what we have here is a failure to communicate

I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas! I buzzed 3 hours down the coast to my parent’s house, where my four sisters and I gathered together for what may be the last time for awhile. Over the course of two and a half days we updated each other on our increasingly complex and interesting lives, ate far too many cookies, watched four of the Doctor Who Christmas Specials (including the brand new one – The Doctor, the Widow, and the Wardrobe – which was quite fantastic), and went for a walk in the salt marshes at the edge of Laudholm Farm. It was a thoroughly pleasant Christmas.

My blogging has been sporadic this December (as usual) because I was making most of my Christmas presents. I got the nutty idea in my head to make calendars, which turned out to be rather involved (not surprising, right?). I completed two extremely fun designs – a Doctor Who themed one for my youngest sister, and a Galaxy Quest themed one for the sister who came right after me. Then I set to work on one for my mother, full of vegetables and quilting patterns. I got a little carried away, but I’m happy with the results and so was she.

Giving gifts was wonderful this year. And I received a rather splendid assortment of presents myself – but fortunately, not a single book! My family was warned away from what is usually my favorite thing to unwrap, because as it is, I already have a good assortment of books to sort through in preparation for my upcoming move.

As I sit at my computer, my eyes wander fondly over my bookshelves where ALL of my books have been collected together (both the books I had formerly left at my parent’s house, and all the books I’ve picked up since leaving home) for what ended up being an unfortunately short time. Soon I will be ruthlessly sorting them into piles that designate them as donations, books to be passed on to friends, gifts, or the few precious ones that I will keep. Books are easy to store, but as with so many other things in my life at this particular time, I feel the need to whittle my collection down to the essentials – the few books that help to make me ME, and a couple of fresh ones (books to be tested and tasted for the first time.)

So here then, for posterity, are my bookshelves. Fondly, I bid this reincarnation of them goodbye and look forward to the next.

With Christmas behind me, the next few weeks will be filled with packing and plotting. After spending a bit of time at my parent’s house hanging out with my little sister, I am heading to Oregon, where I will be starting a practicum in Natural Building at Aprovecho Institute in March. I intend to spend the month of February crossing the country, visiting friends along the way and seeing and doing as much as I can – and taking lots of pictures. (One of the totally brilliant presents I got for Christmas was Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3!)

Exciting times. I’ll go ahead and promise you that the blogging will remain sporadic at best. I’ll keep at it though. I glean so much pleasure from blogging and truly value the friends I’ve made through doing this. If I get to meet some of you in the coming year I’ll consider myself twice blessed. Until then, thanks for reading, for all your comments, for the book and movie suggestions, and for everything else. Enjoy the rest of 2011, and a very Happy New Year to you all!