souldare

 Ask questions. Find out what has been going on all these years before you were born. From the day God created man and woman on this Earth, and from the horizon in the east to the horizon in the west—as far back as you can imagine and as far away as you can imagine—has as great a thing as this ever happened? Has anyone ever heard of such a thing? Has a people ever heard, as you did, a god speaking out of the middle of the fire and lived to tell the story? (Deuteronomy 4:32,33 The Message, Moses speaking)

“There are years that ask questions, and years that answer.” (Zora Neale Hurston)

What to blog about? Why the silence in this place created to feed on words, ideas and prompts? Because I don’t know what to write? Because I am not sure what my audience wants anymore? Not really, I just haven’t known what to blog about. So today, I just blog. I don’t need a catchy title. I can’t settle on a crisp theme. I just want to blog. So I start.

For Christmas, my sister decorated my porch with a glass jar filled with sparkly lights. I tried to switch them on today, and no light suffused the glass with reds, yellows, blues, and greens. I changed the batteries, nothing changed. I kept pushing the switch and the lights remained dark. I placed the dead lights in the trash, wiped the winter dust from the inside of the jar. I set the empty container on the recently cleared table, where the nativities once rested.

I feel empty, too. But ready to be filled with something.

I wander through January feeling cold, having a cold, dreading the cold. An ice storm the named Jupiter, looms as large as that planet in my imagination. The roads will be impassable, surely electricity will be scarce and I might be even colder soon. The radio reports have me huddling in fear under my blanket, while every electronic device I own charges in case of the worst case scenario. No heat, no light, no internet, oh my!

As I savor and hoard the miracle of electricity, I settle into my comfy chair and write in my journal for a while. I wrestle with January with words. And I want to blog again. I want to ask questions together, and wonder if this year is more likely to be filled with questions or to be the one that answers.

I took a picture of last year’s journals to show you. And a picture of my completed canvas, that daily practice that I miss. My daily practice this year has been to bemoan winter. My intention is to write daily. Write that novel that eludes me. I have an idea, a pretty good one, but ideas take time to develop, and I’m in whiny winter mode, so nothing really works for me, right now.

I wish I could tell you that I’m going to embrace winter by the end of this post. I’ve heard about other people who enjoy winter, and I truly admire them. And I will take to heart their practices of cozy blankets and warm coffee mugs, but I am using my blog for a rant, so bear with me. Bears get winter. I’ve often asked, “Why can’t I hibernate like a bear?”

So what else to blog about? I miss Florida and adventures and summer. So, I plan creative journeys with soulful women on this road we travel together, except the common cold and this ice storm has delayed our beginning. I still want to share words, ideas and prompts. I still enjoy posting photographs and artwork. So here you are my readers, this my offering on this thirteenth day of January, where blogging connects me to several things I love.

I leave you with photos and some inspiration from those who have inspired me this week to keep blogging, and not give up hope this winter.

A January Affair by Elizabeth Anne

Now by the Sylvr Pen

Journals (circa 2016)

Journals (side view)

Canvas (completed in 2016)

What questions are you asking? What answers are you hoping to discover?