When Winter grips North Texas in a strangle hold, she often gifts us with a solid sheet of ice covering every surface. On those icebound days we stay busy with indoor activities and avoid the streets and highways.
What shall we do on an icebound day? Watch the icicles form on the trees' shivering limbs? Enjoy the cardinals' investigations of the bird feeder? Watch the birds skating on the former birdbath that is now a rock-solid ice rink?
I chose to curl up in my favorite chair wearing heavy socks and bundled in a warm acrylic throw while reading Jan Caron's novel, Somewhere Safe with Somebody Good. Twenty years ago Caron began her Mitford series, and this is her 10th and newest book. The beloved Father Tim Kavanaugh and his wife, Cynthia, have returned from an extended trip to Ireland when they learn that Mitford's newspaper has questioned whether the town's citizens are still concerned about those less fortunate.
Father Tim is busy dealing with troubled youth, police involvement and town gossip. There are also tears, divorce, adultery, death, illnesses, an arthritic dog and attempted suicide. But he still finds time to motivate and guide the townspeople to prove that the community can indeed take care of its own.
The hilarious Christmas celebration in downtown Mitford (pp. 448 t0 conclusion) is a splendid commotion in which the citizens demonstrate, through their generosity and love, that they still take of all family, friends, neighbors and Mitfordians.
If you haven't read these treasures by Jan Caron, I recommend that you begin with At Home in Mitford and read all the way through Somewhere Safe with Somebody Good. Then an icebound day will feel like springtime on the Big Island.
Quote of the day: When you base your life on principles, most of your decisions are already made before you encounter them. ~ Shared by Chuck from Phoenix
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