Saturday, December 31, 2011

Happy New Year's Eve

.....IS ALMOST UPON US HERE IN 
THE UNITED STATES.  
 MANY BLESSINGS OF PERFECT
 HEALTH, JOY, HAPPINESS
AND WEALTH IN 2012 !

Friday, December 30, 2011

Funny postcard from 1907

Funny little postcard from 1907


Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas weekend.
We did, but it went by too fast.   We saw Mike's
folks and sister Terri Christmas eve and Christmas day and then spent Monday afternoon and had dinner with my Dad and family at Outback Steakhouse.   I'll post a couple of pics of my nieces and nephew soon.  
I just love those kids !
Mike has been sick since Tuesday.   He never gets sick.
Last time he was like this was Xmas 1996!    He is a bit bummed to be sick on his time off.   So far, I am holding my own.  We have been taking lots of different stuff including soup that I added fresh garlic to and boy, it is potent!  Hopefully that  will kill off any germs incubating in me and the rest in Mike!   :o)

A good conscience is a continual Christmas. 
--- Benjamin Franklin

Saturday, December 24, 2011

MERRY CHRISTMAS !

Merry Christmas and Happy Chanukah to all my friends near and far !
Healthy, Happy and Wealthy wishes in 2012!

CAROL OF THE BELLS
Hark! how the bells
Sweet silver bells
All seem to say,
"Throw cares away."
Christmas is here
Bringing good cheer
To young and old
Meek and the bold

Ding, dong, ding, dong
That is their song
With joyful ring
All caroling
One seems to hear
Words of good cheer
From ev'rywhere
Filling the air
Oh how they pound,
Raising the sound,
O'er hill and dale,
Telling their tale,
Gaily they ring
While people sing
Songs of good cheer
Christmas is here
Merry, merry, merry, merry Christmas
Merry, merry, merry, merry Christmas

On, on they send
On without end
Their joyful tone
To ev'ry home
Ding, dong, ding, dong

 

Friday, December 23, 2011

Christmas bustle

One of the Christmas trees
in town.  This one is by the
Lakeport Museum.


Hope everyone is getting 
their Holiday preparations
together all in good time.  
I went out about noon and
it is amazing how many more
people are out and about
the couple of days before
Christmas.   Seems like people
come out of the woodwork
for sure.   :o)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
KEEPING CHRISTMAS
by Henry Van Dyke

It is a good thing to observe Christmas day. The mere marking of times and seasons, when men agree to stop work and make merry together, is a wise and wholesome custom. It helps one to feel the supremacy of the common life over the individual life. It reminds a man to set his own little watch, now and then, by the great clock of humanity which runs on sun time.
~~~~~
But there is a better thing than the observance of Christmas day, and that is, keeping Christmas.
~~~~~
Are you willing to forget what you have done for other people, and to remember what other people have done for you; to ignore what the world owes you, and to think what you owe the world; to put your rights in the background, and your duties in the middle distance, and your chances to do a little more than your duty in the foreground; to see that your fellowmen are just as real as you are, and try to look behind their faces to their hearts, hungry for joy; to own that probably the only good reason for your existence is not what you are going to get out of life, but what you are going to give to life; to close your book of complaints against the management of the universe, and look around you for a place where you can sow a few seeds of happiness --- are you willing to do these things even for a day? Then you can keep Christmas.
~~~~~
Are you willing to stoop down and consider the needs and desires of little children; to remember the weakness and loneliness of people who are growing old; to stop asking how much your friends love you, and ask yourself whether you love them enough; to bear in mind the things that other people have to bear in their hearts; to try to understand what those who live in the same house with you really want, without waiting for them to tell you; to trim you lamp so that it will give more light and less smoke, and to carry it in front so that your shadow will fall behind you; to make a grave for your ugly thoughts and a garden for your kindly feelings, with the gate open---are you willing to do these things even for a day? Then you can keep Christmas.

~~~~~
Are you willing to believe that love is the strongest thing in the world---stronger than hate, stronger than evil, stronger than death---and that the blessed life which began in Bethlehem nineteen hundred years ago is the image and brightness of the Eternal Love? Then you can keep Christmas, and if you can keep it for a day, why not always?
But you can never keep it alone

Thursday, December 22, 2011

Make me a child again for tonight.


Found this at an antique store
yesterday.  Love the sentiment.
Reminds me of the quote:

"Backward, turn backward

O Time, in your flight 

make me a child again

 just for tonight."

--- Elizabeth Akers Allen



Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Christmas Tree

My, how the time has flown, but 
it always does at this time of year.  
 You think you have plenty of time
 to do all the things you want and
 love to do and then, BAM! Christmas
is less than a week away.  Here is 
our Christmas tree and new electric 
fireplace !  I got it at Kmart and wish
I had gotten one last year.  We are 
having so much fun with it.    When
 we get home Mike will say, 
"I'll start a fire" and presses the button.
I hope our next home will have a 
real fireplace.  We do have a pellet 
stove in my studio, but it isn't the 
same as sitting in front of a real
fire.  Don't you agree?
Our Nativity.

For the past 2 weeks we have had
 robins visiting our yard late in the 
afternoon.   There appears to be
about 20 of them.
How many can you see in
this pic?   Click for larger view.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
One of my favorite Christmas
 songs ------


Good King Wenceslas

Good King Wenceslas look'd out
On the Feast of Stephen,
When the snow lay round about,
Deep and crisp, and even.

Brightly shone the moon that night,
Though the frost was cruel,
When a poor man came in sight,
Gath'ring winter fuel.
~~~~~

"Hither, page, and stand by me,
If thou know'st it; telling,
Yonder peasant, who is he?
Where and what his dwelling?"

"Sire, he lives a good league hence,
Underneath the mountain;
Right against the forest fence,
By Saint Agnes' fountain."
~~~~~

"Bring me flesh, and bring me wine,
Bring me pinelogs hither;
Thou and I will see him dine,
When we bear them thither."

Page and monarch forth they went,
Forth they went together;
Through the rude wind's wild lament,
And the bitter weather.
~~~~~

"Sire, the night is darker now,
And the wind blows stronger;
Fails my heart, I know now how,
I can go no longer."

"Mark my footsteps, my good page,
Tread thou in them boldly;
Thou shalt find the winter's rage,
Freeze thy bloodless coldly."
~~~~~

In his master's steps he trod,
Where the snow lay dinted;
Heat was in the very sod
Which the saint had printed.

Therefore, Christian men, be sure,
Wealth or rank possessing,
Ye who now will bless the poor,
Shall yourselves find blessing.

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

A Bit of Nature...barks and acorns.

Oops...I forgot to post this lovely
photo from my sister-in-law Terri
last month!    She and a girlfriend
went on a retreat and found these
beautiful pieces of nature and arranged
them in a bowl.  Very pretty.   :o)


Sunday, December 4, 2011

Christmas time is here !

I heard the bells on 
Christmas Day
Their old, familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet
The words repeat
Of peace on earth,
 good-will to men!
--- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

A postcard my Grandfather
received about 100 years ago.

I am finally getting the lights on
our Christmas tree!   It has been
sitting for a week now, unadorned.
Do you have your Christmas tree
decorated with lots of lights and
ornaments?   :o)   I would love to see
 photos of your tree!   Just leave me
 a comment so I can check it out.
Thank you.
I'll post pics of ours once I am done.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
HAVE A ENCHANTING WEEK !

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Thanksgiving Photos

And lastly for November
a few photos from
Thanksgiving at my cousin
Cindy and her husband
Rey's home.
Chef Rey (who really
is a chef :o) checking
John Wayne facts.
The apron had an oven
mitt shaped like a gun.
Coco the dog, sweet boy
who is mostly blind and
deaf.

The boys - Mike, Greg, Rey,
Tyler and my Dad, Roy.

The girls - Chelsea, Peggy, Lori
 & Cindy minus Aunt Jan & Linnea

Around the table.   Everything
was so delicious!  Rey made
a lovely brussel sprouts dish
with bacon and almonds.  He
took all the leaves off their little
heads first and then sauteed them,
 adding crispy bacon and toasted
 almonds...yum!

My beautiful Goddaughter
Chelsea & I.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
For man, autumn is a time
of harvest, of gathering
 together.  For nature, it
is a time of sowing, of
scattering abroad.
--- Edwin Way Teale

Monday, November 28, 2011

Colorful November Days and New Lambs too!

Before December 1st rolls around, I
 thought I would finish up with my November.   :o)
A few photos of our yard in Autumn.
I just noticed today that the purple
tree below has lost all of it's leaves.
    
The photos don't quite capture
 the lighting and brightness
of the trees and shrubs.
 Mid-November front porch. 
Fall pansies on the front porch.

Pistachio tree out front.
A brave little fuchsia that toughed
 out a cold snap in mid-November
and still bloomed.   But then, of
course, I cut it to bring inside!
 A little lamb off Old Lakeville Road
 between Novato and Petaluma.
We stop every year on our way
home from Mike's parents either 
after Thanksgiving and/or Christmas,
  just in time to see these
darling new-born creatures.
 We love the way they jump
and scuttle about.  I think I have
 mentioned before that when we
lived in Fortuna 15 years ago, our
 neighbors had about 12 sheep and
one year I got to hold a newborn
 lamb.  One of the greatest thrills in
 my life!   Its little head felt like
 a head of cauliflower and had a
waxy feel to it.  I'll never  forget
how it felt.   I have a hard copy
 photo somewhere.
A set of dark-headed twins,
probably born within a day of this pic.
One is sitting close to mommy's
 rump and the other is about 3 feet
to the right of mommy's head.
Click on photo for larger view.
New lambs with their mommies.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I will find new meaning
 in every joy and sorrow.
In that silence I will hear
 the voice of Spirit, and
 freed from this world I
 will see another order where
 the end is another beginning.
--- Rumi


Sunday, November 27, 2011

A few birthday presents

My birthday was a couple of
 weeks ago and I wanted to
share a few things I received...
From Mike...Gorgeous purple roses,
 a shabby "mercury" glass vase
 & a cute little bear, all delivered in a box.
The roses were hardy and
opened up perfectly.
A darling witch from my
friend Marie...love her!
Also from Mike...an original
 watercolor, Pumpkin Mermaid, he
found on Ebay from
Camillion Creations .
Paul and Cheryl took me out for
dinner for the 5th year in a row,
as Mike was out of town. 
Cheryl gave me this fabulous
tote/shopping bag with mermaids
and other nifty sea creatures...
I love it!
~~~~~~~~~~
Hope everyone had a wonderful
Thanksgiving weekend.  Ours was
 fun and we got to spend time with
both sides of the family.   Mine
on Thanksgiving and Mike's folks
on Friday night....the four of us had
 dinner at Benihana's ...always good!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
God gave you a gift of
 86,400 seconds today.
Have you used one to say
"thank you"?
--- William A. Ward

Thursday, November 24, 2011

HAPPY THANKSGIVING !

In Everything,
 Give Thanks.

1910 postcard
Click on postcard for larger view
and easier reading.
It's hard to believe it was a year
 ago we went to Disneyland for
Thanksgiving.  Here we are at
Steakhouse 55 located in the
Disneyland Hotel.
Out dinner reservation was at
 8:45 pm, the earliest we could get
 in and that was after I made
reservations 3 weeks in advance! 
  I have to say the food was just
 so-so, but the decor was lovely as
you can see.  Huge photos of classic
movie stars from the 1950's.

Around the table from left: 
my stepmom Linnea, my
brother Anthony, my husband Mike,
 my brother-in-law Herman, other side,
 my sister Amanda who is holding
Princess #3,  Princess #2
(who you can't see),
 Prince #1 and Princess #1,
me and my Dad Roy.
This year we will see my
Dad and Linnea, but no siblings
or nieces or nephew.  :o(
We'll have dinner at my cousins, so
I will see them, an Aunt and my
lovely Goddaughter and her brother
(my cousin and kinda nephew!  :o)
The next day we will see my
 wonderful in-laws and have
dinner at Benihana's...YUM!

From a postcard 100 years old 
Postmarked 1911

May all who are reading
 this have multiply blessings
 of the above menu.

THANK YOU GOD!