Ring Out The Old, Ring In The New

A Happy New Year! Grant that I

May bring no tear to any eye

When this New Year in time shall end

Let it be said I've played the friend,

Have lived and loved and labored here,

And made of it a happy year.

~Edgar Guest

I truly wish each and every one of you, a New Year filled with much love, peace and happiness.

Your friendships have encouraged, enlightened, and made me laugh my frock off throughout this past year.

Here's to a 2013 filled with the same !

To friends and family alike

Many Blessings,

x

Winter Friendships

Taking a few days off to catch up on overdue visits with dear friends.

Share a cup of tea, a piece of homemade Christmas cake, and swap Christmas gifts.

Be well !

"Winter, a lingering season,

is a time to gather golden moments,

embark upon a sentimental journey, and enjoy every idle hour. "

~John Boswell

Ratty, and Mole visiting Badger ~ Wind in the Willows

Catnip Dreams

No longer able to withstand the festivites, and many sniffs of cat-nip later,
Oliver ops for a cat nap.

Peace On Earth Goodwill To All Men

Christmas is upon us......

I've so enjoyed our visits back and forth throughout the year, all the sweet comments written, and well-wishes when a word of encouragement was needed.

We truly wish each and every one of you, friends and family, near and far, all the blessings of a Joyous and Merry Christmas.

                         

May you have the gladness of Christmas which is hope;

The spirit of Christmas which is peace;

The heart of Christmas which is love."

~Ada V. Hendicks

Peace on Earth, Goodwill toward Men

From our home to yours.......

Christmas Memories

When Christmas bells are swinging above the fields of snow,

We hear sweet voices ringing from lands of long ago,

And etched on vacant places

Are half-forgotten faces

Of friends we used to cherish,

And loves we used to know.

~ Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Christmas Is Coming

Christmas is coming, the geese are getting fat

Please put a penny in the old man's hat

If you haven't got a penny, a ha'penny will do

If you haven't got a ha'penny, then God bless you!

~ Tradition English nursery rhyme

Let The Merriment Begin

We've had the strangest warm weather the past few days.

Here it is, the middle of December and the temperature reached a balmy 70 degrees today, folks were running around town, in shorts and flip-flops !

This afternoon, I accomplished a little inside decorating.
Our tree is an Alpine Tree, tall and skinny, and doesn't require any furniture to be moved around.
The mantle is  finished, except for a few dried orange slices and cinnamon sticks.

 

The silver is polished

The Christmas crackers await eager hands

On the porch, the old wooden sleds have been decorated with boughs of fresh Cedar.
The birds have decided to make it their nightly roost.
'Tis the season for sharing...

What The Dickens ?

Several years ago, our small town, was graced by a visit from Gerald Charles Dickens, great-great grandson of the author 'A Christmas Carol '.

It was the highlight of the town's Victorian Christmas Festival, a seventy -five minute on stage performance and one-man show of a descendant of the beloved author Charles Dickens.

Gerald Dickens performed the dramatization with just a chair, a hat stand, a candle, his top hat, and a walking stick for props. The rest of the show was brought to life with his voice, facial expression, mannerisms, and energy.
Since the story is so well known, Dickens said he didn't have to worry too much about explaining the plot.

Everyone loved the story, and a closeness and camaraderie developed in the audience as we watched a talented storyteller enact his great-great grandfather's story with love and passion.
Fortunately for me, the audience struggled to understand the actor's Cockney accent. It created dead silence voids, where an appropriate applauding should have followed a punch line.
Mr. Dickens had been making note of this, and asked if I would accompany him on stage and help the audience participation, with a few prompting gestures.
*Gulp*
Would I accompany him on stage ?

Needless to say it was the best Christmas gift I could have received, and dare say, everyone in this town, is still talking about it to this very day.......
I know I am
*Wink*.

"I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year."

A Christmas Carol ~Charles Dickens, Ebeneezer Scrooge,

"To Josephine

 my Warrington friend".

~ Gerald Charles Dickens.

In The Arms Of An Angel, Fly Away

God Rest their sweet little souls........

And The Rains Came

We have been deluged with rain today.

Cold, wind-driven rain, the ground is soaked, the creeks are overflowing their banks.

Winter is in the air....

A Christmas Spirit-Lifter

When the weather turns chilly, and I'm looking for something to stir my Christmas spirit, I make a batch of Spiced Tea.

The combination of oranges, cinnamon and cloves are a delight to the senses, perfect for sipping fireside late evening, and watching the Christmas tree twinkling in the dark..

2 cups Sugar

2 cups Tang

3/4 cup instant tea

1 envelope Kool-Aid Lemonade

1 tsp. cinnamon

1-1/2 tsp. ground cloves

1-1/2 tsp. ground ginger

Combine sugar, tea, tang, lemonade mix, cinnamon, ginger and cloves in a medium mixing bowl; stir well.

Pour into a 1-pint wide-mouth jar with tight-fitting lid.

Use 2-3 teaspoons in a cup of boiling water.

Sunshine And Shadows

The calendar reads December, but with sunshine and balmy breezes today, it feels more like Summertime.

The Vinca has decided to bloom one more time, despite earlier freezes.

It's such a hardy little vine.

Oliver couldn't resist a late afternoon snooze.

Through Bare Trees.

 

 

"Through bare trees
I can see all the rickety lean-tos
and sheds, and the outhouse
with the half-moon on the door,
once modestly covered in
summer's greenery.

Through bare trees
I can watch the hawk
perched on a distant branch,
black silhouetted wings
shaking feathers and snow,
and so can its prey.

Through bare trees
I can be winter's innocence,
unashamed needfulness,
the thin and reaching limbs of a beggar,
longing to touch
but the hem of the sun."-

~ Lisa Lindsey, Bare Trees