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.~~

 

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

 

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

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.

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

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

 

May You Rest In Eternal Love And Peace HM Queen Elizabeth ll

A lifetime of unparalleled service and duty to the people of the United Kingdom, and its  Commonwealth.

You will be profoundly loved and missed.

Thank You Ma'am.

" May ' flights of angels sing thee to thy rest .' "

William Shakespeare, Hamlet

~ King Charles lll

King Charles lll

Long To Reign Over Us

God Save The King

credit: Daniel Leal/ AFP via Getty images

Godspeed Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth ll

Our Treasured Queen

April 21 1926 - September 8 2022

September Days

 

"September days have the warmth of summer in their briefer hours,

But in their lengthening evenings a prophetic breath of autumn.
The cricket chirps in the noontide, making the most of what remains of his brief life.
The bumblebee is busy among the clover blossoms of the aftermath,
And their shrill and dreamy hum hold the outdoor world above the voices of the song birds,
Now silent or departed."-

~ September Days : Rowland E. Robinson, Vermont

Mother Nature's Bounty

Meadow wildflowers make me smile.

 

 

  "He who is born with a silver spoon in his mouth is generally considered a fortunate person, but his good fortune is small compared to that of the happy mortal who enters this world with a passion for flowers in his soul."

 

- Celia

 

 

Red Sky At Night

A peaceful sunset this evening.

Cooler temps, after a warm and breezy Summer's  day.

Peace.....such a lovely thought.

Bee-ing Busy

The garden is all abuzz, with bees, and butterflies, lightning bugs and ladybugs.
All so very busy dutifully distributing the pollen amongst the flowers.
I thank them more than words can say.

 

 

 

 

 Like trains of cars on tracks of plush
I hear the level bee:
A jar across the flowers goes,
Their velvet masonry
Withstands until the sweet assault
Their chivalry consumes,
While he, victorious, tilts away
To vanquish other blooms.
His feet are shod with gauze,
His helmet is of gold;
His breast, a single onyx
With chrysoprase, inlaid.
His labor is a chant,
His idleness a tune;
Oh, for a bee's experience
Of clovers and of noon!

~ Emily Dickinson : The Bee (1830)

 

 

 

 

Respite

Summer days are slowly waning.

Thankfully we've been graced with rainfall this past week, the flowers and humans are grateful.

The deer have been drinking nightly from the birdbaths, a little respite from their daily trek to the nearby pond.

I'm looking forward to cooler days, as with so many others.