Ring Out The Old, Ring In The New

And so another year is coming to an end.
We were graced with a new great-grandson this year, and yesterday we were finally able to hold and visit with him.
The sweetest little fellow, and our hearts are full.

As the New Year makes it's presence, I am grateful for all the good things in life,  mindful to leave less of a footprint on this magnificent planet we all call home, and remember to offer a kinder word or action towards my fellow man.

Peace on earth to all.......

 

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 2023 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
 

❤

Boxing Day Silence

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.

Snow is falling, and once again man and beast are cocooned in a world of silence.

  

Peace On Earth, Goodwill Toward Men

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

Silent And Soft

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.~~

 

The Longest Night

     The longest night of the year, with the Cold Moon as it's companion.

Winter arrives.

 

" Lighting one candle

from another -

Winter night "

 

~ Buson

Christmas Fayre

The English Christmas goodies have started to arrive, I shall have to hide them, from myself.

Years ago,  it was almost impossible to find English Christmas foods in the U.S. but nowadays with the click of a mouse, or a stroll to the import aisle at Publix, they are easily found.
It surely makes those memories of Christmas in England around the table, feel so much closer.

 

 

Happy, happy Christmas,
that can win us back to the delusions of our childish days;
that can recall to the old man the pleasures of his youth;
that can transport the sailor and the traveller,
thousands of miles away,
back to his own fire-side and his quiet home!

~Charles Dickens, The Pickwick Papers, 1836

 

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas

A windy and wet start to our day, the perfect opportunity to finish up the last of the decorating, and spend the day list-ticking.

The hearth is lit, the tree is twinkling, hot chocolate is simmering.

Tomorrow is our little town's Christmas parade, the youngsters are excited.

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

Making A Start

The Christmas decorating has begun.  

A little here, a little there, and before you know it, the house is transformed with the magic of Christmas.
I think we could all use a little magic right about now....

Thankful

Thanksgiving is just around the corner.
We have many blessings to be thankful for this year.
A brand new great-grandson, born a little earlier than his due date, but healthy and growing like a little weed.
A great-granddaughter who fills our days with joy, and keeps us on our toes
Grandchildren, children, relatives and friends, for which we are eternally grateful.
A year of good health, and  peace in our little corner of the world. 
Wishing you and yours a Happy and Blessed Thanksgiving dear friends.

                                                           💗

 

Tea Sipping Day

Mother Nature sent us a hard freeze last night,  blanketing the ground with white,  and  reminding us that winter is just around the corner.

The arctic blast of air lingers, furry Ugg boots, now replace dollar store flip-flops.

I've been working on my Christmas list, accompanied by a portly kitty at my side, and lots of lovely tea. 

Bone-chilling days, but spectacular autumn sunsets.

 

 

November Days

Tonight  our semi-annual clock fiddling takes place once again.

An hour backwards from Daylight Saving Time, affording an extra hour of sleep on these colder mornings.

Just enough time to remind us, that the year is winding down, and soon, a long sleepy winter will be our companion.

A time to regenerate our weary souls, and make new plans for the coming year ahead.

A time to dream.

 

 

" It was November - the month of

crimson sunsets, parting birds,

deep, and hymns of the sea, passionate wind-songs in the pines.

Anne roamed through the pineland

alleys in the park and, as she said,

let that great sweeping wind

blow the fog out of her soul.

L.N Montgomery

~ Anne of Green Gables

Older Than Dirt

I've been busy giving some of the Blue Willow and Staffordshire Ware pieces a bath. 

I'm not sure why, it seems I often get the urge to spring clean in the fall. 
I think it has something to do with the changing seasons, the coolness of the Autumn air, the heady scent of spiced-mix candles magically weaving their spell.

This gathering of antique 'blues' are collectively over a half millennium in age. They are still beautiful after all their years of service, and oh, what stories they could tell !
I often find myself wondering what tales the little creamers could tell, if only they could talk.
Sitting around a Victorian ladies tea table, listening to the latest fashion news from Europe.
Or quietly displayed in the cabinet of a fine Southern Antebellum home laying in wait to be used for a special dinner, in celebration of a loved one, returning home from some foreign war.

Bewitched

 If you need a little smile today.

   x

In The Spirit

 A little early decorating.

Just to get in the "spirit" of things.

                                                                   👻 👻👻

Autumn Days

Our first Autumn freeze has blanketed the fields whilst we slept.
Thankfully the Chrysanthemums had been covered, and the remaining tomatoes gathered off the vines.
Tonight, more of the same predicted, and then back to our days being filled with sunshine and blue skies.
The lingering smell of wood-smoke fills the morning air.

 

 "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

Perfection

The most perfect of Fall days. 

A mere seventy four degrees, sunshine and NO humidity, which is rare as hen's teeth for this part of the country.

Tom-Tilly is chasing leaves around the garden, she seems to have accepted that Oliver is off on his travels, wherever they may have taken him...... 

There is much garden work to do before the first frost appears, but for now, a little down-time between seasons is enjoyed, and savored.

Tea Party Jabberwocky

 

I had a little tea party

This afternoon at three.

'Twas very small-

Three guest in all-

Just I, myself and me.

Myself ate all the sandwiches,

While I drank up the tea;

'Twas also I who ate the pie

And passed the cake to me.

~ Jessica North Nelso

Indian Summer

Summer Days have not yet took their leave.

The most perfect of Autumnal days today, blue skies and sunshine galore.
Our rainfall has been little to none for an entire month, many of the trees have already lost their brown leaves prematurely.
There has been much sickness in the household, but hopefully after many trips to the doctor,  and many potions offered, we are beginning to show improvement.
The air conditioner continues to hum......

 

An early American writer described Indian Summer well when he wrote, "The air is perfectly quiescent and all is stillness, as if Nature, after her exertions during the Summer, were now at rest."

      ~ John Bradbury 1817

Quiet Days

 

 

 

"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."

~ John Keats

Holding On

The arbor- trellis roses are still blooming their little hearts out.
Perfect sunny days, and mist-laden, cool nights, affording them once last chance at a flush of beauty, before the first frost appears.

'Tis the last rose of summer

Left blooming alone;

All her lovely companions

Are faded and gone;

No flower of her kindred,

No rosebud is nigh,

To reflect back her blushes,

To give sigh for sigh.

I'll not leave thee, thou lone one!

To pine on the stem;

Since the lovely are sleeping,

Go, sleep thou with them.

Thus kindly I scatter,

Thy leaves o'er the bed,

Where thy mates of the garden

Lie scentless and dead.

So soon may I follow,

When friendships decay,

From Love's shining circle

The gems drop away.

When true hearts lie withered

And fond ones are flown,

Oh! who would inhabit,

This bleak world alone?

The Last Rose of Summer:  Thomas Moore 1805