Actually I have many good reasons TO post! While the sun hasn't been showing itself lately, we had this BEAUTIFUL sunrise back on New Years' Eve morning. The East was on fire! This is looking to the southeast which seems a strange direction for a sunrise. It should be rising on the far LEFT side of this photo--and even more left...but I guess that would be summer and we wouldn't be hearing these fierce winter winds outside.
Our trip down to The Lake that same day (no more sun!) showed our two fishing boats sitting in their over-winter position in the middle of the backwaters. I haven't checked with anyone official, but I think they park them like that so it's an easier straight shot out of the harbor when fishing can begin again in March...or April...or May. Sign of the season, for sure.
Last Sunday we could feel the resurgence of winter when the winds started up and the temps started down. This picture is a combination of some blowing snow and the cold making the little bit of open water steam. If this was happening on a big scale, it's what would be bringing us our lake effect snow. On the bottom of the picture you can see the ice in the channel and how it has been piling up and stacking up. Up close it looks like sharp shards of glass. It all looks promising for more ice caves this year, but we need to stay in this frigid condition for the next month...and do we really want to do that?
And this was a few of our deer friends at our feeder late this afternoon. It's been below zero with wicked wind chills, so it's not surprising that they are stepping up where the eating is easy!
So, I have had many reasons to post, but my most important reason came yesterday when I was reading some of the blogs on my Feedly list. I noticed my cousin, Ingabritt, (originally from Sweden but now living in Greece) had posted a new blog post. I still have to use Google Translate to read her blog quickly--or to get more meaning out of it than my feeble Swedish skills give me--, and right away I saw her title translated to "My Hardest Posts." And my heart sank. As I read on, she said this would be her last post because of health reasons, that she was closing down her blog about her life in Greece that she had been keeping up for the last seven years. I knew that she had been fighting cancer for the last several years, but I also knew that she had continued her blog throughout many times of treatments and medications. So when she said she was closing it down for good, I knew something more had happened.
Here's a translation of part of her blog, and remember, this is a "Google Translate" translation from her Swedish so it's not as smoothly written as if it were her original words:
You may have noticed that the blog has been a bit sporadic and uninspired the last time and it is due to poor health. And I put it down rather than have a half bad blog that is not updated. But oh, how it feels difficult. The blog has been my companion for more than seven years. The idea of it has been with me everywhere and almost everything I have experienced, I have done in the company of it.The blog and my camera has been my extended arm. And among the best of all, of course, having been in touch with you readers, both known and unknown! Your comments and questions and positive feedback. Some of you have been following me for years and some have also become my friends in real life. But now it will not be anymore. So even though it feels like that sad as it may cause goodbye to a good friend, so I must do it. THANKS for being with me on this journey!I've called Ingabritt my blog "mentor" and in the short time I've kept this blog, I understand when she says it became a companion to her; strange as it may sound, this blog is always in my thoughts (even when I don't post), and, yes, it's always great to hear from readers! But mostly I was so happy to reconnect with her as family. It meant so much to me to find her--and her blog--on the Internet last February! And look what that started for me!
So, posts that are hard to post are also very hard to read, and accept, Ingabritt. Thanks so much for your influence in my life!
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And as happens in life, we also had some very good news today! Leann's sister, Kristi, was back at Mayo for a checkup today a month after her cancer surgery, and she received great news! The cancer appears to be gone and she will start up a pre-emptive chemo dosage, but pills rather than infusions! Yes! I guess what all these ups and downs teach me is to live each day to its fullest possibility, and not let anyone, anything, or any excuses keep us from living our best life!
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