winter – Menupause

My friend and colleague sent me an email that I am using as an update for my GoFundMe! campaign. Here is the message:

The Holocaust, the killing of six million innocent Jews, was one of the most heinous acts of hatred in human history. People promised ‘Never Again’ — yet today, racism and xenophobia are increasing at unprecedented levels and human genocide continues. We must remember forever!

The world’s largest Holocaust remembrance event, the #WeRemember campaign, runs January 6 through International Holocaust Remembrance Day, on January 27. You or your organization can begin participating as soon as possible.

I think there is no coincidence that during this month of International Holocaust Remembrance Day that I have been working closely with Cherie Goren, author of A Time to Keep, which Krista and I are helping her re-publish with added photos and a new look. My time with her has been less like work and more like a wonderful learning experience about her early life in Lithuania and her safe journey to America with her immediate family, with many family members not so fortunate. It is a privilege and a pleasure to help re-tell Cherie’s story.

If you have not already donated, you can still do so by going onto the GoFundMe! website and typing in https://www.gofundme.com/stories-of-holocaust-resilience.

While I have met my goal of $1,000, I can see now that I underestimated my cost. I have not paid myself anything for my editing, because I am not sure there will be enough for the design and printing of the proofs,
so I am holding off for now. Donating most of my time for this project feels right. If you have already given, many thanks and please share the information/website with friends and family. And if you have not given, please feel free to go to the site to donate. Thanks!

First Snow of 2019

The first snow of 2019 fell last night,
sprinkling Mother Earth with flakes of white,
Nature’s “fingerprints” captured at dawn’s early light.

Bare tree branches blanketed with snow
lend a kind of wintry glow,
adding lightness with a bright, white bow!

Every season has its place.
Let’s celebrate Nature’s winter face—
Spring is coming at her own special pace!

Winter is an intense season for me. Feeling the low temperatures and high winds are not my favorite experiences. My Ayurvedic dosha (body type) is mainly Pitta, which means I am not fond of extreme heat or extreme cold. But there is a special seasonal beauty surrounding the trees’ bare limbs, the white snow, and the blast of cold that hits you in the face.

Above is a photo from the door to our balcony. The early morning light grabbed my attention when I first walked into the living room. The sun seems more intense than in the summer sky.

Also, the bare trees, mentioned above, have a certain appeal to me, like “sentrees” standing guard over the winter landscape. I took this photo from inside our condo gym with a large picture window. This is about 8 am in the morning, just as the sun hit the treetops:

Here is the same area, closeup. The leafless limbs covered with the latest sprinkling of snow is quite lovely, I think, as the trees stand tall in winter, saving their strength for the coming of spring.

Perhaps the happiest part of the solstice for me is that while December 21st will be the shortest day of the year, we can start to see the days becoming longer again. In addition to the cold weather, especially at night, I dislike the darkness starting before I even think about what to make for dinner!

Of course, the evergreens are still in full garb in the winter, losing some of their needles all year long but never becoming “naked,” so this final photo of the pool area in back of our condo shows that not all the trees are bare. The greens among the bare limbs are a welcome respite from the barren landscape in winter.

Have a Safe & Serene Solstice Celebration!

Tag: winter

UPDATE for GOFUNDME! on a SNOWY MORNING (with a poem)

Solstice Time