A moment of peace.

I am alone in the house.

My feet are on the coffee table.

The fireplace is on.

The pup is asleep on his bed.

I have my computer on my lap.

And as far as I know, all are safely where they are supposed to be.

Moments like this, right now, I cherish ... the quiet, unexciting, mundane, even a little boring moments when there is palpable peace.

Since the drop of the Times Square ball on January 1, 2011, 12:01 a.m., a lot has happened in my little world to help me appreciate the quiet times ... and more importantly, the power of prayer, the grace of God, and the peace that passes understanding:

• At midnight on New Year's Day, I was in Fairfax Hospital with my friend Jean and her husband Ed who fell from a ladder and broke his back, and later developed a dangerous blood clot.

• My next door neighbor Alyssa was in Loudoun Hospital with an intestinal infection.

• My mother-in-law Betty got pneumonia.

• My mother got shingles ... on her face, bless her heart.

• My father had his pace maker replaced.

• Andy rode in the ambulance taking his friend Mitch to the ER for stitches in his head.

• Andy's Volvo got hit by a crazy lady in a parking lot.

• My friend Linda fell down the stairs and broke her leg ... surgery. One plate, 13 screws.

• Kayti and I both got pink eye.

• Andy's girlfriend Katie had to put her sweet dog Luke to sleep.

• And last night Willie called and he got hurt playing basketball and has a hairline fracture in his ankle.

This is 21 days of life ... Ed, Alyssa, Mitch and Linda are all home from the hospital and healing. My mother is on the mend, albeit slowly. My father's pace maker is pacing just fine. Betty's second round of antibiotics are finally working. Despite the dent in his door, Andy went to be with Katie this weekend. Willie has tons of friends taking good care of him (thank you, Kelly, Coleman & David ... hi, Blaine!).

And, most importantly, GOD IS GOOD ... All the time!

Betty's Birds

Happy New Year!

(No resolutions about keeping this blog going ... I will try to do better. For Willie.)

I know I've commented on earlier blogs about my growing fascination with birds. Lots of beautiful birds are enjoying Grandma Betty's bird feeders that grace our backyard now that she and Grandpa Fred have moved into Greenspring Village. Although this activity makes me feel old, it is quite entertaining watching the birds vie for position on the feeders and scatter frantically when the fat acrobatic squirrels jump from the porch onto the feeders to steal their seed.

I (pathetically, maybe) have been keeping my camera and telephoto lens handy lately to get some fun shots of the birds and the squirrels.

I was told that little cone would keep the squirrels out of the feeder ... this guy was undaunted by the cone and the ice on it. He's so fat he can barely make it to and through the fence when we send Kilmer out to chase him, but luckily for him, Kilmer is too stupid to find him in time.

Thank you, Betty, for sharing your love of birds and giving us your bird feeders. I am enjoying them immensely.