Original Leisure & Entertainment

Welcome to the third month of the year already. The name comes from Martius, the first month of the earliest Roman calendar. It was named after Mars, the Roman god of war, who also was regarded as a guardian of agriculture. The Old Saxon name for this month was Hreth-monath, which meant “rough month”

A fine snow is sifting down upon the countryside, and the cows stand on the hillside and look bewildered at the change of weather. After a few mild days, it is hard to re-adjust to winter making another swipe at us. It is still February however, and we can expect more winter weather to come.

There

Dewey picked up Emily’s yellow dress at the cleaners and drove it back to her here in the valley. They had managed to get most of the wine stains out. But what Dewey hadn’t managed to get out that fateful evening at the Italian restaurant was his vow of eternal love for Emily and a suggestion

“In winter’s cold and sparkling snow
The garden in my mind does grow.
I look outside to blinding white,
And see my tulips blooming bright.
And over there a sweet carnation,
Softly scents my imagination.

On this cold and freezing day,
The Russian sage does gently sway,
And miniature

BARNACLES
By Sidney Lanier
My soul is sailing through the sea,
But the Past is heavy and hindreth me.
The Past hath crusted cumbrous shells,
That hold the flesh of cold sea-mells
About my soul.
The huge waves wash, the high waves roll,
Each barnacle

“Tis the week after Christmas, and all through the house…“I wanted to leave my decorations up until New Year’s Day (now I wonder why I had such a notion.) Dry pine needles are shedding all over the coffee table and dust is beginning to cover the glass figurines and holiday candles.

I feel like

It had been a hard year in our rural community. Lots of older people had passed away, leaving their spouses alone. There had also been quite a few farm accidents from which people were recovering. To add to that, farm prices were low, and many in our community were looking toward the upcoming year

Do you think it means I’m growing old
When thoughts of winter snow
Mean icy streets and frozen toes
And cars that just won’t go?
Of shoveling walks and clearing drives
Wet mittens hung to dry,
Of late to work, and cancelled plans
–Has youth for me passed by?

If I don’t think of snowball

I was dozing on the couch a few days before Christmas, when the scent of warm pine needles and candle wax permeated my consciousness. Still in my semi-conscious state, I was transported back through the years to a rough, little house perched on the bank of the creek. A gleaming Christmas tree stood

I’d like to climb on the wooden sled with Larry, and let Daddy pull us across the snow to hunt the perfect pine tree. We would have to stop and look at the intricate formation of the snowflakes that were falling on Daddy’s brown jersey gloves, and marvel that “no two are exactly alike.” The

Old Jasper Blankenship bought a deer license again this year, just as he’s done every year since Eisenhower was President. He sticks nickels and dimes in a jar all year long and smiles each time he contributes. By Fall, he’s saved up enough for a deer tag.

Jasper lives full-time out at the diggin’s

The melancholy days are come, the saddest of the year,
Of wailing winds and naked woods, and meadows brown and sere.
Heaped in the hollows of the grove, the autumn leaves lie dead;
They rustle to the eddying gust, and to the rabbit’s tread.
The robin and the wren are flown,