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 Memories

Each year as I'm busying myself with the Christmas decorating, my thoughts turn to home.
The traditions at Christmas that have stood the test of time throughout many English households.

The partaking of mince pies, raspberry trifle, sausage rolls, steamed plum pudding, and Christmas cake laden with dried fruit , marzipan and Royal Icing...hard as a rock.

Gathering around the television or the radio and listening to the Queen's Speech.

Afterwards a tipple of traditional sherry, or port, toasting the season and good health to all !

The pulling of the Christmas crackers before eating turkey dinner, wearing the paper party hats, laughing at the silly paper jokes inside, and delighting in the small prizes, most often magic tricks, or plastic trinkets.

Happy times, that are gratefully forever etched in our memories .......... 

                                          

Ir'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.
I'm grateful for home-delivery service , as I venture amongst the masses as little as possible these days.
End of the year doctor's appointments all taken care of, with happy results. 

I'm counting my blessings twice.

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

Nesting

Winter weather has set in, cold and blustery.

There are whispers of the "s" word in the forecast, the hearth is lit, candles and twinkly lights glow.

A portly kitty sleeps.

 

"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

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

 

Making A Start

The Thanksgiving dishes have been returned to the cupboard for yet another year and today I made a start on the Christmas decorating.

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.
Children, Grandchildren, great-grandchildren , 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.

                                                           💗

 

Wooly Socks And Flip-Flops

We've been spoiled up until this point, with warmer than usual days, many not requiring the wearing of a jacket.

The last few pleasant days of Autumn, with sunshine aplenty.

Last night, the  temperatures fell into the thirties, no more flip-flops, now the winter boots and woolly socks appear.

Mother Nature sprinkled the landscape with frost, just enough to decorate for the season.

The birds have taken to their nests, the turkeys lead their flocks to the nightly roost.

Winter days will soon be here,  but in just 119 short days, Spring will once again return.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“The leaves fall, the wind blows, and the farm country slowly changes from the summer cottons into its winter wools.”

~ Henry Beston : Northern Farm

Plans On Hold

My plans to start outdoor Christmas decorating were put on hold, as a gentle rain has been falling throughout the day.
The house is dark and cozy, the teapot is full, candles are glowing, and a portly kitty sleeps at my feet.
Maybe tomorrow......

Silence

 

Some days it's good to do nothing. No deadlines to meet, no chores to complete, no lists to check twice.
Bliss.

The Nesting Season

The ground is soaked from a day of rain. Much needed rain, for which we are grateful.

I've been busy running errands today, ticking off my to-do list.
Hearty soups have now become the meal of choice.
Nights are noticeably cooler, and darkness falls before the clock strikes five..
Candlelight glows.
The nesting season begins.

                                                     

Foggy Start

Our day started with a thick, soupy fog, and much cooler weather than we have had in several weeks.

Rain is falling, and predicted for the next couple of days.

Of all days, I had appointments to keep, and putting them on hold wasn't an option.

Traveling home down Main street our little town has installed  twinkling Christmas lights  on each light pole , it's such a magical time of the year.

 

Autumn Thoughts

November days and the air conditioner continues to hum.

81 degrees warm, it feels like the middle of summer, and yet of course, our nights are now dark by 5:30pm.

The trees are losing their leaves prematurely, due to the lack of rain, I'm considering unboxing the Christmas decorations.

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

In The Spirit

   A little early decorating.

Just to get in the "spirit" of things.

                                                                   👻 👻👻

Indian Summer

Indian Summer is upon us. Balmy warm days, and mist-laden nights.

One last chance to indulge in fleeting Summer pleasures.

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

Season Of Mists

Autumn morning mists came calling.

The grass is wet with a heavy dew, taking most of the afternoon before it is dry to the touch.

Down on main street, shopkeepers display their pumpkins and Autumn fayre.

Orange and yellows are now the colors of the season.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 

"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