My One Little Word - Needed Exploring

           I signed up for the One Little Word class, and have completed the first assignment, have found some few quotations I like, and written about poems that give me comfort, just as writing poems do, too.  I have read others’ posts that talk about their word, and have been interested in what they have invited into their lives because of that word.  The posts have been heartfelt, full of feeling and purpose and inspiration.

            My word is COMFORT, and the quote I chose is:  LIfe is made up, not of great sacrifices or duties, but of little things in which smiles, and kindnesses, and small obligations, given habitually, are what win and preserve the heart and secure comfort, by Humphrey Davy.  I have since discovered that Davy was a British chemist who is known for discovering the anesthetic effect of laughing gas (nitrous oxide), among other things.  It gives me a laugh, not kidding, that the quote I chose was spoken by the guy that discovered the properties of laughing gas.  Terrific, quite an invention.   

            And so I begin thinking of all the things, like this quirky fact, that means COMFORT to me.  I have chosen to tie some things in my life to the synonyms of COMFORT in Webster’s Online Dictionary.   

            Assurance –  That the coffee will be made when I arise in the am, that the water in the shower will be hot and that the sun will rise.  There is a Mescalero Apache Song I used to read on campouts with my students when we rose with the sun to set off on our adventures:

                        The sunbeams stream forward, dawn boys,

                        with shimmering shoes of yellow.

Winter's Return

Winter has been rather elusive here in Denver. The bits of moisture we have had are so rare that it’s a celebration of flakes when they do come, like last night. The mountains have experienced “mountains” of the white stuff, and hurrah for that because of the superb skiing and businesses supported by that sport. When you see that Colorado is having inches and inches of snow, it certainly isn’t happening in Denver. It’s such an interesting juxtaposition to be near an area where they brag about a seven foot base, ten inches of powder just today, and icy mountain passes. In the city, however, the students at school are often wearing shorts and flip-flops, and my winter coat hangs lonely in the closet. However, right now, snow is falling, the trees surely are enjoying the drink, and I get to wear my wooly sweater, enjoying this moist wintry day.