sounds of winter coming

Sounds this week were wind and rain.  

Today it was the ice floating down the river 

and the ice making up on the bog.  

How incredibly complex  and magical is the coming of a season.

much food

Start with an 18 lb store bought turkey for 3 to 6 guests...

..number changes daily, but seems to be 6 today
and this is the day that counts.

We shall see.  

+

Add a second turkey also 18 pounds dropped off by the neighbor.  

What a wild start to the holiday. 2 turkeys!!!

Second turkey was half of a 44 lb turkey field grown turkey.

It  hung out of the pan by about 10 inches on direction and six the other.  

It would have just fit in the oven lengthwise if I could find a huge pan.

We have opted to cut the half turkey in pieces so it will fit in frig 

and enjoy it another day(s).

It would not have fit in frig without being made smaller.

One mother hugger big turkey, that turkey!

Blessings galore.  

I am so sorry that I did not get a picture of that turkey

 hanging out of the roasting pan.

Most amazing thing you'd want to see.

Many many fine vegetables, wines, pies

it must be Thanksgiving

and aren't we thankful.

am liking this new pope

The day before Thanksving and the weather is messy.  

~

Am feeling a bit more positive about mankind

 mainly because there is a voice and actions out there that seem positive. 

 Pope Francis bless him. 

He seems a good person.

a man of the people

 If only his words and actions can inspire others 

particularly leaders, the powerful and wealthy, and us to be compassionate.  

Whatever happened to love others? 

 Mankind of late is not being kind not to the earth, animals, plants or one another. 

 BUT perhaps we will "get" it and become kinder. 

Maybe seeing someone do this will inspire us.

 I have hope and faith that charity will blossom and grow.

painfully C O L D?

What you cannot see or feel or HEAR is the wind whipping across the ice.  

It is biting

 bitter.

Chilly

 challenging

Blustery

 beautiful

Gusty

 gorgeous

new under the sun

"If you want to find out what is new under the sun, walk where you walked yesterday"

This I refound today in a book by Mary Leister written in 1976.  She wrote about nature in the Baltimore Sun.  She walked the same 12 acres with her dog and wrote about what she saw, frogs, mice, trees.  

She felt that the land was imprinted in her heart 

and that she could see the changes in it.

This is how I feel.  

I walk the same land day in day out and it is never boring. 

 How can you know your place unless you are there now. 

 Yesterday's place was not the same. 

 The changes maybe subtle and you may miss them, 

but not one inch is the same.  It is warmer, more full, the light is different.  

I can take pictures of the same things each day or each year, 

but the pictures are never the same.  

Part of it is me, my eye, 

but most of it is my world has changed.

visitors for awhile

The yurt has two tenants for a week or so.  They run the Harvard Hut on the Appalachian Trail but it is only manned Dec through April.  

Right now they are rehabbing a Sprinter

 so they can camp in it more comfortably. 

They drove it to Alaska this summer. 

Tim is helping with that while they help with wood cutting, stacking and fixing the deck on the yurt.  We all win.  

They love the luxury of the yurt.....

you can tell they live off grid as they aren't a bit bothered 

with lack of electric, toilet, or running water.  

Not a learning curve for them as it is their mostly normal way of life.

she loved the moon so dearly....

and Karen Davis just did this

and

it is so powerful

and 

says it all.

camera and photography quotes

"The camera is an instrument that teaches people
 to see without a camera."DOROTHEA LANGE
"Which of my photographs is my favourite? The one I'm going to take tomorrow."IMOGEN CUNNINGHAM

every person has a story

When I worked for the Aegis newspaper years ago I suggested a weekly story 
about someone. 
 A story about someone picked at random, a dishwasher, a housewife, 
a tax accountant for I truly believe we all have a story.  
We all have something we can put out there.  
I follow Humans of New York which is a young man taking pictures of people in NY. 
 He asks them a basic question which they answer if they want. 
 The answers are poignant, earth shattering, scary, funny,  thoughts, 
looks into this person that moment.  
This young man has a following of millions now because it is basic ~  

We all have a story.  I deep inside me feel that we all want someone 

to ask us a question, 
tell me about yourself, how to you feel about....... 

Right now on face book there is a thing going on where you are given a number....3, 5, 9 and you are to tell that number of things about yourself that others might not know.

I have learned so much from assorted friends through this little sharing.  

People have stories yet we are so busy with life 

that we don't sit and share ~
 how can we ever learn about each other? 

if we just pass in the night without letting others into our souls.
the things shared are mundane and not...

Did I know any of this about these two people?
Does it thrill my soul?
It makes them human and individual and special.

My first car was a Studebaker manufactured in Canada
2. A honey bee flew up my nose and stung me inside my nose, brought tears to my eyes but cleaned out my sinuses really well. 
3. I have had my right arm in the uterus and birth canal of many different large animals, midwifery.
4. When sea kayaking in the Sea of Cortez I ate stingray, spear fishing was a little lean that day. We cooked the wings, it was good.
5. My first paying job was milking cows by hand.
6. I swam with a pod of dolphins in Hawaii, they had new born babies as small as footballs.

 and another

I was given #8 so here goes.#1 I was born in a trunk and grew up backstage. Parents in vaudeville. #2 I had lived in 47 states by the time I was 7. #3 traveled 350,000 miles by car in the U.S. and Canada by age 7.#4 Had attended 6 schools by the middle of the 2nd grade. #5 I made about 32 international trips to Europe ,North Africa and Southeast Asia alone. #6 Went through the Kyber Pass and up to the Afghan border with Pathan friends. Visited a village or extended family in the Kyber Pass as well. All strictly forbidden by both governments ( US and Pakistan). #7 Spent 30 of the last 40 years without a television. I can't handle any violence so that leaves me the cooking channel and of course the late shows. #8 Currently living outside the US and intend to continue to except for visits to friends and family.

What I am saying here is that we need to remember 
 we don't know much about each other 
and that it is a shame that we don't ask
 and don't learn about each other.  

 and moi what did I say......

My number is "7" given me by Marion. I'm going to tell you 7 things, about myself, that you may not know.

1. Ritchie is a family name. It was my maternal grandmother's name. I get mail addressed to "Mr" and most misspell my name by forgetting to put T into Ritchie.

2. I have had 47 jobs. I have worked in a greenhouse & I have been the National Advertising Manager for a big newspaper and everything in between. My shortest job was a half day, my longest 17+ years.

3. I have been married 47 years! I got married when I was 22. You can do the math and figure my vintage age.

4. I would love to live abroad in UK, Wales, Scotland or Ireland.

5. I can not knit although my sister is a Master Knitter and has tried to teach me. 
AND I can not mow in straight lines.

6. I learned to drive stick shift when my husband sold my automatic and got me an MG and my first drive was in a stressful traffic jam on a huge hill. I have been driving stick every since then, loving it!

7. I have a half brother that I have only seen for 20 minutes in my life.

and did you know I always wanted a horse? 

And I did get one when I grew up.

words

When you are in the woods, you cannot ever be lost. 

You are surrounded by friends and surrounded by God."

--Joe Coyhis

It isn’t the mountains that wear you out.  

It is the grain of sand in your shoes.

Pace yourself...an elephant can be swallowed, one bite at a time.

Unknown

Don't be afraid to take one large step 

because you can't cross a chasm in two small leaps.

They may forget what you said, 

but they will never forget how you made them feel.

Carl W. Buechner

"The longest journey of any person is the journey inward."

Dag Hammerskjvld

"You can observe a lot by watching."

Yogi Berra

"The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious."

Albert Einstein

"Wheresoever you go, go with all your heart."

Confucius

"The spider's touch, how exquisitely fine!

Feels at each thread, and lives along the line."

Alexander Pope (1688-1744)

"Do not go where the path may lead;

 go instead where there is no path and leave a trail."

Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Everything has its wonders, even darkness and silence, and I learn,

 whatever state I may be in, therein to be content."

Helen Keller

"Those who dwell among the beauties and mysteries of the Earth 

are never alone or weary of life."

Rachael Carson

"Let us put our minds together as one."  

--Irving Powless, Sr., ONONDAGA  

If we sat in a circle and put an object in the center of the circle 

and we all described what we saw, 

everyone would see different points of views from each other. Some would even see opposites

 because they would be sitting on opposite sides of the circle. 

In other words, you don't have to see what I see for you to be right. 

In fact, everyone in the circle is right based on their own point of view.

 If we are willing to listen to every one's point of view, then we can get a more accurate description of the object in the center. 

This is one way to put our minds together. 

When we get the clarity from each other, we should give thanks and be grateful to each other.  

"Revelations are found in clouds."

Serge Kahili King

"You must be the change you wish to see in the world."

Mohandas Ghandi

"He who does not dance does not know what happens."

Jesus (Gnostic texts))

"Look within! ... The secret is inside you."

Hui-neng

"Lift the stone and you will find me;

cleave the wood and I am there."

Jesus (from The Gospel of Thomas)

""Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. And today? 

Today is a gift. 

That's why we call it The Present."

Babatunde Olatunji

"One cannot collect all the beautiful shells on the beach; one can collect only a few, and they are more beautiful if they are few."

Anne Morrow Lindbergh

"Sometimes I go about pitying myself

And all the while I am being carried across the sky

By beautiful clouds."

Ojibway Indian saying

"What the caterpillar calls the end of the world the master calls a butterfly."

Richard Bach

"Live your beliefs and you can turn the world around."

Henry David Thoreau

""Don't be afraid to be amazing."

Andy Offutt Irwin

variations

One way to open your eyes is to ask yourself, 

"What if I had never seen this before? 

What if I knew i would never see it again?"

Rachel Carson

the face 

 the rock

the acorn