I'm in trouble...

...not supposed to post photos of the grand-boy but since no one comes here anymore and you really can't recognize him i'm gonna see if I get in trouble!

The little guy came over on Saturday and we baked Christmas cookies.  I have never had the pleasure of baking with either of the grands so this was extra special to me.  It's a grammy thing and I should not have been denied this pleasure for so long! 

As soon as he was in the door he ran to the apron hook and picked out one of them.  As you will see one side kept slipping down and for some reason I kept pulling my left sleeve up as if it was falling down.  gah.  Next he ran over to the crock that holds all my rolling pins (small collection) and picked out one for him and another for mama.  And we were off;

as you can see it takes mega concentration to roll the dough, thus the tongue.  Rolling, flipping, rolling, cutting, cookie sheet, baking and patiently waiting for the best part: frosting.  I swear there was more frosting and licking of the frosting knife in that childs mouth than in the container.  He taste tested every colour and sprinkle and apparently they passed.  And here we have the end result:

not bad for a three year old!  I think he may have been practicing at home.

Well, all the boxes of decorations are still sitting in the dining room with one exception...our little tree.  Yay, if you remember, and there is no reason why you would, we couldn't find our tree last year.  It was of course hiding in plain sight.  It's up and shining brightly but now I must search for Miss M's ornaments.  Dang.  She is coming to make a gingerbread house with me next week.  More baking with my babies babies...is there anything better.

I hope your holiday season is going well, healthy and bright.  Shine on dear friends.

old dog, new tricks...

...what is that old saying?  You can't teach an old dog new tricks.  Well this old dog is tricked to her limit and despising every moment of tryig to learn Widows 10, where my archived photos are hiding and the new blogger dashboard.  What the hell blogger?

I've been trying to get into the Christmas spirit, slowly but surely.  another old saying.  Finally got hubby to get down the Christmas decorations and now boxes and crates litter the dining room.  It will probably take me two weeks to go through them and then end up putting out only a few things.  Seems every year we decorate less and less, must be how it is when your children are grown and leave home and think they can have lives of their own and make their own decisions....run on sentence a little?

every year I plant paperwhite bulbs in early December and by Christmas day they are usually a foot tall and blooming.  So yesterday I got out all the necessary items and got ready to plant, a little late this year.

a few pretty bowls that I use as planters and some pretty rocks my son collected on his trips, also a few marbles to throw in the mix.  I set the bulbs in a small amount of soil and then fill with the rocks etc. and water.

as I was cleaning out last years planter I found this rubber marble.  I guess I really do have the whole world in my hand.  Not.

I cut some pretty ribbon I found at the store over the weekend and adorned my various bunnies since I never put them away after Easter.  Looks festive, maybe I'll just tie ribbon around everything and call it a day.

I even got a little poinsettia.  I love the variegated leaves on this one.  Almost pulled off the yellow one thinking it was dead and then realized it was multi-colored.  We haven't been to the Poinsettia festival yet but will probably go this weekend.  It's always such a beautiful sight, held at a local nursery with little things to nibble on while browsing antique Christmas décor, accompanied by lovely carols on a grand piano, smells of cinnamon and fresh balsam.  Love it.

Be well dear friends, be safe out there, enjoy the season of joy and light.

Time....

..."there never seems to be enough time
to do the things we want to do
once we find them..."

how true, how true.   How is it that the time has passed so quickly that we are now coming into the last month of the year.  The last season of celebration before we start all over again.  I really don't see how that can be possible.  Where did the time go, and why oh why is it moving so very quickly?  Or is it me?  It seems the older I get the more I want time to slow down a little but somehow it got put on fast forward and the days are flying be.  This could turn into a melancholy post if I'm not careful so moving on...

Between my house and the river, about 1/2 mile, lies a working Christmas tree farm and although we have lived here for fifteen years we have never gone down there during the tree season.  The rest of the year the farm, which is quite large, is mostly a playground for the neighborhood kids and dogs as we hike the trails down to the river. 

That is, until today.

After our weekly coffee date we decided to drive home the long way (through the neighborhood) and followed the signs to the farm.  See?

In the most bizarre, not-so-well-thought-out, directions the road takes you to the end of the neighborhood and through the side yard and then the children's park, down a rocky hill, through an iron gate, and finally into the tree farm.

I had no idea it was this large or the amount of trees that are available for cutting.  It is solely a u-cut farm with the trees running around $60.  Is that a lot for a tree?

 They've got Nobles and Douglas Fir, big and small, and lots of tall dried out grass to stomp through.  It was quite the muddy mess but as I recall from our days of tree-cutting with the kids, this only makes it more fun.

The road winds around and around, past the saws and twine shack, to the loading zone and then the cashier after which it leads back towards the park and pops you out into the middle of the neighborhood only to shake your heads and wonder what were they thinking here?!  There surely had to be a better way to design this.

Not putting up my tree yet...how about you?

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I see...

Strawberries and cream...

Where are you Christmas?

and so it came to pass...

Blogger is not playing nice.  I can't seem to comment on any other blogs and can't sign in/out of my own.  Don't know what is going on but it certainly takes some of the joy out of blogging when I can't communicate with all my friends.  Please know I am reading your blogs, thinking of you, and hoping that all is well in your world.  I will try to be back before the New Year breaks but if not I would like you all to know what a pleasure it is and has been for me to be part of your lives and for you to take such care of me and my little world.  May you be blessed with the spirit of joy and thanksgiving this Christmas and find peace and love in each and every day.  Merry Christmas/Happy Hanukkah, love j.

is that a target on my head?

courtesy; "thoughts from alice."

Well, well, well, it's been such a long time since I've posted I wonder if I remember how this thing works.  After a month with no computer I wasn't sure.  The first week was the hardest with the withdrawals but then I figured out that my old kindle could get fb and occasionally a blog or two.  No way to leave comments though which was a problem even before my computer went on vacation.  Still having problems with comments, so sorry, I really do miss being able to converse with you all, a times you are virtually my life-line.

Let me catch you up, short version, so M and H will have note of this.  Hubby was t-boned just before Turkey day, he's fine and we added another blessing to our table.  Then he got a $200 speeding ticket in our rental car, yes he did.  The day our rental car was being turned back over we were again hit, no injuries but now we feel like targets.  Our computer went on extended leave of absence, or new vacuum died, my phone fell into a million pieces, aaaaaannnnnndddd here we are, the middle of December trying to find our Christmas tree, it's in the garage somewhere, and take down our Halloween decor.  Oh, and I won't even mention that I don't have a prosthesis so I'm not getting around much, but then, I won't mention THAT!

So, tell me please, how have you been?  Ready for the holidays?  It's 10pm do you know where your Christmas tree is??  Inquiring minds and all...

Happy Hanukkah to my wonderful Jewish friends and my beautiful little grandgirl who completes my heart.  Be well friends.

A minima Chrsitmas...

a few years ago when I decided to start a blog

(what was I thinking?)

one of the decisions that had to be made was the blog layout.

At that time there were few choices so I went with

stretch minima.

No particular reason except I like the sound of it

s-t-r-e-t-c-h- minima.

Did you know that minima is the pleural of

minimum?

An abundance of minimum all stretched out.

That really does seem to fit me don't you think?  There really is no point to all of this except that I wanted to use minima in a blog post and this surely seems

like a minima kind of Christmas.

from my lone wreath in the foyer (above)

and my barely dressed mantle

we are celebrating in a

minimal sort of way.

Our tree is up yet unadorned,

we call this

Maude decorating.

I have a lone Poinsettia sitting on the hearth

soaking in the late winter sunshine.

(and apparently a camera that can tell the future!)

and a few baubles on the window pane.

This is as ready as we are going to be this time around.  Not that we aren't counting out Blessings but more of a

stop

look around

feel it in your heart.

The things that spend all year in a tote in the attic

are not what makes our Christmas.

It's the love and joy we carry for those who touch our lives all year long.

We just added a little sparkle and glitter here

and there

this year but

Jesus is always our reason.

Wishing you Joy and Peace during this Christmas season.

May you find the blessings of your heart

and share them with each other.

Merry Christmas

Happy Hanukkah

Happy Holidays

Rejoice...

~~The resurrection gives my life meaning and direction and the opportunity to start over no matter what my circumstances.  ~Robert Flatt~

The MacKenzie Brothers...

son-in-law, son, and hubs on Christmas Eve

...am I the only one who remembers the Mackenzie brothers from SCTV?  I swear that is the first thing that came to mind when I saw this picture...

There really isn't much going on here after all the hustle and bustle of last week.  We still have all our decorations up and will until Epiphany on January 6th.  We had Christmas eve at our house this year, as is the tradition I always had with my family.  It's so nice to carry that memory forward with my own family and now theirs.  We were also joined by my daughters' in-laws this year, a very interesting and thoughtful couple.

Of course there were lots of goodies to be had, both present wise and food wise, and we are indeed blessed to be in this place at this time with the people we love so much. 

On Friday I begin my "low-iodine-pre-radiation-diet" and I could not be more excited (sarcasm).  The diet is very limited, and I mean very.  There is absolutely no dairy allowed which for me, a child of the 50's, is unheard of!  Nothing with salt is allowed either which means no processed foods period.  Not that I eat a lot of processed foods but the amount of foods that have salt in them is staggering and none of them are allowed. I will be going to Starbucks tomorrow for a giant coffee/mocha WITH whip, and I will be eating the last of the Christmas cookies!  Cranky.  It's my word for January!

I've been strolling through blog land the last few day and noticed that many people are choosing a word for the year.  It is my understanding that the word is in place of resolutions and all the other broken promises of a new year.  This is a word to live by, to improve ones self, a positive.  I've been thinking of a word that I would like to use and have two that keep coming to mind.  I will let you know, on New Years Day just what I have chosen.  This year I tried to live my life with 'intent,' not realizing that I had chosen a 'word.'  Oh my!

Are you a resolution type person, an intentional word, all or nothing?  And do you have New Year's Eve plans?

Strawberries and cream...

...I decided, this morning, that I should really get busy and do some holiday decorating.  After all it's less than three weeks away and at the rate I am going I will have to pack it up as soon as it's unpacked.

So with this in mind I went to work on the mantel.  This is the first house we've lived in that had a true mantel and is something I really enjoy decorating for the holidays.  Out came the boxes marked 'mantel,' out came the box of candles and candle holders, in came the cedar garland that we bought yesterday...all was well in my world.

I worked joyfully decorated as I listened to Christmas music and dodged the dog, who must, at all times, be in the middle of all things.  We tried this and that and then moved things around just so. Lit all the candles, got out the camera and took at least 394,326 photos. (You know, you have to take hundreds and hope that at least one comes out good.)

There must have been a low-lighting problem or I need new batteries but not one, not.one, of the photos could be saved much less shown to anyone!  Gah, so tomorrow I will load the camera with new batteries, turn on a few more lamps, light the candles and give it another try...

I did get a few pics of my new Poinsettia plant.  I just love going to the nursery and seeing the rows and rows of these pretties.  It's like a Poinsettia parade.  I particularly like the ones that are not red, gravitating more towards the whites or variegated varieties.  This was new to me this year...called Strawberries and Cream.  And although your could not pay me to eat Strawberries and Cream I do think this one is my current favorite.

Still no tree up, nor lights, no baking done...what about you?

Time in a bottle...

..."there never seems to be enough time
to do the things we want to do
once we find them..."

how true, how true.   How is it that the time has passed so quickly that we are now coming into the last month of the year.  The last season of celebration before we start all over again.  I really don't see how that can be possible.  Where did the time go, and why oh why is it moving so very quickly?  Or is it me?  It seems the older I get the more I want time to slow down a little but somehow it got put on fast forward and the days are flying be.  This could turn into a melancholy post if I'm not careful so moving on...

Between my house and the river, about 1/2 mile, lies a working Christmas tree farm and although we have lived here for fifteen years we have never gone down there during the tree season.  The rest of the year the farm, which is quite large, is mostly a playground for the neighborhood kids and dogs as we hike the trails down to the river. 

That is, until today.

After our weekly coffee date we decided to drive home the long way (through the neighborhood) and followed the signs to the farm.  See?

In the most bizarre, not-so-well-thought-out, directions the road takes you to the end of the neighborhood and through the side yard and then the children's park, down a rocky hill, through an iron gate, and finally into the tree farm.

I had no idea it was this large or the amount of trees that are available for cutting.  It is solely a u-cut farm with the trees running around $60.  Is that a lot for a tree?

 They've got Nobles and Douglas Fir, big and small, and lots of tall dried out grass to stomp through.  It was quite the muddy mess but as I recall from our days of tree-cutting with the kids, this only makes it more fun.

The road winds around and around, past the saws and twine shack, to the loading zone and then the cashier after which it leads back towards the park and pops you out into the middle of the neighborhood only to shake your heads and wonder what were they thinking here?!  There surely had to be a better way to design this.

Not putting up my tree yet...how about you?

A grateful heart...

google images

The Pilgrims made

seven times more graves than houses.

no Americans have ever been

more impoverished than these who,

nevertheless,

set aside a day of

Thanksgiving.

H.U. Westermayer

...if the Pilgrims, who spent days digging graves while their houses
lay unbuilt, can take the time to be grateful then I, who sometimes gets lost in self-pity, anger and resentment, then I...I must be grateful.

The next few days will be busy ones as we prepare for the coming together of our family and friends to celebrate and give thanks.

Tomorrow, if I can find the woods beneath the snow, I will see what gifts mother nature has for me to use in my holiday centerpiece.

I will find Gratitude in the day and look for 'gifts' that I often take for granted.

Sending you the Peace and Joy that can only come from having a Grateful Spirit.  Blessings to you and yours...

Monday's **snap**...

...there is nary a photo in my camera that has naught to do with my surgery scar so I will spare all of you that miserable sight.  All that to say..no pics this week!

There is a palpable excitement in the air here. Anticipation and excitement growing, laughter and whispered secrets flowing, visions of food and fun and shared memories.  The season is upon us.  Those of you that live in this area know what I am talking about...not the season of giving, no, the season of s.n.o.w.

We usually get one big snow storm a year.  I know, talk about a bunch of babies, but this year with La Nina we are expecting a rather harsh winter and already it has not disappointed.  It's been snowing all day.  Schools are cancelled for the morning and there are huddled whispers of having to postpone the Holiday.  You have never seen such a frenzy as would occur when snow is in the forecast.  Where are the chains??!

Surgery, surgery, where to start.  It started with a quick trip to the operating room to have this infernal thyroid cancer removed and ended with me spitting out my two, new, front teeth.  (The one's I had to have capped after breaking them off biting into a frozen three musketeer bar at Halloween).  Between that and my new-found allergy to latex the surgery was the easy part.

We will know more Tuesday when the pathology is back and I have a follow-up appointment.   Then onward to the dentist for some new, 'new' front teeth and Thanksgiving at my daughters' house...what about you?

Tick-tock...

"another fresh new year is here...

another year to live!

to banish worry, doubt, and fear,

to love, and laugh, and give!

this bright new year is given me

to live each day with zest...

to daily grow and try to be

my highest and my best!

I have the opportunity

once more to right some wrongs,

to pray for peace, to plant a tree,

and sing more joyful songs."

william arthur ward


...amist a flurry of unexpected, particularly annoying unusual circumstances we were unable to 'celebrate' Christmas together, as a family, unitl Monday evening.   While it was well worth waiting  for to spend the day/evening with our children and their spouses it just did not hold the same Christmas Eve/Christmas morning excitement.  I've always been the one to say it doesn't matter what day we choose as long as we are together and in the past that was true.  This year, however, it was odd.  I think it's that we have always celebrated before the actual day so everyone was still wearing their Christmas cheer and anticipation.  Waiting until after just didn't feel as festive.  Everyone else having already packed up their decorations, lights, gifts etc., and getting ready to celebrate the New Year.

I am pleased to see that so many of you have had a wonderful Christmas with your families, celebrated with much love, food and gifts (whatever they may be).  Ours was tempered this year with yet another loss in our areas Police Department.  Six officers in six weeks has taken a heavy toll on our surrounding communities.  The sadness runs deep and the anger deeper.  I pray the New Year will keep us all safe.

I am excited for the New Year and to see what you all have planned to keep me entertained and motivated!  I am so grateful that you have come into my life in such a wonderful and generous  way.  Your kind hearts and warm-spirits are a balm to my spirit and a Blessing to my soul.  Happy New Year friends!

what are your New Year's Eve plans?  Resolutions?

Heartfelt Friday...

"what an enormous magnifier is tradition!

how a thing grows in the human memory

and the human imagination

when love,

worship,

and all that lies in the human heart

is there to encourage it..."

Thomas Carlyle

A welcoming spirit...

 What a wonderful blessing Christmas in blog-land is for me.  I so enjoy visiting all your beautiful sites and being welcomed into your homes.  Not only are you generous and creative but beautiful in spirit as well.   So, in this same spirit...Welcome to a little peek of my home:

I am usually a SOOC girl, except for the occasional crop, so what you see is what you get and in the last picture you get me---dropping the camera.   More to come when I get myself together and finish decorating.   Are you ready?

Thanksgiving part deux...

We were unable to spend Thanksgiving with our son Jeffrey and his fiance Lauren this year. As a newly engaged couple they tried to make the rounds with all the family to be but ended up running out of day before they ran out of family. I know that we will have to share them at holiday time and that's just fine with all of us. We just choose another day and call it Thanksgiving.
A few days ago Jeff and Lauren stopped by to help with some outside/inside chores. It's just amazing to me how quickly these things can get away from you when you don't keep up with them. Raking leaves and vacuuming seem to be the worst. My daughter Lindsay and her hubby Craig also come by and help and in some ways we feel that we have come full circle with them. But I digress...
Jeff and Lauren came by bearing gifts of warm, home-made apple crisp (the desert we didn't get to share earlier). I, being the mom that I am, promptly removed the leftover Thanksgiving dinner from the freezer and heated it up. It was like a second holiday! hmmmm, it smelled so good and we enjoyed every bit of it...especially the apple crisp. We were busy laughing and chatting and planning when I asked Lauren how long her parents have been together...over twenty years was her response. She asked us the same and we responded in kind (plus a few years). Then, then...she asked me the question. What advice would I give to them as newlyweds to-be on how to have a successful, long-lasting marriage? I gave her my hear-felt answer which I will share later, but now I would like to know what you think? What would you tell your son/daughter and their intended that of which will bring them true happiness?