Winter shall not escape my pen.

A Snowy Scene
Snow flurries fall
From a gray slate sky that hides the sun
(Shining somewhere in the universe),
Making white-capped rooftops
Look like marshmallows melting in a mug
With children in snowsuits and hats inside.

A set of footprints

Through fluffy, downy drifts of snow
Marks someone's lone passage across the yard,
While kids free from school
Frolic far across the pond at the park
And rejoice in being together.

Sledders up the street

Race fast down the chuted hill,
While snowballs fly, fired like powdery bullets aimed in play.
A pure, pristine blanket
Has been lain across the neighborhood,
And angels fall from the sky to stamp the sheets.

Snowmen appear alongside the sidewalks --
How long before they melt?

another Go.

Happy 2009! Another year has past and the one to come is sure to hold many blessings for each of us.

Tonight I pull something from an old journal of mine, one I was keeping this time last year. The following is an entry for New Years of 2008, and I echo the words this year.

______________________

Time truly is an amazing thing. On one hand it seems to stand still and on the other it clearly leaves the impression of flying by. I've stood as witness to this remarkable phenomenon over the past year. It's been an incredible roller coaster with all its ups and downs, twists, turns, and loops. There have been good times and bad times, solemn times as well as times of great joy and laughter. This is the way life goes. It is the enduring disposition in which life's great story plays out. And we, the characters, must trust in the Author to lead us through our lives, that we may cherish each memory, each good time -- every laugh, every smile, every tear shed in happiness.

Here I sit with my family at the end of another year. The wheels of our cart squeal to a halt on life's tracks, the fading adrenaline marking the end of another ride. And now, with light hearts and eyes set toward the future, we pull the bar back down -- ready for another go around.

____________________

Happy New Year, and many more to come.