something looming on the horizon

beautiful things are happening. it was very very cold today. I spent most of my time indoors. sitting in front of one of those plug-in-the-wall heaters...keeping toasty warm as I sent emails... talked with people on the phone... filled out forms... all working toward getting to France sooner than later. Finally, having been cooped up in my pajamas in the house all day (oh the joy of working from the house! pajamas worn nearly the whole day!) I decided to go for a walk with the dog... through the cold and dreary woods.
Did I mention that sleet was falling from the sky?

It was a glorious decision.

I bundled up.
Long Johns.
Fleece lined pants.
Monkey Fleece (I love my friends... thank you again for my lovely monkey fleece)
Big- waterproof- winter boots
Favorite gloves.
My new SCARF-HAT! (Yes! it is both a hat and scarf in one! the little hangy-bobs from the side of the hat are actually long and knit like scarves so I can wrap them around my neck.)

My dog, is the shaggiest, largest, dog. He is quite warm (half Great Pyrenees...with a thick winter coat).
So we started on our way... as the sleet made icicles on the top of my hat and the sides of the leash. We trudged quite happily to the trail-head near the house that winds endlessly through the woods around the local Lake Grapevine.
We splashed through icy creeks. We carved through bramble-bushes anointed with frozen droplets. We slugged through cold mud. We didn't see another soul.

The gray sky grew darker and darker gray. We were in the thick woods but far off lights popped up on the hills along the skyline... as the houses atop the hills were somewhat visible through the naked trees.

It seemed to be really quiet... but listening... I could hear the swishing of my pants. the crunching of dirt under my boots. the padding of the dogs prints on the ground. the fluttering of little bird wings. a very distant bark (probably from the houses on the hills). an even more distant train blaring it's horn. the rumble of a plane engine high in the cold atmosphere.
and the tiny-splittering of sleet hitting the world.

Nothing exciting is happening right now... I make it home... covered in ice. (My curly hair is actually frozen that way.) Eat leftovers (Pad Thai...yum yum). Send emails and write my blog.

Today was a quietly beautiful day. and tomorrow is coming!

stumbled across this

A brief rainstorm,
in which I was lathering away the daily sweat,
suddenly burst forth
Thoughts that seemed well-dressed
I treasured. Curiosity

wondered around
the thought:
want is the seed of interest.

To peer under every stone,
and mound of earth,
to filter fingers through pages
and minds, mining,
to fuel the exertions of comprehension,
humility is the spark.

The premier map-writers admire
the grid and squirm to think
what’s beyond the edges.

The politicians
the pastors
the professors
the planners
do not seem passionless, but the

pursuit of viable alternatives
are not advantageous.
Advancement,
fuller pockets, greater pulpits,
projects and pledges are preferred to the

Truth taboo.
Simplicity too complex:
ignore–angst is their diet.

They make defining
popular.
They make everything
logical,
seeming so, they disguise
starvation-bellies, orphan-farming, savagery-cycling.

Proud fools
caress the phantom:
omni-science. (comforting thoughts so they can remain comfortable)

Explaining the world,
they ignore it. (graph the hungry)
Ruling the world,
they destroy it. (kill the opposition)
The Renaissanced are sparkless.

Dingy ignition: love & modesty,
yet nothing finer
shines
than limited ones
plumbing the limitless.

No one asks the spark-people
Where their imaginations have gone?
Except those who have lost their own.

Yes, I am one of those...

...girls that loves all things Jane Austen. I own every book. and I have read them all. repeatedly.

I found the audio book Pride & Prejudice the other day and took it with me to drive to east Texas on Monday. I started listening to this wonderful book in the car... and listened to it the next day on the drive home... and then... popped the CD in my computer and listened to the book all the afternoon. I listened to the whole book in one day. I could not put it down, so to speak.

After listening to the most classic love story ever written... I, of course, wanted more... so then I watched the movie. The really really old version. Black and white. Laurence Oliver as Mr. Darcy and Greer Garson as Miss Bennet (See picture below). Yes, I own the black and white version of this movie.

and the newest version with Kiera Knightly. and the Bollywood version (Bride & Prejudice). and I am dying to own the 6 hour BBC version... but it is really expensive... so I am waiting on that one.

In the meanwhile, I have Pride & Prejudice on my mind. I keep wanting to speak like English nobles in the 1800's. I want to use words like ...

consequence...affability...civility...attachment...decorum...

And say things like..."Pray, do tell!"

Pray, do tell me, why has the habit of throwing a ball fallen out of fashion?