Stillmeadow Friends

Dear Susan...

Your last letter brought back memories of achy muscles from "digging out" and nights spent up "raking" the roof so that snow wouldn't weigh heavy and cause damage. At the same time, it reminded me of soups simmering and biscuits in the oven to ward off the cold. Add to that the drama of a red cardinal against a backdrop of white and there is no place in the world like New England no matter what the season.

It's Sunday afternoon in the Hudson Valley, and the house is quiet save for the sound of Scooter's snoring. Erik and the girls are out for the afternoon and I'm enjoying the solitude. I decided this would be the perfect opportunity to sit and write you and catch up. Sunny and bright, it's a beautiful day Susan. The winds that we've had for the past few days has finally quieted and the trees are still and contemplating Spring no doubt. The sky is a watercolor wash of blue interupted only by the occasional trail from an airplane going to points unknown. Even the usual bustle at the birdfeeders has wained. Yesterday Erik and Rebecca filled all the feeders and with lightning speed the squirrels "got the word out". Not only were they being emptied this morning but one of the feeders had been completely dismantled!! Now squirrels have to be the greediest little things I've ever seen. Even if they empty the birdfeeder and all the contents spill onto the ground except for a few seeds on the inside...they will continue at the feeder until it's either empty or destroyed.

Yesterday the girls finished their homemade Valentines. Between the two of them, they made over 40 separate cards for their classmates!! They had a wonderful system Susan. They did all the boys first because after all, boys are yucky and they didn't want to waste a lot of time on yucky boys. I smiled to myself as they discussed this and I wondered how many Valentine's Days would come and go before the boys weren't yucky anymore. Daddy helped them pack their cards into little paper sacks decorated with red heart stickers. They'll deliver these to their classmates tomorrow.

Do you remember Valentine's Day parties at school Susan?? I can recall that the teachers would decorate a cardboard box (usually a shoebox) and then we'd all bring in Valentines (most homemade with red paper and white paper doilies) and we'd put them in that box. While we'd fare on Kool-Aid and cupcakes our teacher would reach into the box and one by one pull out those Valentines. She'd call our name and we'd race to the front of the room and snatch that little card that said "Guess Who??" Sometimes we'd figure them out, sometimes we wouldn't. What sweet innocent fun.

Last evening found us on Long Island with our friends Neal and Karen. It's a yearly tradition to meet them there for Chinese New Year's dinner!! Now I have to confess that until I'd met Erik, I'd never celebrated Chinese New Year. The dinner consists of a number of different courses and the variety of food is wonderful. We had everything last night from duck to shrimp to steak to lobster!! You get a little sampling of each and everything is served one course at a time. Erik made chinese stars for the girls while we were there, and they brought them home as little girls are apt to do. 2005 is, I am told, the year of the Rooster. One of the courses contained chicken. I wonder how the rooster felt about that??

I suppose that my solitude will come to an end soon, so I think I will close this for now. I hope by the time you read this, you're thawed out once more. Perhaps Emma will give you a little space beside the woodstove that you can call you own.

Love, Shelley
Ossining, New York