Hints and Guesses

My great-aunt made this Christmas tree. Each level is an ashtray, except for the top one, which hides a cigarette lighter. Every Christmas it sat on a table at my grandmother’s house, even in the later no-smoking years. I recently inherited it. It was the last holiday item I packed away today.

I never knew what was behind the holes in the fireplace until I took this photo.

Until next Christmas...

This piece of amethyst, about the size of a child’s fist, sat on a marble side table in my grandmother’s living room. It now sits on my desk at work.

This movie camera sits on my desk, as a reminder.

Mine:

Jojo’s:

This, on the first night of our annual anniversary trip.

After years without one, I bought a camera.

I’ve had my eye on the Lumix DMC-TZ1 ever since I read Kevin Kelly’s recommendation on Cool Tools. While I researched reasons not to buy it, one of the reasons I settled on it was the 10x optical zoom—the last camera in the family had a puny 3x zoom, and I knew I wanted more in the next camera.

This one is also small enough to fit into my purse, but heavy enough to warrant removing some of the items I typically carry. There aren’t many to start with, so wielding the axe will be a painful process.

On the first day of the new year, I forgot to take a picture, so the last thing I did before bed was to take this picture of our hotel bedspread.

These are only hints and guesses,
Hints followed by guesses; and the rest
Is prayer, observance, discipline, thought and action.
The hint half guessed, the gift half understood, is Incarnation.

T. S. Eliot, The Dry Salvages