“Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful.” Norman Vincent Peale
“Christmas, children, is not a date. It is a state of mind.” -Mary Ellen Chase
“I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year.” – Charles Dickens
“Let the spirit of love gently fill our hearts and homes. In this loveliest of seasons may you find many reasons for happiness.” ~ Unknown
Filed under Family, Friendship, holidays
Twice-Blooming Iris – these usually bloom in April and then again in October. To have these throwing open their arms on Christmas Eve is such a delightful surprise!
And this is a pot of wave petunias, One of the most beautiful flowers, I think. Such happy flowers.
I think you can guess what my favorite color is…. :0)
Filed under Favorite Things, Gardening
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“Christmas Eve was a night of song that wrapped itself about you like a shawl. But it warmed more than your body. It warmed your heart… filled it, too, with a melody that would last forever.” ~ Bess Streeter Aldrich
“From Home to home, and heart to heart, from one place to another. The warmth and joy of Christmas, brings us closer to each other.” ~ Emily Matthews
“Let the spirit of love gently fill our hearts and homes. In this loveliest of seasons may you find many reasons for happiness.” ~ Unknown
“The best of all gifts around any Christmas tree: the presence of a happy family all wrapped up in each other.” ~ Burton Hillis
“A hug is a great gift – one size fits all, and it’s easy to exchange.” ~Author Unknown
Filed under Family, Friendship, holidays
Filed under Art From Found Things, metal art
Today is a quiet day for us, and I’m really enjoying it.
I’m going out later to our shop. I’ll try to repair the pot I made for my friend, Kay. One of the stones fell off the mosaic design. I should be able to fix it. I really want to because she really seemed to enjoy the gift and I want it to last a long time for her.
Yesterday we rushed around doing lots of errands and tying up loose ends before Christmas, so it’s doubly good to be able to simply enjoy the pretty day. My husband and I had a celebrational lunch yesterday, eating French fries for the first time in a year. Absolutely DELICIOUS, and I’m already looking forward to eating them again NEXT year. :0)
I’m still doing my old lady yoga stretching, but I’m finding it harder to do my elliptical trainer now. It is in the garage, the only place with a hard, bare floor. It’s 38 degrees F. outside right now. I’m TRYING to do my elliptical in the afternoon, when it warms up a bit, but am not having much luck convincing myself yet. I’ll keep trying.
Right now my ‘moving more’ efforts are concentrated on cleaning up planters in the yard before winter settles in. I’m going to try to do one planter each day. (We have 14 brick planters around the yard, plus pots on the deck.) Once these are done, “I’ll get more serious about the ellipitical,” – (she said…. :0))
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I hope this finds you healthy and happy.
It’s a nice day here – sunny and 38 degrees F. It’s supposed to get to 58 this afternoon. I’ll take it!
My husband and I are going out to lunch today – celebrating being alive and ornery by enjoying a cheeseburger and French fries. I haven’t had a French fry in over a year, so it will be a real treat. We’re also going to stop by and see my friend Kay, who fell recently and still is in a lot of pain. She had an MRI Monday, so we’re hoping to get some information and treatment options for her soon. We will do our errands and then settle in for a quiet Christmas together. I will deliver a last present to a friend while we’re out.
Our son is in Thailand, so it will be my husband and I, our dog, Amber, and our cat, Abby here to celebrate. I had a nice chat with our son this morning. He is well and happy – the most wonderful gift.
I’m not sure what the rest of the day will bring, but am open to possibilities. :0)
I hope your day is a happy one.
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Highs in the 50s today here! Woo HOO! And lots of pretty sunshine. I’m hoping to spend some time outside this afternoon. I have lots to clean up and winterize in the yard. It looks like I’ll have a GREAT week for it. :0)
I go for a haircut this morning, so Michael will make me look like ‘someone-had-a-plan.’ My hair is thin and fine and ONLY does what it wants to. Michael understands that and works WITH it. He’s wonderful.
Nothing exciting going on today – that I know of – so I’ll look forward to getting the planters around the yard in better shape when I get back.
Have a wonderful day!
My efforts to lose the lard are more of a challenge lately. I’m maintaining the 30 lbs and about the same inches off, but haven’t made more progress. Other health issues and ‘life’ are getting my attention, so I’m basically just trying to keep my mouth shut, rather than caving into emotional eating. Also concentrating on adding the foods and drink I found that may help dissolve plaque, so am doing a bit of juggling, trying to plan my eating better.
One of my friends who loves me gave me a tin of chocolates for Christmas. hahahahahahahahahaha :0)
Filed under DIET!
When I came home from visiting my friends, Amber met me at the door – exuberantly, as usual – which means I find something to hang onto while I greet her – she stopped dead in her tracks, sniffing me all over. This continued while I got some coffee and prepared to sit down and tell my husband how my friends were doing.
I then remembered that Amber might feel I had betrayed her.
I had committed the cardinal sin in “dogdum” of cavorting with, and petting other animals. I started to laugh, thinking about all the evidence of my afternoon sins – scents of a bunny, four other dogs at Carla’s, her cat, and finally Nora’s fuzzy, yappy Belle. Oh, the SHAME of it! I got up and got Amber a treat, and petted and talked to her for several minutes, which helped a bit, but she continued to look at me suspiciously, plus sneak a sniff from time to time until my nightly shower…
Filed under Amazing Animals, Family
I had the BEST afternoon yesterday visiting with two friends I don’t see often enough.
Carla had a new bunny she name Wilhelmina. She is much like the sweetie above. Carla said she thought the bunny was 7 to 8 weeks old. I sat on the couch and Carla brought her over to me. While Carla and I were talking, “Willy” hopped from one end of the couch to the other, found a cord she really wanted to chew on on the table next to the couch, hopped all over me, sat on my shoulder and sniffed my ear and melted my heart. She was SO cute. SO soft, and SO captivating. She was bright, curious, and sweet all rolled into one. She was sneaky, too! I had covered the cord that intrigued her with a Kleenex box. She gradually moved the box off the cord so she could try to chew again. :0) The small pot I mosaic-ed (is that a word?) for Carla will be used to try to grow kale for Willy and one other rabbit Carla has.
My friend Nora has a small, criminally cute yappy white fuzzy dog named Belle. Belle barked at me for about 5 minutes, and then finally decided I wasn’t trying to rob the house or hurt Nora, so she settled down and let me pet her. She sat in my lap while Nora and I visited, moving continually to try to stay the center of attention. Nora grows her own herbs, so she was happy with the pot I made for her.
It was wonderful to relax for a bit, enjoy catching up with what is happening in the lives of two people who are so important to me. Though I don’t call, text, or visit enough – or tell them often enough – I HOPE they realize how much I love them.
Filed under Amazing Animals, Friendship, holidays
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I’m having a quiet, happy morning.
This afternoon is going to be wonderful. I’m getting to visit with two of my favorite people, two ladies who mean the world to me, and it’s been too long since we got a chance to catch up. I’m taking them some presents, hoping they will brighten their day.
As usual, we always MEAN to see them, talk to them more often, then life gets in the way. I’ll try to make up for that a bit today.
I hope YOUR day is full of joy.
Filed under Friendship, holidays
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