in front of the fire

I have had a wonderful day with two daughter- in -laws and a daughter.
The other daughter- in- law worked today but we all gathered around the 
table last night for food and much laughter. This was the first time since
Christmas but there was one missing: #4 son . He came home late last night from the mountains where it has been very cold and snowy and the ski resorts are singing hallelujahs. Earlier this week,  he sent photos from his apt. window that looks over campus. 

Hope you are warm where you are. When your kids are grown, they hang
together, so I am here in front of the fire in a quiet house. 

                       Looking out from son's apt. to Kings Street in Boone
                       and the campus of ASU and the mountains in the distance

Comradeship and serious joy are not interludes in our travel, but rather our travels are interludes in comradeship and joy, which through God shall endure forever. The inn does not point to the road; the road points to the inn. And all roads point at last to an ultimate inn. ( from Charles Dickens by GKC)

A Child of the Snows      by G.K. Chesterton                                         

There is heard a hymn when the panes are dim,

And never before or again,

When the nights are strong with a darkness long,

And the dark is alive with rain.

Never we know but in sleet and in snow,

The place where the great fires are,

That the midst of the earth is a raging mirth

And the heart of the earth a star.

And at night we win to the ancient inn

Where the child in the frost is furled,

We follow the feet where all souls meet

At the inn at the end of the world.

The gods lie dead where the leaves lie red,

For the flame of the sun is flown,

The gods lie cold where the leaves lie gold,

And a Child comes forth alone.

- G.K. Chesterton