A Peaceful Easy Feeling

Our days are getting noticeably longer, darkness now falls around 5:30 each evening.

Mother Nature sent us sunshine today, sixty five degrees worth of the stuff, encouraging us to break out of our cabin-fever mold, and delight in pottering around the garden.

The Robins are in abundance, busily pulling the earthworms from the moist soil, the nests are getting feathered, the Pussy Willow buds are awaking.

Daffodils are waving their sleepy heads in the noon day sun.
Not long now.

 

 

 

 

 

A peaceful sunset this evening.

Cooler temps, after a warm and breezy day.

Peace.....such a lovely thought.

 

Blue

Two of my favorite things........

English transferware and castles.

Royal Homes of Britain

Windsor Castle, Tower of London, Balmoral Castle.

 

With Love From Me To You

💛

" The greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return.".

 

Eden Ahbez "Nature Boy"

 

 

May your Valentine's Day be special !

((Hugs))
x

Snow Day

We awoke this morning to a winter wonderland.

Soft, wet snowflakes, blanketing the ground, cocooning us in a world of silence.
No accumulation, it's as if Mother Nature took her powdered sugar shaker, and gave the landscape a sprinkling.
Magical.

 

 

 

 

Out of the cloud-folds of her garment shaken,

Over the woodlands, brown and bare

Over the harvest-fields forsaken,

Silent, and soft, and slow

Descends the snow.

~~By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.~~

 

Sleepover

The perfect way to spend a rainy day......napping.

All Change

 

 

 

Our days have been filled with glorious sunshine.

The daffodils are shooting up from the ground, offering the promise of spring.

I tidied around the porches and fiddled in the potting shed yesterday, it's hard to stay cooped up when the sun is shining.

After a welcomed, warm and sunshiny day, today it's back to rain, dark and dreary.

A cozy day to enjoy inside.

Wishing you peace, in whatever little corner of the world, you call home.....

 

 

    

 

 

 

 "Winter is the time of promise because there is so little to do - or because you can now and then permit yourself the luxury of thinking so."

~Stanley Crawford

News From Gobbler's Knob

Rabbits have been making a show in the garden.

Nibbling on the new shoots of grass.

The songbirds are once again appearing , a good sign that life is beginning to awaken.

Punxsutawney Phil  has predicted an early spring, maybe in these southern states, the poor folks in other parts of the country, digging out of the snow, will be harder to convince......
We're having a balmy 70 degrees of sunshine today, how's that for a treat !
 

Under The Weather

 

 

The household is full of sickness, head colds,  coughing and spluttering. I've spent long days in bed, with Vicks as my companion.

Our state has been deluged with more than it's share of heavy rain and flooding, leading to soggy grounds and mold, which contributes to upper respiratory problems.

Homemade chicken soup is the order of the day, and lots of hot lemon tea.

Stay well friends.

 

Memories

I've been on a roll with my Spring cleaning.

Fluffing, and polishing and organizing.

I'll be repeating the same tasks a few months from now, but at least I've lightened my load.

The problem is, I seem to flit from room to room, and never really complete an entire project, before getting sidetracked with something else.

Such was the case the other evening.

I started off organizing my office cupboard, and discovered a box of photographs that I hadn't looked at in a long time.

Grandchildren from birth onward, through school days, and lazy afternoons spent at the park,  now young adults moving busily along with their own lives.

All those celebrations of birthdays, and Christmases, and planting times in the garden, with their little shovels and rakes.

I allowed myself to become completely absorbed in a time-warp.

Happy times, that hold so many sweet memories.

Where do the years go.

Talking In Their Sleep

"You think I am dead,"
The apple tree said,
"Because I have never a leaf to show -
Because I stoop,
And my branches droop,
And the dull gray mosses over me grow!

"But I'm still alive in trunk and shoot;
The buds of next May
I fold away -
But I pity the withered grass at my root."

"You think I am dead,"
The quick grass said,
"Because I have parted with stem and blade!
But under the ground,
I am safe and sound
With the snow's thick blanket over me laid.

"I'm all alive, and ready to shoot,
Should the spring of the year
Come dancing here -
But I pity the flower without branch or root."

"You think I am dead,"
A soft voice said,
"Because not a branch or root I own.
I never have died, but close I hide
In a plumy seed that the wind has sown.

"Patient I wait through the long winter hours;
You will see me again -
I shall laugh at you then,
Out of the eyes of a hundred flowers.

Edith Matilda Thomas  (1854 - 1925)

 

Escape to the Chateau Seasons 1-3 preview

My winter binge-watching favorite......

ESCAPE TO THE CHATEAU follows U.K. residents Dick Strawbridge and his partner Angel as they leave their two-bedroom flat in Southend for a beautiful 45-room chateau in northern France. The only problem is it doesn't have electricity, water, or proper plumbing.
https://binged.it/2RdS8ww

" Well done children "

Winter Reading

 

 

We have had the strangest warm weather these past few days.

Here it is, the middle of winter, and the temperatures have reached a balmy 73 degrees yesterday, folks were running around town, in shorts and flip-flops !

My Iris shoots are popping up out of the ground, twelve inches tall already.

Next week we are in for a true taste of winter, temperatures down in the teens, so out come the scarves and gloves once again.

A good excuse to stay home, and indulge in a nice pot of tea and biscuits, and some rather lovely reading material.

 

 

Nesting

On a rainy day, what is better than napping inside a cardboard box.

Dust

I'm committing myself to doing a little dusting today.

Where does all the dust come from in the wintertime, it shows up uninvited every day.

We change the filters in the central heat system faithfully on the first day of the month, but no matter what, there always seems to be a layer of dust covering the tabletops.

Funnily enough, when warmer weather arrives, and I'm busy pottering outside, It doesn't come calling..... *smile*.

 

 

Winter Days

We are surely in the nesting phase of Winter, cold, wet and more cold.......

The kind of cold that makes you want to snuggle inside, and cocoon from the outside world. 

Stay warm and safe dear friends.

 

 

  

"Surely everyone is aware of the divine pleasures which attend a wintry fireside; candles at four o’clock, warm hearthrugs, tea, a fair tea-maker, shutters closed, curtains flowing in ample draperies to the floor, whilst the wind and rain are raging audibly without."
 ~ Thomas De Quincey 1796 

Brambly Hedge : Illustrated by Jill Barklem

Ring Out The Old, Ring In The New

And so another year is coming to an end.
I'm grateful to look back and say it was a pleasant year, a year filled with milestones, and lots of happy memories..
Our new great-granddaughter  has filled our days, bringing new spirit and much happiness into the fold.
As the New Year makes its presence, I am mindful to leave less of a footprint on this magnificent planet we all call home, and offer a kinder word or action towards my fellow man.

  

 

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

Your friendships have encouraged, enlightened, and have brightened my days throughout this past year.

Here's to a 2020 filled with the same !

Many Blessings, and A Happy New Year.

x

                                                       
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
 

❤

Winding Down on Boxing Day

We've ate, drank and made merry.

Over-indulged in all the traditions of the season that makes this magical celebration.......magical.

Laughter was in abundance.

  

 

 

Recipe books are returned to their bookcase- home.
It's a ritual I go through every holiday,  drag out the recipe books, yet end up making  the same tried and tested dishes as the previous years.

Tradition prevails.

 

The gatherings are over, the house is tidied.

Time to enjoy a few hours of BritBox and  a nice pot of tea and biscuits.

I hope your Christmas was just as lovely.

 

 

Peace On Earth, Goodwill To All Men

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

The longest night of the year, with a crescent moon as it's companion.

Winter arrives.

 

" Lighting one candle

from another -

Winter night "

 

~ Buson

Sleepy Days

I requested the help of a certain ginger kitty in helping with a little decorating, so far this is the response.

It appears I am on my own.