Friday, December 09, 2011

Friday, December 9th.

A beautiful, crisp, sunny December day.  No wind!

Out for lunch with the volunteers at the Bargain Centre, - 19 of us all dressed up in Christmas finery, and full of a spirit of gratefulness and appreciation for their wonderful help, given with such good humour and kindness.

I rather feel that I have been on a Sabbatical, - or else I have been stuck at an intersection, not being able to quite get the gears in forward movement.  However, whilst I have been neglecting this blogspot I have written the Christmas letter, mailed all the Christmas cards, bought most of the Christmas presents, made big, fat buttery shortbreads for Christmas bake sales, and decorated the house!


The stained glass angel and snowflakes that we bought last year catch the low sunlight, skimming the hills.  I planted the paperwhites a little early, and didn't experiment with feeding them hard liquor to stunt their growth, so now they are bending their sweet white heads, a little awkwardly, I must admit.


If they are past their best shelf life on Christmas day there are a couple of amaryllis that should join our celebration and brighten these diminished winter days.

I am about to go and do the late evening chores in the kitchen so we can get up to freshly brewed coffee in the morning - early, early tomorrow morning to try to catch the moon in eclipse.  It shone so splendidly tonight in a cloudless sky, with a few of the brighter stars to accompany it on its westward journey.


Tuesday, December 06, 2011

ABC Wednesday
December 7th, 2011

The letter this week is U
Not many U's in the dictionary, but here is an absolutely marvelous one....

U is for Ustinov.......Peter Ustinov



A two times Academy Award winning film actor, director, writer, journalist and raconteur.  And it is as a raconteur I wish to entertain you with a few witty Ustinov quotes, and a wonderful video in which he recounts a tale of his mother's encounter with Queen Mary.

First the quotes.....

I am an optimist, unrepentant and militant.  After all, in order not to be a fool an optimist must know how sad a place the world can be.  It is only the pessimist who finds this out anew every day.

At the age of four with paper hats and wooden swords we're all Generals.  Only some of us never grow out of it.

It is our responsibilities, not ourselves, that we should take seriously.

Love is an act of endless forgiveness, a tender look which becomes a habit.

I was irrevocably betrothed to laughter, the sound of which has always seemed to me the most civilized music in the world.


For more U tales visit here at ABC Wednesday and have a wonderful visit all around.....