Wonder.

Prompt: Wonder. How did you cultivate a sense of wonder in your life this year?

By reading. Lots and lots of nonfiction. I had an idea in my head that one of the main characters in my story was going to have sleep disorders. Narcolepsy, REM sleep behaviour disorder, and I needed to find out how these would affect his every day life. It's a fascinating subject. Did you know that bullfrogs don't sleep at all? Who knew? And the brain paralyzes your body during REM sleep so that you won't hurt yourself by acting out your dreams. Reading about this stuff led me to read some of Carl Jung's theories and, of course, a bit of Freud. I wasn't so much interested in what dreams meant but rather why we dream at all. What purpose do dreams serve? By pursuing a wide range of subjects I was able to keep that spark of wonder alive.

On a different note: I baked cookies today. Harvest Moons. Pumpkin puree, oatmeal, chocolate chips, cinnamon. They turned out fantastic. You make them big. Dropped onto the baking sheet by the 1/4 cup. I cut the sugar by about a cup and it was still quite sweet. I'll certainly make them again.

And then: it snowed this evening. Just a light dusting. Hard to believe I had clothes drying on the line today. The jeans didn't dry completely but it was enough to cut the drying time in the machine which is what I was going for. I managed to remember to close the cold frame tonight, too. The swiss chard and lettuce are doing great. The cabbage is beautiful as well. Next year the majority of my gardening is going to be done in the fall after the bugs have dropped dead. No more planting cabbages for the worms.