CANDLEMAS

Happy Groundhog's Day. Or Candlemas. Or Imbolc. Or whatever holiday you're celebrating today. The groundhog saw his shadow, the day dawned bright and clear. So we'll have six more weeks of winter instead of just a month and a half.

We finally made the trip to Omaha that we had been planning. The day was sunny, but not too warm. If it hadn't been for the shimmy in the left front wheel, the dog getting sick and Lloyd insisting that I wasn't using the most direct route, it would have been a great drive.



Claudia and her son, Mitchell, are doing fine. She's thinking of moving to Arkansas, where her mother and step-father live. It would be a great move for her. All of her family except for a couple of Lloyd's cousins, with whom she has little contact, have moved away. Her best friend moved to Texas last year. So now she's decided she needs to be closer to her mother and her nieces and nephews. She will actually be a couple of hours closer to us, as well.

Coming home was a much better trip. We had a cloudy sky, but no rain. No construction zones slowed us down. The wheels all stayed on the car. When we finally got home, Lloyd told me, "I don't want you ever to drive me all over the map like that again." Not a problem. In spite of what Lloyd tells everyone, I do not like to drive.

The word of the day for February 2, 2009 is "Candlemas" Pronunciation: \ˈkan-dəl-məs\
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English candelmasse, from Old English candelmæsse, from candel + mæsse mass, feast; from the candles blessed and carried in celebration of the feast
Date: before 12th century
: February 2 observed as a church festival in commemoration of the presentation of Christ in the temple and the purification of the Virgin Mary.

Our quote for the day is from Robert Herrick (1591–1674), Ceremonies for Candlemas Eve:

Thus times do shift,—each thing his turn does hold;
New things succeed, as former things grow old

;^)

-