Peace On Earth, Good Will 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

 

 

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

The Longest Night

 

 

" Lighting one candle

from another -

Winter night "

 

~ Buson

Let The Merriment Begin

The decorating is complete.

I took advantage of all the natural greenery adding berries, fruits, and cinnamon sticks.

The house smells like Christmas.

 

The silver is polished

 

The tree is overflowing

 

 

The Christmas crackers await eager hands

 

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

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

Catnip Dreams

 

 

 Christmas is coming

and all through the house
no creature is stirring,
not even a mouse

 

With a soft sweet purr
from under his hat
in catnip dreams lost

sleeps Oliver cat .....

 

Nesting Days

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

Here it is, the middle of December and the temperature reached a balmy 76 degrees yesterday, folks were running around town, in shorts and flip-flops !
Tonight we are in for a taste of winter, freezing rain, and temperatures down in the thirties, time to pull out those scarves and gloves.
A good day to stay home, indulge in tea and biscuits, and work on my Christmas list.

Making A Start

I've decided to go minimal on the Christmas decorating this year, at least that's my intentions.

I do seem to have trouble knowing where to stop, once I've started.

For many years, I would hang twinkly faerie lights from every eave of the house, every tree in the yard, even the bird houses would get a mini-set of twinkle.

I would be the crazy neighbor, hanging lights from the porch long after dark, whilst the rest of the world snuggled inside.

This year, the front porch has been decorated with a  Balsam Fir wreath, and the doorway draped in a  White Pine and Cedar garland, freshly shipped from the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina.

Antique wooden sleds stand sentry on either side of the door, in the event we are treated to a surprise Christmas Day snowfall.
*grin*
Simple decorations shared from Nature's bounty.

Home Sweet Home

 

Braided rugs

Tea-filled mugs

Flowers in jugs

Familiar hugs

Heartstring tugs

Home........

 

Poem: Home Sweet Home by ABritinTN  

 

Plotting

I've been gathering my Winter reading material.

There's nothing like turning the pages of  a gardening book, in the midst of Winter.

When the hopes and dreams of most gardeners lie dormant just beneath the surface.

 

 

 

 

Do you know many gently-used books are available online, through the Goodwill non-profit ?

 

Most often they are library donations, and can be purchased for a mere fraction of their original cost.

 

 

 

Watching

Oliver sits beside me in the old rocking chair when I'm idling away the hours on the computer.
I'm sure he wonders what the fascination is, especially since there are no treats; not even in sight.

A Simple Day

 

 

Some days it's good to do nothing.

No deadlines to meet, no chores to complete, no lists to check twice.
A day to lounge in the comfort of your pajamas and woolly socks, to gaze out of the window and watch the falling leaves drift slowly to the ground.
A day for sipping cups of tea and curling up by the fireside with a portly feline at your side.
A simple day.

Lest We Forget

Remembrance Day – also known as Poppy Day, Armistice Day (the event it commemorates) or Veterans Day – is a day to commemorate the sacrifices of members of the armed forces and of civilians in times of war, specifically since the First World War.

It is observed on 11 November to recall the end of World War I on that date in 1918.

Major hostilities of World War I were formally ended at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918 with the German signing of the Armistice. The day was specifically dedicated by King George V, on 7 November 1919, to the observance of members of the armed forces who were killed during war.

In Flanders fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses, row on row,

That mark our place; and in the sky

The larks, still bravely singing, fly

Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the dead. Short days ago

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,

Loved, and were loved, and now we lie

In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:

To you from failing hands we throw

The torch; be yours to hold it high.

If ye break faith with us who die

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

In Flanders fields.


In Flanders Fields ~ Lt.-Col. John McCrae (1872 - 1918)

Dedicated to all the brave men and women whose unselfish sacrifices and bravery shall never be forgotten.
Thank You.

By The Light Of The Silvery Moon

 

  

Slowly, silently, now the moon
Walks the night in her silver shoon;
This way, and that, she peers, and sees
Silver fruit upon silver trees;
One by one the casements catch
Her beams beneath the silvery thatch;
Couched in his kennel, like a log,
With paws of silver sleeps the dog;
From their shadowy coat the white breasts peep
Of doves in a silver-feathered sleep;
A harvest mouse goes scampering by,
With silver claws, and silver eye;
And moveless fish in the water gleam,
By silver reeds in a silver stream.

Silver : Walter de la Mare

Purrfect

Oliver taking advantage of Daylight snoozing time

  

November Days

"When everything that ticked has stopped,

And space stares, all around,

Or grisly frosts, first autumn morns,

Repeal the beating ground."

 Emily Dickinson, Time and Eternity, LXXV

Trick Or Treat

We'll leave the light on for you.

Season Of Mists And Mellow Fruitfulness

A heavy fog had started to roll in before we turned in for the night, and by morning light it was difficult to see beyond a few yards.
I watched as the dewy blanket fell to the ground, illuminated by the porch lights, how can something be so treacherous, and yet so magical ?

The day has warmed to a balmy 76 degrees, and out of the blue, an invasion of Ladybugs ( Ladybirds for my readers across the pond), have emerged.
Literally hundreds of them.
I have a suspicion the State beetle just wanted to show off their Halloween costumes.

Autumn Splendor

 

 

“Autumn...the year's last, loveliest smile.”

 

-William Cullen Bryant

 

Autumn's First Frost

Frost on the pumpkin last night.

'Tis the season of woolly socks and flip-flops. 

 

 

"The hazy, cloudless skies of Indian Summer.

Leaves scurrying down the street before the wind.

The cold shiver from an arctic blast.

Indian Summer. The last warmth of the sun.

Chilly mornings and glorious warm afternoons.

The Harvest Moon. The Hunter's Moon. The Rainy Season.

Dry corn stalks clattering in the wind.

The touch of frost on grass and window pane.

The smell of burning leaves."

~ Keith C. Heidorn

Gossamer Threads

"The milkweed pods are breaking,

And the bits of silken down

Float off upon the autumn breeze

Across the meadows brown."

~ Cecil Cavendish, The Milkweed

 

 

Purrfect

For Miss Mollie....

 

Gentle eyes that see so much,

paws that have the quiet touch,

Purrs to signal "all is well"

and show more love than words could tell.

Graceful movements touched with pride,

a calming presence by our side --

A friendship that takes time to grow -

Small wonder why we love them so.

 

~ Author Unknown ~

Autumn Mist

 

 

 

 I saw old Autumn in the misty morn

Stand shadowless like silence, listening

To silence, for no lonely bird would sing

Into his hollow ear from woods forlorn,

Nor lowly hedge nor solitary thorn;—

Shaking his languid locks all dewy bright

With tangled gossamer that fell by night,

Pearling his coronet of golden corn.

 

~Thomas Hood : Autumn (1798-1845)

 

Best Friends Forever

Let me introduce you to my precious niece from England, Mollie.

It was her first time visiting to America, in fact her first time flying on a jet-plane, across the Atlantic ocean, all to attend my granddaughter's wedding.

It made the entire occasion, extra special.

 

Very quickly Mollie and Oliver cat soon became the best of friends, he followed her everywhere.

Enjoying all the attention, hourly groomings, and more cat treats than he could have ever imagined.

They became inseparable.

 

He tried to keep up, but oftentimes the excitement overwhelmed him. 

His BFF has sadly returned across the ocean, and Oliver has taken to laying beneath the bushes and awaiting her return .

 

He misses her terribly......we all do.
Hurry back Miss Mollie !

Autumn Cottage

Autumn has arrived, and for the past few days we've already noticed a change in the weather.

Cool mist-filled mornings, and even cooler, crisp-laden nights.

The trees are beginning their changing of color, yellows, oranges and reds.

Pumpkins are now decorating porches and gardens.

The songbirds now busily returning to their winter homes.

 

 

 

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,

Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;

Conspiring with him how to load and bless

With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run;

To bend with apples the moss'd cottage-trees,

And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;

To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells

With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,

And still more, later flowers for the bees,

Until they think warm days will never cease,

For Summer has o'er-brimm'd their clammy cells.

To Autumn : John Keats 1795-1821

 

Tying The Knot

This past weekend The First Sergeant and myself attended our granddaughter's wedding..
The day started with rain, not the weather we had hoped for, since the ceremony was an outside venue.
As the afternoon approached, the rain cleared, and the most perfect of days emerged, low humidity and sunshine.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Is there anything sweeter than a simple, country style wedding, surrounded by all things good in life, friendship, food and fellowship.....

My sweet niece Mollie from England, presents the bride-to-be with a lucky horseshoe.

 

 

 

 

Mr. & Mrs.

 

"Come, let's be a comfortable couple and take care of each other! How glad we shall be, that we have somebody we are fond of always, to talk to and sit with. "
~Charles Dickens

 

Thank you for sharing in this precious day and for all of the sweet well-wishes they are truly appreciated.

Gone...

Our dear family members are flying across the Atlantic ocean as I type.
Returning home to England, after spending a week filled with laughter, a wedding, and much tea-drinking.
The house is now eerily quiet, yet oddly enough I still hear their voices echoing amongst it's walls.
" More tea anyone ?"
*Sigh*