Dear Reader:

One rarely hears “winter” used outside of a noun…especially as a verb. When we do…it usually has to do with wealthy “migratory” families and migratory animals…as in these samples:

Henry Flager (Standard Oil) and his family began to “winter” in Palm Beach during the Golden Gilded Age of the 1870’s.

This particular species of birds “winter” in Mexico before returning to the states.

(The rest of us, I suppose, just have to try to hunker down and get through the winter the best we can…wherever we live.)

Even though I am starting to get a little bored with myself lately (forced inside for longer periods of time) I do so appreciate sleeping in on these cold, rainy mornings and not having to meet deadlines all day ….each and every day.

Retirement is a most beautiful gift…and I honestly can never come close to expressing my appreciation to God for allowing me to live long enough to experience it.

I came across another new word (wonderosity) yesterday that sent me in lots of new directions and thoughts…while simply sitting at my computer. I, actually, discovered the word indirectly through an earlier blog quote.

I am forever jotting down quotes that I like and sticking them all around the computer so I can memorize them by osmosis. My favorite for this month started on New Year’s Day. It was John O’Donohue’s blessing for the new year. So beautiful!

“May you experience each day as a sacred gift woven around the heart of wonder.”

The last three words of the quote spoke to me for whatever reason…so I googled the words and discovered an article with several links that produced new ideas and thoughts about winter and wonder.

“Winter Wonder”

Frederic and Mary Ann Brussert

… Philosopher Sam Keen coined the term “wonderosity” to describe the combination of wonder and curiosity. Wonder is a natural response to the reports of our senses; we are dazzled by something in the world around us. Curiosity helps us stay open to new experiences, and it takes us to places where we can be amazed.

Winter can be a wonderland for those with eyes to see and ears to hear. While on the surface the winter world appears drab, especially compared to the riot of summer and fall colors, with wonderosity we can find much to celebrate in these months. Increasing our appreciation for all of God’s Creation by consciously noticing what arouses our wonder is a spiritual practice

 Following their own advice this couple began taking walks while simultaneously taking pictures of strange and fascinating branches from neighboring trees (now exposed in the winter) ….or taking seasonal pictures to compare the beauty of one tree in all the seasons…even the quiet beauty of winter.

* I remember taking an earlier photo from this same location in my house of my Bradford Pear….at that time…the red leaves of autumn were falling and it was beautiful…but I felt the same beauty yesterday on a cold, dreary winter day staring out at the tree in all its quiet dignity…maintaining its secret that inside life was simply waiting for the right time to emerge again to the world with bright green leaves and beautiful white blooms.

Don’t you think wonder, inevitably, brings us closer to God? I love to watch my grandchildren when they don’t know they are being watched…when their eyes are filled with wonder and awe… simply caught up in the moment.

One of the links coming out of this article really caught my interest. The link is a book that talks about finding spirituality and wonder throughout our own homes on a daily basis.

  Several examples and excerpts were freely given from this book and I can see why there was a link between the author and the O’Donohue quote…because both writers see (saw) life through Celtic Christian origins. The following excerpt, from this synopsis, explains this better….

Similar to Celtic Christians, Norris opens her eyes and her other senses to the lessons and the liberations within ordinary activities. She communes with her experiences and savors the graces that come. For instance, while washing, the author prays, “Help me scrub my face free of its masks / so I can return to the true self you gave me.”

While looking at herself in the mirror, Norris hopes she will be able to mirror the will of the Holy One. While arranging flowers, her dialogue with the Creator turns to thoughts of how she and the flowers share the states of blooming and dying.

One of our favorites is “Dusting” where Norris envisions this chore as “a kind of lovemaking . . . the chance to appreciate by touch / what I live with and cherish.” Taking out the trash reminds the author that waste is inescapable, and mending reveals that everything gets frayed over the course of time.

  My personal favorite observation was her metaphor concerning paper around your desk ( It gave me the courage to take this picture of my desk…as is)…

Create an image of a nest of papers on our desk as being a place where we can nurture new things…(like new life from a bird nest.)

*An image of a bird nest with new life….is certainly more visually stimulating than just a pile of papers surrounding the computer.

I have used my “wintering” time to cozy up the Happy Room with quilts on a rocking chair (easily accessible for those long winter naps) and wall changes/exchanges of artwork to brighten new spaces and places.

So until tomorrow… as Socrates said: “Wonder is the beginning of wisdom.” 

* I had to laugh at this poem that Gunilla Norris created…she found wonder in paying bills…amazing! (I will have to stick a copy of this in my monthly check book/accounting notebook.)

An Excerpt from Being Home: Discovering the Spiritual in the Everyday by Gunilla Norris

In her lovely book about discovering spirituality in everyday life, Gunilla Norris enables us to relish the significance and messages in even menial tasks. Here is a glimpse of how she turns a simple activity into a practice of gratitude.

“Paying Bills”

“Here are the bills again.
I always dread them a little.
They are familiar presences:
first in the mail box, then in the bill drawer,
now on the desk. Services Rendered.
My life is dependent on services rendered.

“Somehow I am glad to pay Richard
for the plowing, Chic for the plumbing,
Walter for fixing the roof. I know them.
They make my life possible.

It is harder to pay the faceless ones
— the ones behind these white envelopes.
Here are the lives behind the heat,
the light, the telephone
— behind the counters and computers.
I want to learn to feel a friendliness toward them.
I want to acknowledge them.

“When I write my checks I want to feel
that I am returning energy in the form of money
for energy given in the form of service.
It is all Your energy. We are only each other’s way
to share in that great service which is Your life
poured out continually for us all without exception.

“Guard me against the arrogance of privilege,
against the indulgence of feeling
that I don’t have enough, and the poverty of spirit
that refuses to acknowledge what is
daily given me. Keep me truthful in knowing
where I spend, where my values actually are.

“Let me not skip this monthly knowing.
Instruct me in judicious spending
and in gratitude with no holds barred.
I want always to give thanks and acknowledgment
to the ones I know who help my life
and to the faceless ones whom I will never know.

*Joan just completed this sketch of Sadie….too adorable!