PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES

Making peanut butter cookies is a great stress buster. I feel tension melting from my body as I mix ingredients, roll the dough, and crisscross each cookie with a fork.

If you get into the rhythm of making cookies like playing music on a piano, everything flows smoothly as a mountain stream.

When I make cookies, it brings back childhood memories. As a youngster, I enjoyed helping Mama bake cookies. It built our relationship in the kitchen.

Unfortunately, you can't eat just one cookie. When you remove those golden gems from the cookie sheet, they beg us girls to take just one bite.

I lament over the weight I'm sure to gain. Mama says, "You have no one to blame but yourself," and grins as she samples just one more cookie.

I guess it's in the genes. Mama and I love to bake and consume peanut butter cookies.

EARLY SPRING

I'm not ready for spring,
but this season won't wait.
Daffodils dot my lawn,
lambs skip through grass.

I'm not ready for spring,
but can you hold
this impatient season back?
Purple crocus popping up,

the robins spear earthworms,
forsythia ring yellow bells.
The sap's rising in sourwoods,
tulips resurrect.

Has spring really arrived?
Flowers shiver in February,
a flurry of snowflakes
riding the whistling wind.
--Brenda Kay Ledford

BOND OF LOVE

Beneath a cobalt canopy,
the Blue Ridge Mountains unfurl ribbons,
a flaming cardinal perches
on a dogwood branch
and peers at two mourning doves
spearing sunflower seeds.
Light shimmers across
their silver wings
as they lift their heads
and sing sweet songs
to herald Valentine's Day--
a bond of love.
--Brenda Kay Ledford

GROUNDHOG DAY

Events have been cancelled across the United States due to warm weather. I've never seen such an unusual winter. I gasped this morning when I noticed the jonquils or daffodils blooming in my neighbor's yard. Daddy always called these the "March flowers."

What will Punxsutawney Phil think when he crawls out of his burrow on Groundhog Day? Will it shock him to see grass growing on Gobbler's Knob?

Poor Phil may think he overslept and missed his day of fame. Can he predict an early spring when it seems as though it's already sprung?

But we still have time for old man winter to unleash his fury.

LEAP YEAR

You call this Leap Year?
What leaps this year?
Do children play leapfrog?

You call this Leap Year?
It has an extra day
that comes in February.

You call this Leap Year?
It comes every four years.
February has 29 days.

This is Leap Year?
Grandma said a gal may propose
to her beau during Leap Year.
--Brenda Kay Ledford

THE MESSENGER

THE MESSENGER

On a cold winter morning,
a crimson cardinal perched
above Pepper’s dogloo, captured
my attention as tears

flowed down my face.
The messenger lifted
songs of, “Cheer, cheer, cheer,”
and brought hope

to my broken heart.
He assured me that
the cycle of life continues.
Then a dozen birds

landed in the apple tree
bowing over Pepper’s lot.
Males and females sang together:
“Keep the faith.”

PEPPER

June, 1996--December 28, 2011

A NEW YEAR CONSIDERED

My friend, Ethelene Dyer Jones, e-mailed a beautiful New Year's poem. She gave me permission to share it on my blog.

A NEW YEAR CONSIDERED

Standing on the threshold of a new year
Poses questions with answers yet hidden:
If we are worriers we could fill with fear
For the pitfalls and obstacles unbidden
Lying within our way to be tackled,
Hidden scares frightening and ominous,
And faith under such duress is shackled,
When our God stands ready and luminous.

A new year considered brings to bear
Experiences of past years as guide:
We need to take each day of the year
As it comes, never cower or hide,
But go gallantly to face what may come,
Just resting in God's promises true,
Deriving the strength we need from
God's blessings which come daily anew.

When this New Year passes into aeons of time,
May we view it in retrospect as prime!
--Ethelene Dyer Jones

Ethelene Dyer Jones enjoys writing poetry. She's a columnist for "The News Observer," Blue Ridge, GA and "The Union Sentinel," Blairsville, GA. She has a book of poems co-authored with her son, Rev. Elton Keith Jones, titled: MOTHER AND CHILD REUNION.

Ethelene received the Georgia Governor's Award in the Humanities on Thursday, October, 6, 2011.

She resides in Milledgeville, GA. Ethelene has two grown children, seven grandchildren, and five great grandchildren.

I appreciate very much Ethelene sharing her lovely New Year's poem with us.

HAPPY NEW YEAR to all my blogger friends.