Mole and Flowers

It snowed and snowed on Sunday and Jeff cleared the driveway. Most of the day, I perched in bed, all warm and snug, reading The Wind in the Willows. A blog event is coming your way, all themed W in the W, so we can all look forward to that! Mags is planning it with links and variety, but I can't stop thinking about my woodsy friends until then.

We interrupt this post to give flowers to blog readers. January is very crisp and pretty, but one does long for blooms, doesn't one?

Soon it will be February, time to plant sweet peas, and when President's Day rolls around here in America, we'll plant. Mid February is the time to put your hopeful round seeds deep in the earth.

Right now, we could buy a coleus and admire her gusty foliage. Isn't this one a beauty? I think I took this picture at a grocery store north of Seattle last summer.

Now back to Mole. He's so true and honest. While hiking through the woods, he smells his home and his heart feels a big tug. He stops and calls for Ratty. This made me think of all the moles in our yard when I was a kid. My dad did not like moles. We would have mole visits and they would leave big earthy piles dotted across our big lawn. I must say, moles are SMART. Even when Mole is cruising around in the river, he really is an earthy house sort of creature. Like us!

I like his nose and the way he tips it up.

I've just met Badger again. He's very sweet. He allows visitors to stay the night. He has a warm kitchen with shiny benches and comfy settles arranged by the fire. He listens when guests wish to tell their stories.

And Toad REALLY is funny! He's so impulsive, so excitable. I was so sad when the caravan crashed. The axle ruined, in great need of repair. I really want a gypsy wagon/caravan for my grands to play in but we may just have to pretend.

I wish there were more Moles, Rats, and Badgers in the world. Don't you? I wish there weren't so many distractions and such adherence to clocks and lists and appointments. Who knows? Someone may knock on your door today and need a visit, a cup of tea, a listening ear. They may take up your entire morning or your afternoon.

Maybe if we sweep, dust, scrub, arrange, love our houses, then the sweet hospitable invitation will waft through the air and a weary traveler my find their way to our doorstep.
"Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it."
Hebrews 13:2