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