Yesterday the power went out mid-afternoon and we ate a simple supper by the fire in lamplight. I went to bed early, trying to read with two little gadgets clipped to my book, small beams of light on the page. When I woke, power back on, John brought me coffee in bed and I heard the news about Reverend Raphael Warnock’s Senate win in Georgia and Jon Ossoff’s lead as the count resumed this morning. I opened my birthday gifts and we went off for a swim. Coming home, it was to the news that a mob incited by the President of the United States had breached barriers and were storming into the Capitol building.
The year ahead is like an unknown river, full of beauty and turbulence. Do we stand on the shores, wondering and timid, do we enter the water, do we swim, do we cling to the rocks, do we help each other, do we drift, do we sink?
I can’t stop listening to the news. On the counter prawns are thawing for a birthday dinner, a bottle of Chablis is chilling, garlic waiting to be peeled and minced to stir into melted butter. There’s even a small cake, glazed with ganache. On the table, white tulips delivered by dear friends.
In the night, boughs came down from the fir trees, a small dogwood fell across the driveway. Creeks swollen by heavy rains rush down the mountain. Chickadees and nuthatches dart from feeder to the twisted wood of the wisteria trained over a beam across our patio.
I can’t stop listening to the news.
...Theresa Kishkan, writer... 
Happy birthday, Theresa. I have been glued to the TV, cant turn it off. What times we live in.
Thanks, Susan. My birthday always seem a little anticlimactic, arriving as it does so soon after Christmas, but this year, hmmm. And another friend just delivered a pot of roses to my door. So tear gas in Washington, roses and tulips here at my house.
Happy Birthday, dear Theresa. Many many thanks for the wisdom and writings and friendship extended this past year. May the tulips and roses and chickadees prevail! Enjoy your celebratory meal.
Thank you so much, Susan. (I’ve turned the radio off…) A good day to gather thoughts and consider the future.
Happy birthday, Theresa! What a dramatic day for you to celebrate. Democracy is holding – barely, but holding. And you are thriving, swimming, writing, celebrating. Many more years to you! Love to you, b.
Thanks, Beth. The extremes — footage of mobs in Washington and friends arriving here with flowers…So the year begins!
Theresa, I hope it was a happy birthday despite the horrific news happening in the USA. You have friends who were thinking of brightening your birthday — tulips are always a sign of better things to come.
Late to the party but I hope it continues… happy birthday, Theresa.
Thanks, Carin! I always think of this period as my birthday week!
Belated wishes for a happy birthday and birthweek, Theresa. Here’s to more chickadees, tulips, and small cakes glazed with ganache.
Thanks, Chris! I think cake glazed with ganache (or other forms of rich icings) might just be a good way to get through winter. Weekly? Can’t hurt.