the pattyo

***To The Snow We Go!

Tomorrow we head on up to Royal Gorge, for a day of cross country skiing. Now I’m not a good skier. I’m not even a good cold weather person. But, heck, I’m game to go for a day and see how I do. After my exercise this year at AVAC maybe I’ll be a bit stronger than in the past (although these past few weeks my AVAC exercise routine has disappeared). We’ll see. Besides … there’s always the lodge and a good book … and cocoa too.

***TWENTY EIGHT YEARS???!!!

Then, come Saturday, Dan and I celebrate our 28th wedding anniversary. I can’t believe that we’ve been married that long. Incredible. But then it’s difficult for me to face the fact that we have a 21 year old son. Amazing!

And we still have a tattered curtain in the family room. Go figure!
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***Vacation Time!

So … no more Nuts for another year (or close to it) and no playing jobs until January 22. I’m actually sorry to have so much of a break — I do love the performing work. Aside from tomorrow’s day of teaching, I don’t go back to teaching work until a week from Tuesday, when UCSC begins. I’ll have a good week to relax and enjoy the family! Maybe I’ll even have time to write a poem. We’ll see. It’s been a very long time since I’ve actually written anything. My creativity has gone fully into music. I’m missing words.

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***Some Christmas Poems For You

Arrival

Only stench of animals and cold hard bed
of roughwood blesses newborn child.
Visited by wary shepherds, angel guided,
dark cave transforms to holy sanctuary.

This gift of flesh and flowing blood, refused
for want of grander entrance. People waiting
demand a greater, royal incarnation. Surely crown
and proclamation should accompany the birth.

Hushed and still in ebon night, but for crying
infant voice. Room fills with soothing song.
Come and see, Creator now created,
a teenage mother cradles God.

What We Wish For Our Children

The malls fall silent. Streets are empty now
and restless children try to fall asleep.
The midnight service, candlelit, an hour
before is over. Silence blesses each
exhausted parent. Huddled on a couch
we whisper, wondering if the choices we
have made will satisfy: we think of how
we’ve planned and shoppped, and rest now by the tree.

But all the festive decorations, all
the gifts, cannot compare to one lone birth–
cannot replace the story of a fall,
an aching people, and a groaning earth.

And Mary gently holds an infant in her arms
and vows to keep him safe from every harm.

Animal Sequence

mouse

too small to offer

up my coat
i’ll give the baby
quiet

from a lamb’s point of view

i heard those angels singing
and i saw my master leaving
to see the Child

i cannot help but wonder
if this little One
this Savior of the people
will save my life as well

The Cow

His mother feeds him;
my milk is not needed.

Only my stench
Exists for them.

But I will low
and sing a song–

a moo-ing lullaby
for my Creator’s new ears.

Gifts

The discount stores and malls have all been tried;
the major toys this season are all sold.
A Razor (not to shave with but to ride)
Nintendo, Pokémon (silver or gold),
the latest Barbie, G.I. Joe, a game,
some C. S. Lewis tales I hope they’ll read?
It seems that every year it is the same
They give me wants and say they really need
the stuff. An unexpected pregnancy–
the better gift. An angel tells some men
about a birth and they decide to see
if what they heard was true. But that was then.
To shop a distant time and place, I know,
would be the answer to my shopping woe.

copyright 2003 Patricia Mitchell
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***Brandon is Home!

Yep. He’s here. In all of his splendor. It’s always great to have the whole family under the same roof. And we will be … for about 30 more minutes. Then I have to leave for Nutcracker. But I’ll be back, whether the rest of the family likes it or not!

***The Nuts

So I’m halfway through the performances now. 10 down. 10 to go. Seems like I’ve done more. Maybe I’ll have to recheck my calendar. Surely I’ve done a greater number than 10?

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***Thought for the Day (or longer)

A turkey is more occult and awful than all the angels and archangels. In so far as God has partly revealed to us an angelic world, he has partly told us what an angel means. But God has never told us what a turkey means. And if you go and stare at a live turkey for an hour or two, you will find by the end of it that the enigma has rather increased than diminished.

-Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874-1936) British author
“Christmas,” All Things Considered (1908)

Good old Chesterton!
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***Saw It!

Dan, Kelsey, Jameson and I saw The Return of the King tonight. I cried. Great movie. Yay!
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***I’m a Hero!

Today I was a hero … or, if we are to be gender specific (is this sexist?) a heroin … um wait … a heroine (although perhaps I am like a drug as well? … to my daughter. Yippee! You can read all about it.

Any rewards you’d like to send my way maybe be delivered to my door.

***We’re Going!

Kelsey just ordered tickets to see the last of the Tolkien movies. Another “yippee!” is in order. (I’m only sorry Brandon isn’t here to go with us … sniffle, sniffle.)
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***Quote for the Day

If you drink, don≠t dial.

-Reply to caller who dialed his social security number instead of the number he wished to reach, quoted in NY Herald Tribune, 30 Apr 58

***Blogpaucity

Yes. I’m here. Still breathing. Really. I’ve just been negligent. I’ve not posted for quite some time. Call me irresponsible.

But here I am. Just to put up a quote. Be certain you heed it. (My best suggestion, though, is just don’t drink too much. Then you won’t have a phone dialing problem at all.

***Family Fun

Kelsey is here! Brandon will be here this coming Saturday! Timothy, Margaret, Sara and Henry arrive on Christmas day! (And I use too many explanation points!)
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***Tendonitis

Yep. That’s what I have. So it’s lots of Ibuprofen, icing, stretches, and … the doctor told me this … really! … “Go easy on the housework.”

There’s always a silver lining.
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***December

It’s difficult for me to believe that December is already here. How do I lose so much time? Who is stealing it from me? Could I steal from someone else?

And now Christmas is just around the corner. Amazing.

Annunciation

Salvation to all that will is nigh;

That All, which always is all everywhere,

Which cannot sin, and yet all sins must bear,

Which cannot die, yet cannot choose but die,

Lo ! faithful Virgin, yields Himself to lie

In prison, in thy womb ; and though He there

Can take no sin, nor thou give, yet He’ll wear,

Taken from thence, flesh, which death’s force may try.

Ere by the spheres time was created thou

Wast in His mind, who is thy Son, and Brother;

Whom thou conceivest, conceived; yea, thou art now

Thy Maker’s maker, and thy Father’s mother,

Thou hast light in dark, and shutt’st in little room
Immensity, cloister’d in thy dear womb.

By John Donne (from La Corona)

Donne is one of my favorites, even while it takes me a bit of time to grasp what he is trying to say to me. If only I could write sonnets like he wrote sonnets! (Well, I should probably stick to the language of our day, though.) I’ve not written a sonnet in a while … perhaps over a year now. I need to get to work!

***Handing it Over

My right hand is still troubling me. I wake at night because of the aching. But it doesn’t seem like a significant enough thing to cause me to call Kaiser. I usually feel like I have to think I’m dying first. Does anyone die of an aching hand? I suspect not! So what to do? Pray. That I can handle. And I can pray anytime, anywhere. That’s handy. Meanwhile I’m avoiding handwriting, since that seems to hurt. And I don’t do any handclapping because that hurts too. And don’t you think that while I’m hurting someone should wait on me, hand and foot? But when this goes away perhaps I’ll do a handstand. On the other hand, maybe I won’t.

Really, I think I’m handling this handsomely.

Sorry … my hand is getting the better of me. Or worse. Your choice.

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