Ol’ Blue Eye

December 9, 2019December 9, 2019 ~ Jnana Hodson ~ Leave a comment

I was on the floor, taking a picture of something else, when Salty got curious about the camera and stuck her face in front of the lens. When she backed off, I got this shot.

Countertop still life

December 8, 2019August 6, 2019 ~ Jnana Hodson ~ Leave a comment

A couple of squashes contrast with the gray countertop in our kitchen. The expanse is rarely this open, especially at this time of the year.

Snow measure

December 5, 2019December 3, 2019 ~ Jnana Hodson ~ 2 Comments

Piles on tables and chairs around the house and yard are one way of seeing how much snow we’ve had recently. The depth is harder to guess when you’re looking out at the ground. This kind of reminds me of a white-frosted cake.

Looks cold to me

December 4, 2019December 3, 2019 ~ Jnana Hodson ~ 2 Comments

A squirrel on a branch outside our dining room window reduces a walnut to nothingness. The meal took a good quarter-hour.

How about a few firsts?

December 2, 2019 ~ Jnana Hodson ~ Leave a comment

Yesterday was not only the first day of December, it was also the first day of Advent.

(Make that Advent in the Western Christian calender, which runs between 21 and 27 days before Christmas, depending. The Eastern Orthodox faithful, in contrast, observe it as a 40-day fast that began November 15 this year.)

For us, our first snowfall of the year also began yesterday, and it’s already delivered seven inches, a bit under half of what’s expected by tomorrow morning.

My wife was pleased to have all of this also fall into the extended Thanksgiving Day weekend, a welcome break in what’s been a chaotic schedule.

How’s the month kicking off for you?

Snow’s piled up atop the thermometer on the tree trunk. Welcome to December where we live.

Antique farmers’ forks

December 1, 2019December 1, 2019 ~ Jnana Hodson ~ 2 Comments

As a child, I was so fond of a bone-handle fork at my grandparents’ that I always got to eat with it whenever I visited. Its design is simple, the metal something other than silver or stainless steel. I still find it elegant and rightly weighted in the hand. I imagine they came to western Ohio in a Conestoga wagon from Lancaster or York county, Pennsylvania.

Seasoned with sage, rosemary, and thyme

November 30, 2019August 6, 2019 ~ Jnana Hodson ~ Leave a comment

In the family in my novel What’s Left, Cassia may have had food like seftalies (lamb meat patties, Cypriot style), traditional Greek sausage, and diced potatoes seasoned with sage, rosemary, and thyme. Photo by Saintfevrier via Wikimedia Commons.

They’re balancing the ring in Petronella

November 24, 2019August 6, 2019 ~ Jnana Hodson ~ Leave a comment

A style of community dance popular in New England since Colonial times, contras start out as two lines of partners facing each other and then the next couple on each side. There’s a live band and callers, and we walk through the sequence of steps before the music begins. The whole point is to have fun, and you wind up dancing with everyone in the line before the piece is finished. This example is from the Lamprey River Band’s dance series in Dover’s city hall before the monthly event moved to a Unitarian-Universalist church in neighboring Durham. This particular dance is named Petronella.

Hippie bus

November 17, 2019August 6, 2019 ~ Jnana Hodson ~ Leave a comment

We see it parked around town but have no idea about its story.

Blessed bliss

November 10, 2019November 10, 2019 ~ Jnana Hodson ~ Leave a comment

My novel YOGA BOOTCAMP describes group meditation as a central discipline in the daily life at Big Pumpkin’s ashram. As a real-life example, here’s a photo taken at the Poconos Ashram in mid-1972. I’m struck by how young we all look and the fact that most of us could sit in a full lotus position. Makes my knees hurt just thinking of it now!