The First Day

The weather has been very changeable. One day it is cold and snowy and the next it is warmer and rainy. At the moment, as I write this, it is snowing.  The National Weather Service is forecasting that this winter “above average precipitation is favored from the Pacific Northwest, through the Rockies, and dipping down into the Mississippi and Ohio River Valleys, with even higher chances around the Great Lakes.” In other words, it looks as if we will get hit hard with snow this winter.

There are many things about snow that I think are beautiful or interesting. I thought these tracks that a flock of turkeys left behind a week or so ago was both beautiful and interesting.

I’ve often wondered where Madeline goes when she’s out wandering about. Sometimes when I think of Madeline, the old nursery rhyme comes to mind:

“Pussycat pussycat, where have you been?”
“I’ve been up to London to visit the Queen.”
“Pussycat pussycat, what did you there?”
“I frightened a little mouse under her chair”
“MEOWW!”

I looked up the rhyme to make sure I got the wording right, and I just learned that the origins of this rhyme dates back to the history of 16th century Tudor England. One of the waiting ladies of Queen Elizabeth I had an old cat which roamed throughout Windsor castle. On one particular occasion the cat ran beneath the throne where its tail brushed against the Queen’s foot, startling her. Luckily ‘Good Queen Bess’ had a sense of humour and decreed that the cat could wander about the throne room, on condition it kept it free of mice!

Madeline doesn’t go to London to visit the queen. When I walked down to the mailbox the last time we had snow, I saw her prints in the snow. I followed them as they left a trail along the edge of the driveway to the bottom where the sandy place is. Then she went into the weeds and walked back up the driveway. It was interesting to see where she went.

After Madeline returned from her week-long absence, she has been staying close to home. I often find her in the garage, especially on days when the weather is nasty. She still goes out, of course. Yesterday I watched her through the window as she went down the driveway and then returned later carrying a shrew in her mouth. I’ve lost count of how many shrews she has killed, but it has been quite a few.

Jared’s cat, Luke, loves to leap up and pull magnets off the refrigerator; it’s his favorite game. In the process he often pulls down photos or important papers that are held to the fridge by magnets. The cats are always knocking stuff off onto the floor–they are worse than little kids. The other night when I saw Luke eyeing the magnets, I quickly stuck a magnetic dart from a game to the fridge, hoping that it would attract him more than the other magnets. I was able to capture him pulling it down on video. Cats really do provide us with a lot of entertainment.

Today is the last day of the  black and white photo challenge at Facebook. I had so much fun doing it that I thought I would continue it on this blog. I hope to share one black and white photo each day that is reflective of my life. I’ll also add all the photos to a slideshow. You can find them in “Moments in Black and White” in the center column on the Home page.

My friend and I are finally getting back to study Hebrew together. We both have a fervent desire to learn Hebrew, but life has interrupted us many times. We love to study together because we always end up having deep discussions. Hebrew is a unique language and studying it involves more than learning vocabulary words and pronunciation. Every letter, every word, and every similar word is connected and has a deep meaning, so a study of Hebrew is actually a study of life. It’s difficult to explain, but we never study Hebrew without also discussing the deep issues of life. We love it!

On Tuesday JJ started his job as a security guard at the mall. The job pays a little more money than what he was earning at the grocery store and is closer to his goal of a career in law enforcement. As a Mom, I really wish JJ would pursue a safer career, especially with all the police ambushes and mass shootings, but JJ has always been drawn to military/law enforcement and I think he is very suited for a career in law enforcement. I think he will do well and I’m proud of him.

JJ had a wonderful first day. He came home in his uniform–complete with a badge–bursting with excitement and pride. He told me about aspects of his day, including driving with his mentor through the parking lot to check out a report about someone in a windowless van who was hanging around the parking lot and seemed to be stalking lone women. He also now gets crime alerts sent to his phone. I have a feeling we are going to become more aware of the darker situations that occur at malls.

I insisted JJ let me take photos of him in his uniform. Later he said, “Ugh! I look stupid!” But I thought he looked fabulous and I loved the joyful pride in his face. (Update: I learned that the security company doesn’t allow their employees to be photographed in their uniforms so I cropped the photo so it only shows JJ’s face.)