Christmas Socks

Here are the results of my enthusiastic resolve to make socks for

all the men in my life

Less, of course, the four pair I gave away for birthday presents,

and the two pair that I mailed the other day before I remembered to take a picture.

So I am one pair short of my planned thirteen, and I might catch up after Christmas

and I might not!!!!

Perhaps I will make toques, or scarves for next year,

or perhaps I will indulge myself and take on a challenging project

that will hold my interest and my attention.  I have a wonderful pattern for a complicated blanket

that you can make in various sizes that really appeals to me....

Handknit Socks are so lovely on the feet, but they do get to be a bit much of the same thing

all the time! When you are making them......

Tomorrow I am going to make shortbread tarts to go

with the Lemon Curd that was today's loving project in the kitchen.

Ah Christmas - what happy memories you evoke, and what opportunities

to do the things that delight one!

ABC Wednesday

The letter for this week is the Veritable V

V is for VETERANS

During the Second World War Bournemouth was a disbursing centre for Airmen who had just arrived in the UK, and these three Airman, school chums from the Okanagan, all with the same desire - to one day be VETERANS, met by chance while stationed there awaiting posting.

They agreed that if they made it through the war they would all meet for a celebration drink in the Royal Canadian Legion in Penticton on July 1st, Canada Day.  It was a harrowing experience.  The one on the left was a Tail Gunner and the only one left alive when the plane he was in crashed into a mountain top.  The one in the middle went to the Continent and kept fighter planes flying for the allies, in the thick of it. The one on the right became a Lancaster Pilot in 170 Squadron,  and lost both his brothers after D Day.  But they all returned home, - and now they were VETERANS.

Well, time passed, and the years flew by, - they all got married and had families.  They saw each other intermittently, and although they never forgot their vow to meet again in the Legion, it just didn't happen until a retired school teacher who is writing a book of veterans' stories, got them all together and brought the Tail Gunner and the Communications and Radar fellow to our place (the home of the Pilot) for lunch last Friday.

What a fine time they had, - a lifetime of memories, and all three of them still the same handsome fellows they were sixty-six years ago, - but now with the addition of canes, which really makes them quite debonair.

Best Visitors we've had in a long while.

For more interesting V's click here to visit ABC Wednesday

Early in the morning, and sleep eludes me.  I toss and turn a bit, wondering what life is all about, but then I think about the snow that fell yesterday, making the whole world sweet and white.  We watched the poplar tree that stands between us and the big house,  festooned with starlings that rose into the snowy air like a curtain, then fell to the ground - a shower of dark pennies; only to feed a little and rise again into the branches.  Were they singing paeans to the snow or just reveling in the pure whiteness of the world.



I rise and peer into the darkness of the early morning to see if the snow has lingered through the night.  The lane is level and smooth and white, but the steps are bare and I foresee by noon the garden will once again have thrown off its protective counterpane.

The coffee has perked;  the cat has left me to resume her sleep;  I hear the house begin to stir and the day begins....... I miss the little dog, who sometimes comes to me as I sleep and makes the night hours poignant.