To Be the Home

Artwork by Jacquie Lawson

A few thoughts about home:

. . . we want
. . . to be sheltered
to be
the home
and be in
the home
at the same time
(p 196)

. . . to
build
a home
you can invite

the
whole world
into
p (212)

from
Heart Talk
by
Cleo Wade
(excerpts from the longer poem
"I think about love," 193 - 212)

On self - acceptance:
"befriend your ingredients"
(p 12)

On reciprocity:
"whatever you want
must be held
in the same
hand
as what
you
give"
(p 180)

Artwork by Mabel Lockerby

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My best takeaway from Cleo Wade:
Where to Begin

Called to be Ordinary

"Down, down into the midst of ordinary things."
~ Virginia Woolf ~

Simpkin Goes Out (c. 1902)
Helen Beatrix Potter (1866 – 1943)

Message to the 14-Year-Old Me

Believe in yourself.
You can do anything you set your heart on –
except A level physics, perhaps.
Well, all the sciences really.

DIY is a bit of a no-no, too.
See also: driving; skiing; map reading;
cooking pasta in the right quantities;
relationships; origami.

Don’t even think about running
your own business. Or singing in tune.
Best to steer clear of all activities which require
good hand-eye coordination.

Forget ice-skating, tending house plants,
dealing with spiders, the correct spelling of the word
‘enjambement’. I could go on.
But do not despair – for given time

and with a little luck on your side –
you can achieve a basic level of competence
in a limited number of simple, unremarkable things,
you just need to believe in yourself.

by Brian Bilston (b 1970)

French Postcard, 1913
Caption: "Porte Veine" = "Bringer of Luck"
~ Artist unknown ~

There are Mornings

Even now, when the plot
calls for me to turn to stone,
the sun intervenes. Some mornings
in summer, I step outside
and the sky opens
and pours itself into me
as if I were a saint
about to die. But the plot
calls for me to live, be ordinary,
say nothing to anyone.
Inside the house,
the mirrors burn when I pass.

by Lisel Mueller (1924 - 2020)
from her collection Alive Together

Krampus Cat Postcard, 1901
E. Dölker

And here is a picture of a cat!

Year in Review

My friends are so amazing! Their Christmas missives describe so many travels and adventures, astonishing accomplishments for every month of the year! I knew I could not rival their descriptive prowess, so I opted instead for a minimalist version of the year in review:

2025
January: rewrote our will in accordance with the State of Virginia. Memento Mori.

February: Flew down to Key West, Florida, for a few days --
someplace we had never been (as recommended by the Dalai Lama).

March: Stayed up all night for the lunar eclipse.

April: Read Hamnet (RE Shakespeare & family).
Now it's time to see the movie!

May: Flew up to New York City to see "Hamilton" (1st time),
"Glengarry Glen Ross" with Kieran Culkin,
and "Good Night and Good Luck" with George Clooney.

June: Attended my 50th high school reunion.

July: Babysat a lot for Ellie, Aidan, and Dean.

August: Swam laps (1/2 mile) every single day.

September: Back to NYC for "Wicked" (3rd time),
"Hadestown," " & Juliet" (recommend),
"Operation Mincemeat" (highly recommend).

October: Dressed as a Bronte Novel for Halloween

November: Helped Sam re-locate from Chicago to New York City.

December: flew to West Lafayette, Indiana,
for old time's sake in the old neighborhood,

And now the cycle recommences . . .
so wags the world away . . .

So Wags The World

Memory cannot linger long,
Joy must die the death.
Hope’s like a little silver song
Fading in a breath.
So wags the weary world away
Forever and a day.

But love, that sweetest madness,
Leaps and grows in toil and sadness,
Makes unseeing eyes to see,
And heapeth wealth in penury.
So wags the good old world away
Forever and a day.

Ellen Mackay Hutchinson Cortissoz
(1851–1933)

The key line is quoted by Gilbert
in Anne of the Island, Chapter 29

"Anne laughed and sighed. She felt very old and mature and wise—which showed how young she was. She told herself that she longed greatly to go back to those dear merry days when life was seen through a rosy mist of hope and illusion, and possessed an indefinable something that had passed away forever. Where was it now — the glory and the dream?

“‘So wags the world away,’ quoted Gilbert practically, and a trifle absently."

Gilbert knows a lot of poetry by heart.
Earlier, in Anne of Green Gables,
Anne is impressed when Gilbert recites
"Bingen on the Rhine."

2026
January: NYC again for "Ragtime" and "Chess"

February: Snowed in for half the month!
Then to Kansas City . . .

Driving With Ellie

Ellie in the Car

Ellie: When will I be 18?

Daddy: In 12.5 years!

Ellie: When will Aidan be 18?

Daddy: In 14.5 years!

Ellie: Yeah, I am older than Aidan.
Who will live the longest?

Daddy: I don’t know.
I hope you both live long lives
and do lots of fun things.

Ellie: I think Dean will live the longest --
since he’s still a baby.

Daddy: Good thinking Ellie;
that makes sense!

Ellie: Does Santa die?

Daddy: No, he lives forever.
[as explained by Chesterton]

Ellie: What about when
the sun eats the earth --
in a million billion years?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thanks to my son Ben for these
deep questions from our Ellie --
Ever the wise one!

Ben, in the back with the kids.

These Two!

New kaleidoscopes for Christmas --
the perfect car toy!

Ellie, Aidan, and Dean
sleeping it off in the car . . .

The Greens: Their Time Past

". . . above the pictures the living green . . . "
Rosemary and holly, from our yard, atop
a 1974 blueprint of our 1890s house in Indiana,
along with some old scraps of wallpaper that we
discovered under the surface when repainting in 2010.

"How is it . . . that a piece of paper -- a letter, a photo, a ticket stub, a sketch, a painting - is suddenly transformed by placing it in four bits of wood beneath a pane of glass? What does it mean that we place permanent boundaries around transient moments? What does it say of humankind that we take such trouble to freeze specific memories, that we devote such energy to capturing and preserving the 'minute particulars' of our lives?" (p 128)

from Theo of Golden
by Allen Levi

******************

Burning the Christmas Greens
[on February 2nd]

Their time past, pulled down
cracked and flung to the fire
—go up in a roar

All recognition lost, burnt clean
clean in the flame, the green
dispersed, a living red,
flame red, red as blood wakes
on the ash—

and ebbs to a steady burning
the rekindled bed become
a landscape of flame

At the winter’s midnight
we went to the trees, the coarse
holly, the balsam and
the hemlock for their green

At the thick of the dark
the moment of the cold’s
deepest plunge we brought branches
cut from the green trees

to fill our need, and over
doorways, about paper Christmas
bells covered with tinfoil
and fastened by red ribbons

we stuck the green prongs
in the windows hung
woven wreaths and above pictures
the living green. On the

mantle we built a green forest
and among those hemlock
sprays put a herd of small
white deer as if they

were walking there. All this!
and it seemed gentle and good
to us. Their time past,
relief! The room bare. We

stuffed the dead grate
with them upon the half burnt out
log's smouldering eye, opening
red and closing under them

and we stood there looking down.
Green is a solace
a promise of peace, a fort
against the cold (though we

did not say so) a challenge
above the snow's
hard shell. Green (we might
have said) that, where

small birds hide and dodge
and lift their plaintive
rallying cries, blocks for them
and knocks down

the unseeing bullets of
the storm. Green spruce boughs
pulled down by a weight of
snow—Transformed!

Violence leaped and appeared.
Recreant! roared to life
as the flame rose through and
our eyes recoiled from it.

In the jagged flames green
to red, instant and alive. Green!
those sure abutments . . . Gone!
lost to mind

and quick in the contracting
tunnel of the grate
appeared a world! Black
mountains, black and red—as

yet uncolored—and ash white,
an infant landscape of shimmering
ash and flame and we, in
that instant, lost,

breathless to be witnesses,
as if we stood
ourselves refreshed among
the shining fauna of that fire.

By William Carlos Williams (1883 – 1963)

Old Woman and Boy with Candles (c. 1616 - 1617)
by Peter Paul Rubens (1577 – 1640)

******************

Willams advice of taking down
the Christmas greens today echoes that of
17th C poet Robert Herrick
English Poet (1591–1674)

Down with the rosemary, and so
Down with the bays and mistletoe;
Down with the holly, ivy, all,
Wherewith ye dress'd the Christmas hall;

That so the superstitious find
No one least branch there left behind;
For look, how many leaves there be
Neglected there, maids, trust to me,
So many goblins you shall see.

Down with the rosemary and bays,
Down with the misletoe . . .
Thus times do shift: each thing its turn does hold;
New things succeed, as former things grow old.

excerpts from "Ceremony Upon Candlemas Eve"
and "Ceremonies For Candlemas Eve"

******************

Groundhog Day Review
On February 1 / 2, we move from Yule to Imbolc [aka Candlemas; Groundhog Day] the Cross - Quarter Day that falls half-way between the Winter Solstice and the Vernal Equinox, a time of clear vision into other worlds and festivals of purification, including St. Brigid's Day.
2010 ~ Imbolc

2011 ~ Prognosticator's Dilemma

2012 ~ Candlemas Eve

2013 ~ Dave

2014 ~ Behold the Boy

2015 ~ Happy Both

2017 ~ Dark Days

2017 ~ Incredible and Amazing

2018 ~ The Least Important Day

2019 ~ Jesus, Mary, and Joseph!

2020 ~ An Irish Lament

2021 ~ Clearer Vision

2022 ~ Snowy Snowy Night

2024 ~ Real Live Groundhog

2025 ~ Wintry Synchronicity & Imbolc Angel
Facebook & Letting Go

2026 ~ The Greens: Their Time Past

P.S.

Today is also my brother's birthday,
and the 144th birthday of James Joyce

One Month In

Fuqua & Lester know how to spend a snow day!
If you’re not watching TV, you should be napping!
More on my recent post:

Television Cat

@The Fortnightly Kitti Carriker
A literary blog of connection & coincidence;
custom & ceremony

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And for something to read
when you're snowed in by the fire

Theo of Golden

@Kitti's List

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

These Two

ALSO
Charles Dickens

The Range of Joy

Blue Jay Patrol

A Winter Blue Jay

Crisply the bright snow whispered,
Crunching beneath our feet;
Behind us as we walked along the parkway,
Our shadows danced,
Fantastic shapes in vivid blue.
Across the lake the skaters
Flew to and fro,
With sharp turns weaving
A frail invisible net.
In ecstasy the earth
Drank the silver sunlight;
In ecstasy the skaters
Drank the wine of speed;
In ecstasy we laughed
Drinking the wine of love.
Had not the music of our joy
Sounded its highest note?
But no,
For suddenly, with lifted eyes you said,
“Oh look!”
There, on the black bough of a snow flecked maple,
Fearless and gay as our love,
A bluejay cocked his crest!
Oh who can tell the range of joy
Or set the bounds of beauty?

Joy

Joy
I am wild, I will sing to the trees,
I will sing to the stars in the sky,
I love, I am loved, he is mine,
Now at last I can die!

I am sandaled with wind and with flame,
I have heart-fire and singing to give,
I can tread on the grass or the stars,
Now at last I can live!

both poems by Sara Teasdale
both illustrations by Charley Harper

Bird Watcher

Coincidental blue jay connection:
"You know what they say about blue jays?
They say blue jays go to hell on Fridays. . . .
William Faulkner said it one of his books."

from the novel Theo of Golden (256)
by Allen Levi

A couple more
Sara Teasdale poems,
short and sweet:

The Look

Strephon kissed me in the spring,
Robin in the fall,
But Colin only looked at me
And never kissed at all.

Strephon's kiss was lost in jest,
Robin's lost in play,
But the kiss in Colin's eyes
Haunts me night and day.

Faults

They came to tell your faults to me,
They named them over one by one;
I laughed aloud when they were done,
I knew them all so well before,—
Oh, they were blind, too blind to see
Your faults had made me love you more.

Forever Young: 2026 Calendar, Part 3

Calendar for 2026
Sept - Oct - Nov - Dec
Inspired by T. S. Eliot & Bob Dylan
♥September ♥
"And the children in the apple-tree . . .
half-heard in the stillness . . .
for the leaves were full of children,
Hidden excitedly, containing laughter."
~ T. S. Eliot ~

♥October ♥
"May your heart always be joyful
May your song always be sung . . . "

♥November ♥
"May you build a ladder to the stars
And climb on every rung . . . "

♥December ♥
"May you always be courageous
Stand upright and be strong . . .
And may you stay forever young."
~ 1973 lyrics by Bob Dylan ~

************************

Editor's note: Because this is a very dense calendar,
with a collage of many photos for each month,
I am dividing it into 3 segments for easier scrolling.

January - April

May - August

September - December

********************

PREVIOUS CALENDERS
Everyday Custom & Ceremony ~ 2012
Mona's Clothes ~ 2012
Moons of Wintertime and Beyond ~ 2013
Never Quite the Same ~ 2014
Homes That We Love ~ 2014
814 ~ Where It Was Almost Always Christmas ~ 2015
Time for a Moondance ~ 2015
Love Me, Love My Cats! ~ 2015
A Day in the Garden ~ 2016
Team McCartney ~ 2017
Full Moon Night ~ Full Moon Year ~ 2017
Wishing You Were Here ~ 2018
Time to Travel ~ 2019
Panama Bag ~ 2020
Swimming Pools ~ 2022
Moving to Virginia ~ 2023
Great Grands for Great Happa ~ 2024
Calendar for Another Year ~ 2024
Then & Now Family Photos, Part 1 ~ 2025
Then & Now Family Photos, Part 2 ~ 2025
Then & Now Family Photos, Part 3 ~ 2025
A Rebirth of Wonder ~ 2025
Forever Young, Part 1 ~ 2026
Forever Young, Part 2 ~ 2026
Forever Young, Part 3 ~ 2026

Forever Young: 2026 Calendar, Part 2

Calendar for 2026
May - June - July - Aug
Inspired by T. S. Eliot & Bob Dylan
♥May ♥
"May your hand always be busy
May your feet always be swift . . . "

♥June ♥
"May you grow up to be righteous
May you grow up to be true . . . "

Dean, modeling his Dada's
1990's Osh Kosh & Baby Gap

♥July ♥
"May you have a strong foundation
When the winds of changes shift . . . "

♥August ♥
"May God bless and keep you always
May your wishes all come true . . . "

************************

Editor's note: Because this is a very dense calendar,
with a collage of many photos for each month,
I am dividing it into 3 segments for easier scrolling.

January - April

May - August

September - December

Forever Young: 2026 Calendar Part 1

For I have known them all already, known them all:
Have known the evenings, mornings, afternoons,
I have measured out my life in coffee spoons . . . ”

from "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock"
by T. S. Eliot
Inadvertent leaf fall ~ Coffee spoons

Calendar for 2026
Jan - Feb - Mar - Apr
Inspired by T. S. Eliot & Bob Dylan
♥January ♥
The McCartneys
Charlottesville, Virginia

♥February ♥
"May you always know the truth
And see the light surrounding you . . . "

♥March ♥
There's no vocabulary for love within a family,
love that's lived in but not looked at,
love within the light of which all else is seen,
the love within which all other love finds speech.
This love is silent." ~ T. S. Eliot

♥April ♥
"May you always do for others
And let others do for you . . . "

************************

Editor's note: Because this is a very dense calendar,
with a collage of many photos for each month,
I am dividing it into 3 segments for easier scrolling.

January - April

May - August

September - December