Bright, White Snow & Tea Cakes Too | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Publisher's note: Please join me in welcoming Author Michele Rhem, who presents us with her poignant memoirs of the Rabbit Patch, where her diaries weave tales of a simpler, expressive life lost to many, but gathered together in her most familiar environs - the Rabbit Patch.

    It started snowing in the late evening, yesterday. Today, when light came to the rabbit patch, the territory looked like a post card from a place like "New England" or my friend "Fayes' Iowa". What an unfamiliar winter !

    This time, the temperature makes sense and there is no fierce wind blowing either. Still, I do not have snow boots- or gloves, that would be of any use, in snow. . .so I must be content to enjoy from a far, the wondrous beauty of snow. As I watch the sun come up, through the window by the "morning table", shining brightly, it does not seem "second fiddle" at all, to do so.

    Kyle and Christian are both home this time and I am so glad of that. "Misery may love company", but so does happiness. I am making pancakes , on a weekday morning-to celebrate! Kyle will not start his day with an egg sandwich -and no oatmeal for me this day! It feels like "a red letter day" and so I will act accordingly.

    After the breakfast, I went to thinking of tasks, I may have had to put off, in the absence of snow. I remembered I had meant to make labels for some glass canisters, I had bought months ago. I had previously stored all of my spices in "mason jars" (since I buy in buy in bulk ) and made labels, adorned with sweet rabbit images, for each one. The effect is charming. The large glass canisters, which held flours and sugar sat there void of any embellishment for a long while. I set about the pleasant chore of labeling them and hopefully eliminated the chances of cakes that won't rise or "hard cookies".

    That was as about eventful as my day got. . . and that was fine by me. I did get packed to go to Elizabeth City tomorrow-of course this depends on the conditions of the highway. Jenny has a birthday on Saturday and I am so hoping to spend it with her. If we ever got snow, it was always on her birthday or close to it. I used to call her "snowbird" because of that, so many years ago.

    I started Christmas shopping today. It is quite a new experience, for me, to shop on line, but so easy and I was quite pleased with the prices. I bought three small gifts only, still it is a start. I hope to never abandon browsing in small shops that sell french milled soaps or fine coffee shops, for that would be a shame. There is something so charming about such places and our lives needs some charm, I think.

    I made a big pot of soup in the afternoon with intentions to feed Jennys' family and Miss Thelma too. There is also a batch of "tea cakes" in the oven, now and I am hoping, I will be able to brag a little about them, though the odds may not be so favorable.

    The contents of a day, can be of great variation. Sometimes, days are memorable and seem to have a permanent residence in our heart . . most are not so remarkable and pass without much ado. I like them all. There are a lot of ways to spend a day-and for me, I am content to have a day when snow lies in heaps around the territory and the kitchen smells like tea cakes.

    Dear Diary, I am glad for winter with its' bright, white snow. I am glad for hours, not spent in haste . . .and birthdays. I am glad for watching the light change on the rabbit patch . . .and the chances a day brings to love this world, all over again.