Gratitude

Since we moved to this country, there have been many friends who have shown us extraordinary kindness. Their warm welcome, their wholehearted support, their limitless assistance and their friendship made me feel at home. They have always been around for us - from the moment we arrived at the airport down to this very day, and have proved to be reliable friends and companions. Their kindness makes my heart swell with overwhelming gratitude and moves me to make something to let them know of my appreciation and my thankfulness for what they have done. 

One such caring person is an old friend of my husband, who has joyfully helped us in so many ways. For all that he has done for us, I was inspired to make these gifts for him.

A Thank You card

And a bouquet of paper tulips that I myself made. 

A year ago, I crafted such flowers for our decor, and when he came to our home, he looked at them with admiration and expressed his appreciation. So I figured a similar bouquet might make a good gift for him.

Truly, it feels wonderful to express our appreciation and gratitude to those who have done us something good.  And it's a noble thing to let them know that they are appreciated, for it may make a world of difference to them.

This 3-minute video, Appreciation , shows us the value of expressing gratitude and appreciation. Watching it warmed my heart, and so I recommend that everyone view it too.

Shades of Winter

It’s not merely black, white and gray.

Sometimes it’s white and blue...

Sometimes it’s soft pastels: 

shades of orange, pink, yellow, blue, green….

Sometimes a tangerine glow from the sun...

Sometimes an intensely bright sunshine...

Sometimes a blue night with silver moon...

Sometimes gold...

Sometimes glittery...

Beautiful shades that keep transforming

throughout  winter,

Filling the season with diverse beauty

that abounds everywhere.

My Second Winter

A friend asked me twice if I still loved the snow.  I didn’t need to think before I answered “Yes!”  

Before I moved to this country, to experience winter was just an old dream for me, a remote possibility. I had always felt a warm kinship with this season and the snow. Whenever I read stories or watched movies about winter, a sense of belonging would mysteriously course through my entire being. And when I finally came in touch with the season, the magic burst into different pleasant emotions. I openly declared to anyone I came to know here that I loved winter and the snow even though I often found myself shivering and my feet sore from extreme coldness.

Some said that someday the snow would be too much for me and I would be tired of it. That remains to be seen. As an analogy, I reasoned that all my life in the Philippines, I never got tired of the rain, so how could I be tired of the snow when it’s much better than the rain?

This is my second winter here and I still feel the same old affinity and feelings of wonder that the season has evoked in me. It hasn’t lost its magic at all. I still look at all the snow and the bare trees through the eyes of one who is experiencing winter for the first time. I’m still enchanted by the whiteness and glitters of the snow.  I still stand in awe at the sight of snow-laden pines and spruce trees, and other bare trees coated all over with ice crystals. I still love to walk on the snow, to touch it and to feel the snowflakes settle on my face. Yes, I do love winter! 

One thing about winter that has captivated my heart is the sense of remoteness, solitariness and serenity that it engenders. To me, it has the feel of being “far from the madding crowd” as people prefer to stay indoors during the cold, dark season. I revel in going out for a walk in the snow…. just walking, drinking in the exquisite whiteness of the surrounding, reflecting and mentally communing with our Creator, thanking him for his tender loving care.

This winter has showered more ethereal   beauties that I have never expected, a series of winter-related awe-inspiring phenomena  and several  little surprises that didn’t show up last winter.

For me, this is a winter to remember fondly and to cherish!

My Second Winter

A friend asked me twice if I still loved the snow.  I didn’t need to think before I answered “Yes!”  

Before I moved to this country, to experience winter was just an old dream for me, a remote possibility. I had always felt a warm kinship with this season and the snow. Whenever I read stories or watched movies about winter, a sense of belonging would mysteriously course through my entire being. And when I finally came in touch with the season, the magic burst into different pleasant emotions. I openly declared to anyone I came to know here that I loved winter and the snow even though I often found myself shivering and my feet sore from extreme coldness.

Some said that someday the snow would be too much for me and I would be tired of it. That remains to be seen. As an analogy, I reasoned that all my life in the Philippines, I never got tired of the rain, so how could I be tired of the snow when it’s much better than the rain?

This is my second winter here and I still feel the same old affinity and feelings of wonder that the season has evoked in me. It hasn’t lost its magic at all. I still look at all the snow and the bare trees through the eyes of one who is experiencing winter for the first time. I’m still enchanted by the whiteness and glitters of the snow.  I still stand in awe at the sight of snow-laden pines and spruce trees, and other bare trees coated all over with ice crystals. I still love to walk on the snow, to touch it and to feel the snowflakes settle on my face. Yes, I do love winter! 

One thing about winter that has captivated my heart is the sense of remoteness, solitariness and serenity that it engenders. To me, it has the feel of being “far from the madding crowd” as people prefer to stay indoors during the cold, dark season. I revel in going out for a walk in the snow…. just walking, drinking in the exquisite whiteness of the surrounding, reflecting and mentally communing with our Creator, thanking him for his tender loving care.

This winter has showered more ethereal   beauties that I have never expected, a series of winter-related awe-inspiring phenomena  and several  little surprises that didn’t show up last winter.

For me, this is a winter to remember fondly and to cherish!

The Sun in Winter Solstice

I was a little disappointed when I missed the lunar eclipse in December 21. I had been waiting for it but unfortunately, the sky was thick with clouds that time. 

However, I felt blessed the following day when I looked at the horizon and noticed something different where the sun should be. A conical glow shot up from behind the forested horizon. I took the bus to wherever I could see it without distraction, and that led me to the city river. And I was glad I went there because what greeted my eyes was something I've never seen before. And then I realized that it was the beginning of the winter solstice. I'm not really sure whether the sun looks like this during the start of the winter solstice, or it just happened to look different that day.  But nobody seemed to notice. Or is it a common sight among the people here? Or they just don't care? For me, it seemed almost phenomenal. And so I took several shots in different angles. It was 1:00 in the afternoon of December 22.

In the evening when the moon showed up, I also noticed the same conical glow above and under its disk, as seen in this photo. The glow could be more striking in this photo if I used a tripod. Without tripod, this is all I got. 

I felt that it was a day filled with marvels. Another day that declares the presence of a Powerful Creator who has filled the universe with astonishing things that can move his intelligent creation to attribute power, glory and honor to him, like these verses penned down by an ancient psalmist,

"To you the day belongs; also, to you the night belongs.

You yourself prepared the luminary, even the sun.

It was you that set up all the boundaries of the earth;

Summer and winter—you yourself formed them."

- Psalm 74:16,17