Thirteen degrees below zero! Thirty below with the wind chill factor. The weather is the topic of discussion these winter days. I spent winter growing up in Chicago, so I know something about cold winters with the wind and snow blowing off Lake Michigan. After I graduated, I spent time in Omaha, Nebraska. Now they know how to have a blizzard. When my husband and I were married we spent time in Fargo, North Dakota. Enough said. I don’t want to tell my grand-children how tough

Poppy, my canine companion of one year, is the cutest pup you will ever see. He is a rescue dog and came to me with many issues. He is definitely a watch dog, demonstrated by how he barks at the slightest outdoor noise. He is especially alert to other dogs and will lose all control barking at them, even if they are a block away. With children and most people, he is very excited to aquatint himself. When any of my family come to visit, he is ecstatic and cries when they leave.

The New Year is all about “hope”. We hope for world peace. We hope for our world and the environment to be better. We hope for our children’s future. We hope for our families to do well. We hope for personal strength and good health and often…we hope for recovery. My husband “Buck” had his catastrophic stroke when he was a mere sixty-three years old. Doctors and therapists told us that three months was all the time he would have to regain his strength and mobility. That was