Long Winter's Nap

It hasn't been so quiet, and it hasn't been so peaceful...and I've certainly been wide awake.  But for the first time since we opened, nearly five years ago, we shuttered the cafe and had days in a row to do whatever we felt.  Bianca decided to cuddle up beside the fire with her dog.  She also cuddled up to her favorite Christmas present, a new vacuum...she dusted and vacuumed and loved the inside of her cozy house!  I gathered four of my grandchildren to Reno for a love fest.

The boys, Harrison and Carter, loved skiing everyday...the ice rainbows in the clouds...the grandeur of the Sierra Nevada and how alive you feel, to fill your lungs with mountain air.  Sasha and Piper also skied...they tortured three instructors over the course of three days.  Days four and five, I split them up with their own instructors...who quickly saw that the girls really CAN ski, rather than spending an expensive hour writhing in the snow, complaining, making snowballs...wicked girls.

We woke up when we wanted, and stayed up late! We hiked and the kids rock-climbed, we went to the movies, the museums, we ate ice cream and toured the gold/silver mine under Virginia City!  We fed mountain chickadees in the snow up at the Mt. Rose summit and rang in the New Year with Jr. Monopoly, chips and dip, sparkling cider and a hilltop view of the city's extravagant midnight fireworks. 

With all the chaos and clamor that are all of the hours kids are awake---Harrison announced that he wants to buy penny stocks, so couldn't stop loudly brainstorming strategy; Sasha leaped out of bed late one night to say that she couldn't sleep unless I fed her a prune!!!--- I could still hear myself thinking of how fortunate we have been, despite a wild year passed.  The new year offers hope again for a chance, a better outcome, steady ground, this time next year.   As I've enjoyed the luxury of slow-down this past week, watching my grandchildren rejoice in their adventures high in the mountains and down in our valley, I've recalled a quote from Georgie Connel Sicking: "With a gentle breeze blowing across a black sage valley and smell the earthy sagey freshness, none like it on earth. It sure makes life worth livin,' and you know when God was givin' He didn't shortchange Nevada."  We live in wide open beauty, we're healthy, we're together---we're blessed.

Happy New Year, dearest friends.