I often post a song for the Winter Solstice on my blog. I went to YouTube looking for one and found an entire mix. If you'd like to hear some lovely Solstice songs, here is the link.

Enjoy the music, and happy Solstice! Lighter days are coming, and I, for one, am glad.

Fiona and I went to see Next to Normal tonight. This song was the one that made me bawl. In it, the husband, Dan, is trying to convince the wife to sign a form giving consent to undergo a scary medical procedure. She is at the hospital and he has been living at home.

I am in exactly this position. We signed the papers a couple of weeks ago. Now I sit at home alone, waiting and hoping while Rob is in the hospital.




I listened to the soundtrack after I dropped off Fiona and drove home. A single light was shining on the porch when I reached it, just as this song was playing.

I may have been sorted into Gryffindor on Pottermore, but today I am not nearly as brave as I need to be.

Edited to add: After I wrote this, this was the first thing to come up on my playlist

Dark and Difficult Times Lie Ahead




I need to make an icon like that: Dark and Difficult Times Lie Ahead.

*adds to the list*

I am shocked and grieved to hear of the death of Robin Williams, a man of immense talent who meant so much to so many, who made so many people laugh and yet couldn't overcome his own darkness. This scene sprang immediately to mind from his movie The Dead Poet's Society: after a student commits suicide, making Robin Williams' character, John Keating, lose his job, his students bid him farewell in a way that shows that they have absorbed the lessons he has tried to teach them, and will remember him with respect, honor and love. As a teacher, as a writer, and as someone who has struggled with depression, I can't think of a better scene to honor such a special man.

In the sink, in the tub, in the bedclothes.

I changed the dressing on Rob's surgical site on his head tonight. When he'll pulled away the tape affixing the dressing to his scalp, a chunk of his hair went with it.

Tonight, I went downstairs and found him sitting at the dining room table, fallen hair all over his shirt. I saw a patch that was significantly balder than just this morning. On impulse, I reached out and pinched a tuft between my fingers and simply lifted it off the scalp without even a tug. He turned a look of long-suffering toward me. "Why are you doing that?"

"Because I can."

Delia, sitting across the table, cracked up.

I'm sorry, honey. To make it up to you, I'm posting this song:

I just upgraded one of my Apps on my iPod, and it added something intriguing which sent me out to the web where I found something even more intriguing.

The App is Lift (I got it free, I think), which encourages you to develop and track good habits. One of the habits they are encouraging is meditation. This newest upgrade included a meditation produced by The Honest Guys, who apparently have a wildly popular channel on YouTube. It is a Middle Earth meditation, called "Shelter in the Shire."



(Watching it directly on YouTube, I gather, allows you to avoid the semi-annoying icon at the upper right. Or, as I said, you can have this particular meditation by downloading the app Lift.)

It lasts sixteen minutes, about perfect for a midmorning break at work, and I found it extremely relaxing. They seem to only have the one meditation on the Lift App, but if you go here, you can see their other Middle Earth meditations. They have seven in all posted.

What happens when you throw boiling water in the air:



At the time we tried this experiment, it was -18º F. This works, according to what I've read, when the temperature is below -15º F.

Remember Isaac, the guy who made that hilarious and touching lip-synching video to the song "I Think I Want to Marry You" in order to propose to his girlfriend?

Well, the worldwide response was so strong that he decided to do a followup video. Wow, he really has a knack for this sort of thing. And a strong sense of family. Quite simple, really, yet I personally found it touching and powerful.