a loop through the woods, we strolled past Delilah’s kennel and she quietly and (mostly) calmly stood at her door watching the parade pass by. We then headed back down the hill and returned to the big field where we removed their harnesses after the gate was latched. Three of the four then proceeded to lay down and roll in the snow for a little bath.
We enjoyed a spectacular winter day with the horses, continuing to fulfill visions we had when news first arrived that the Morales family could come from Guatemala to visit us here over the holidays. We are feeling truly and richly blessed!
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Snow Fun
‘Twas the day after Christmas and all through the house… (speaking in my silly vernacular) we is sleeping in and recovering from the hardships of non-stop eating, visiting, and all the frivolity of holiday celebrations with friends and extended family. We had plenty of Christmas snowfall, which gave me an opportunity to go out and play with the Griz. While my camera has been out for repair, I have been blessed to have others supplying me with pictures to post here.
With that, I want to give credit for yesterday’s picture, because I failed to note that I did not take it. That beautiful image of our horses was taken by our friend from Guatemala, Marco Morales. He has a good skill of capturing images. While we were out clearing snow, I asked if he if he would take a picture of me plowing.
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Doesn’t it look like fun?!
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Disrupted Normalcy
What routine? My days have become a blur of disrupted normalcy. Of course, on the one hand, that is a fantastic blessing. On the other, it means doing my daily writing has become a challenge of stealing time from either sleep, or choosing to miss out on some of my favorite time lounging by the fire with the precious souls currently sharing our home. Add to that, the occasion of Christmas and all the scheduled events related to it, and I’m finding it hard to even remember what all my normal daily activities were.
I hope bills are getting paid. What day is it again?
I am even without my camera, which is usually in one of my pockets to help me capture glimpses of my days. Although I still have my phone for taking pictures, it doesn’t work as well for me, and I often forget that I even have it. It’s curious that I tend to remember when I have my camera, but never seem to think about the phone which is always with me. Happily, I have received notice that my camera has shipped from the repair facility, so it will soon be back in my hands.
I wished I had it with me the other day when I spotted a pair of Pileated Woodpeckers outside our front porch. I was able to get the attention of everyone in the house in time for them to see at least one of the two before they flew away into the woods. That was a real treat. I did what I could to capture them with my phone, and I’ve marked up the image to help you spot them.
Our weather seems to be stuck in a pattern of light snowfall, just enough to be a nuisance, but not enough to make significant impact, and temperatures that bounce from the relative warmth of near-freezing down to serious levels of cold below zero (F).
There has been a lot of transposing between Fahrenheit and Celsius around here lately. I have been telling everyone that if it gets cold enough it won’t matter. The two scales cross over at -40° so the reading is the same in both at that temperature.
It would certainly be abnormal for it to get that cold, but it would be fitting, since not normal has become my new normal around here lately. We are loving every crazy minute. We are richly blessed this Christmas.
We hope those of you reading here will find your own blessings revealed in the days ahead! Christmas eve is a magical time.
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Big Drama
You just never know what adventure lies around the next corner. Yesterday, our plan was relatively straight forward, but it was a full day and included a couple of events that required we adhere to a precise start time. Cyndie began the morning in the kitchen, whipping up her now-famous caramel rolls and a variety of quiche dishes, plus a mountain of fresh-cut fruit for a brunch.
We weren’t sure how many guests would show since Cyndie offered open invitations to a wide range of friends, families and acquaintances, and it gets a bit unnerving when the appointed time arrives and nobody has shown. It so happened that there was a fair amount of snow falling in the Twin Cities at the time people were trying to drive, which slowed them down a bit. Our guests from Guatemala had spent the night with another family they know in town, after having gone skiing and snowboarding at Afton Alps ski resort the day before, so we were also hoping they would make it back in time.
In a blink, after our son and his girlfriend arrived, the house was filled and buzzing with the energy of twenty-some people who came to share in the brunch and then head to a nearby farm for a sleigh ride. 
Everything seemed to be moving along perfectly when we arrived to see the horses all decked out in their special colors for our festive event. Our group was larger than could fit on the sleigh all at once, so we put most of the kids on bales of hay and off they went, the bells on the horses jingling.
The rest of us were milling about the farm, checking out the ducks, chickens, goats, sheep, and horses. As we wandered back toward the direction we expected the sleigh to be returning from, I spotted the horses moving at a pretty good clip as they came around the house. I was excited to see that they were running and thought the kids must be having a thrill, …but there were no kids.
There was no driver either. Then we spotted the sled was not sitting properly on top of the runners and was dragging behind in the snow. The horses came to a calm stop as they arrived in front of the house, belying the drama that we assume must have just unfolded. We were all alarmed, and fighting the urge to fear the worst, but we knew there was every possibility that our kids might have suffered a serious calamity.
Luckily, just bumps and bruises and one little scraped nose, but I fear that the real harm was psychological. Some of the group seemed to shake it off, others may have been stuffing their true feelings, as they seemed to have no reaction. There were a couple who are old enough to know how serious the situation was, and I think they are suffering the most, as a result. For that reason, I think I am glad that I didn’t witness it. Seeing the empty sleigh return was bad enough.
We were able to bring the gang back to our home for some hot chocolate and debriefing of the excitement. There was general agreement that now the drama was over and the stories to be told for years to come would make this sleigh ride one that will never be forgotten. It was certainly not the adventure anyone expected when they showed up yesterday.
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Relative Something 