May 16th  2021

Sunday again, and a beautiful blue sky day, as it was yesterday and as they say it is going to be tomorrow!!!

A slight breeze cools what would probably be a hot hot afternoon, and it draws me out into the back garden where the Peonies and the Iris promise a lovely display during the next week.  The ants are exploring the peony buds these days - why is that, I wonder?  Must look it up..... I peer across the meadow that borders, and slopes down into the creek running at the bottom of the bench hill, hoping I might see the family of deer who habitat the creek bed, but the meadow is green and solitary.

I haven't been to church yet today, (online church that is) - most pleasing when you can watch and take part at your leisure, and when it is convenient.  And you could also 'choose' your church, but being born an Anglican it is where I find most comfort and inspiration, and that is usually where I end up, with the old, traditional services......   Although I find the actual church of my youth leaning somewhat towards the native land upon which the church was built, which is o.k.because the old traditional prayers and order of worship are still there.  The ones I know by heart and love.....

Here we are in the middle of May, and the garden is responding nicely to the great growing weather we are having.  Sometimes I remember with affection and longing the years when we had large gardens and a great variety of veggies and flowers, but old bones and sore muscles tell me that affection belongs in my memories, and the little bag of potatoes that got planted are enough to satisfy my gardening instincts.

Here is the big garden I speak of, and below,  the willing and well loved gardener!

When we moved to smaller quarters on the hillside orchard we concentrated more on flowers and shrubs, but I don't think we were ever without a garden in all the sixty-seven years we were married, - well, maybe the first year - married in May and many things interfered with the gardening business.....

Some of the flowers that grace the garden these days...

Here, in town, the garden is much smaller, and the only nod I have given to vegetables is a big bag of soil in which I threw a few cut up seed potatoes.

Nevertheless, youngest son drove me to the local garden spot and I came home

and filled many, many pots with the plants I couldn't pass by or resist....

Once a gardener always a gardener, I guess - regardless 

of age and creaking bones.....

 

 Saturday, the first of May

by Peter Burn

Queen of monrhs, supremely fair,

Clothe with garments rich and rare,

None in beauty can compare

With thee, sweet May

Lovely month, thou bringest mirth,

Spreadest sweetness o'er the earth,

Causest Nature to give birth

To fruits and flowers

Thou are love by young and old

Joys for each though dost enfold

Never shall our hearts grow cold

To thee, sweet May

I love May, - it has so many garden delights, and it has brought so many

other delights, that have made life eternally enjoyable, 

eternally meaningful!!

 April 29th, 2021

Our eldest daughter's seventy-second birthday, and wow, does that ever make me feel old!!!!

She is probably not feeling terribly young, either, but life goes on, day by day, and somehow one does not notice how quickly the years pass by.  How one no longer skips down the stairs, bends easily or, even when that is accomplished, straightens up - even more difficult is rising from a crouch.  Oh well, who crouches these days.  My dearest left behind him a thing-a-ma-jig that picks things up off the floor and has banished forever the long reaches and the dangerous knee bends......

Spring is settling in, - a rather overcast day, but warm and pleasant, and Bruce and I spent a little time in the back garden, searching for unfolding leaves and bursting buds.  The peonies show lovely signs of a May time selection on the stage, and along with the iris that are beginning to sending sweet swards skywards it should make for a pleasing show.

In the meantime the Alium are about to burst into a lovely purple globe, and there are a few tentative buds on the scarlet Poppies.

Youngest son arrived for evening visit - a hiatus.   - I will be back

.Later - there is a decision to be made.  Shall I continue writing or shall I answer the call of the bed, which is terribly beguiling, even though I sleep alone!

Sorry, - bed wins.  Watch for me in the morning......

 

 April 25th, 2021

Seventy-eight years ago today that I met my darling husband!

Easter Sunday, and down by the riverside, where Norma and I had packed a frying pan, some potatoes to fry and a pork chop or two!

In my mind's eye I see my lovely airman, his jacket thrown across his shoulder, gazing down the river......

"Slow down" I say to my friend, - "he may catch up!"

And he did, -

We fed him fried spuds and pork chops and I spent the rest of his life as the one whose hand he held when we came to the end of the pathway along the North Saskachewan, and whose hand I held at the end of his life.

A day of memories, - lovely ones, sad ones,  grateful ones, happy ones - I am full to overflowing!!

About to graduate from the Initial Training School in Edmonton as a Pilot in training he went on to Calgary that wonderful summer of 1943, and spent his "48s" in Edmonton.  On leave, I accompanied him home to Penticton, where we became engaged and I wore his ring with prayers that he would survive with his crew the OPS that were ahead of him.

He did, - we were married, had a family of six,  -sixty seven years of marriage and so very many memories!!!

I came across this poem of Mary Oliver's that somehow seemed appropriate.....

"Sixty-seven years, oh Lord, to look at the clouds, the trees in deep, moist summer.

daisies and morning glories opening every morning

their small, ecstatic faces...or maybe I should just say

how I wish I had a voice like the meadowlark's

sweet, clear and reliably slurring all day long

from the fencepost, or the long grass where it lives

in a tiny but adequate grass hut beside the mullein and the everlasting

the faint pink roses that have never been improved,  but come to bud, 

then open like little soft sighs under the meadowlark's whistle, its breath-praise,

its thrill-song, its anthem, its thanks, its Alleluia, oh Lord."

Life is good.....pork chops and fried potatoes were always a favourite!

 April 15th, 2021

A sunny day, - the leaves are slowly unfolding on the tree outside my window, - through it's branches I see the blossoms on the neighbour's small apricot tree, and further along the beautiful blue sky that enchants me and invites me to take Bruce out with me whilst I enjoy a mid-morning cup of coffee.

Off we go!!

April 22nd, 2021

Well, one would wonder where we were 'off to' - certainly not to continue this bits and pieces of blog......

Perhaps I will try again.  Spring, and it is a wonderfully sunny day, - the leaves have probably quadrupled in size and the early fruit tree blossoms decorate the hillside orchards, - soon the apple blossoms will unfold, and I will be back in my memories to 'apple blossom time' and what the phrase meant to the romance that Charles and I fell into in May of 1943.....

I got lost in memories, and now it is April 23rd, but perhaps I will finish this post before I go out into the sunshine and inspect the growing peonies and yellow daisies....  Frank  (SIL) cut the lawns yesterday - a sure sign that Summer looms and will follow Spring in great haste....  I look forward to going for a drive through the valley, and perhaps will hear a meadowlark, or two.  Being 96 and bereft of a driver's license keeps me from enjoying a quick spring time trip  but I am thankful for sons who volunteer their chauffeuring time and skills.  And thankful for earlier times when Charles and I dawdled through the valley and the hills and 'made memories' that are so precious to me now.

I take the camera out into the garden and capture some of its early loveliness......

and in the house branches of forsythia brighten up every corner.....

|Maybe this afternoon we will go in search of apple blossoms, although it is a little early for them yet.....

Still, - hope springs eternal, and there might even be a bluebird, or two.

 March the 19th - the last day of winter......

There are small signs of spring!

The catkins are growing longer, fatter and more pregnant....the Daphne is in violet bloom - and speaking of violets, I saw two peeking out of the lawn that lines the driveway, - small and shy, but indicative of good things to come!!!

I have yet to see a Dandelion, but when I do I will know that Spring is with us, for sure.  In the meantime we all take advantage of sunny hours and delight in the fact that at times the wind is not sharp and chill, but speaks of balmy wafts.

I saw my youngest son raking dried leaves and bringing order to the lawns and flower beds.  Well, really there is only one lawn, and handkerchief size at that, but a small back yard is just what you need when you get elderly and aren't out at six in the morning, gardening!!!  As I used to do, when we had three acres, a large area of lawns and a forty by eighty vegetable and flower garden.  To say nothing of the beds that lined the log fence Charles built..... heavenly!  So lucky to have had those years of passionate gardening.

As I wrote these words a tune came into my mind, - one that I have been playing sentimentally on the piano - "Among my Souvenirs".  What would we do without memories!!!!!

 March 13th, - Saturday morning

It is Nine a.m. and I am on my third cup of coffee.

Meditating on things that evolved at the church meeting yesterday.

Wondering when the Parish Hall will become a part of the Indigenous community, and if they really mean that eventually St. John's church will be de-sanctified.  My hearing is woefully inadequate, and sometimes I get the wrong impression of what is happening, or due to happen, and have to wait until it actually DOES happen to find out if I was right or wrong.

Waiting for youngest son to arrive so that I can go and retrieve some of the things which are precious to our family, - the plaque in memory of Charles' two brothers who fell in battle and the bell pull that my beloved wove - I can't reach the belfry that one of our sons fashioned at his metal shop, but hopefully it can be reinstated somewhere where it will be claimed dear to us.

Life does change, - the way people think changes, and I feel old and out of things.  Well, I am old, - 96 is not to be included with the young and active, but still..........

Time passes....although this is not relevant to what I have been thinking, the trees are starting to bud, - the Daphne is in bloom and it is time to turn the clocks ahead to enjoy the long spring evenings.

I have been reading up on "flash essays" and find that to fashion one or two is quite inviting, and maybe I will do that - it seems that I have many things that I could express an opinion about!!!!!

It is a sweet spring day, and perhaps Bruce and I will do things in the garden this morning.  Would love to take the cat out as well, but I don't feel nimble enough to chase after her if she should decide to scale the fence and run off down the lane!!  Perhaps I could take Charles' cart - maybe I could even venture up the street with it.  Over town is taboo, I think , but there are plenty of back streets that we could toodle along.  Well, I will see, - in the meantime there are things to do in the house, so I am off to wash the breakfast dishes and consider setting some bread to rise......

Happy Springtime!!!  Catkins are getting longer and fatter and the sky is blue......lovely!!!!

 

I know these guys have been here before,

but once again, as February fades

and March marches on stage.....

here they are again to emphasize

what's been floating around in February,

and what we can expect in the windy

blowsy month of March...

...............................

Well, I started this post some days ago

and never did get to tell you about what we can expect

in the blowsy month of March.

The one thing I can say here is that

it is the 3rd of the month

and there has not been even a hint of a breeze

to blow the March Hare in!!!

However, I can tell you a little about

the "Good Intentions" that I am browsing through.

A collection of Ogden Nash

that Charles and I bought soon after we were married

to start filling the bookcase.

Probably the 1942 edition.

The scarlet that encloses these well loved poems

was once a blazing red, but now fits in

beautifully with the rest of the books that have rested

on the bookshelf for the last fifty years - or so!

I take them from the shelves every now and then

and although Ogden Nash is probably a has-been now

to me he is a forever-humorous.....

His poems may be of a different time,

and not too current,

but to someone who came to maturity in the middle

of the last century, they are

quite precious.

There are long poems that take up a couple of pages,

and there are little short ones

that have told their tale in only

a few lines,

but they are concise and they stay with one....

for example

"ANATOMICAL REFLECTION'

Sally Rand

Needs an extra hand.

Not everyone would be familiar with Sally Rand

but to those who know, her name brings

a picture of half naked ladies with VERY large fans.

.There are another few words about

THE PARSNIP

The parsnip, children, I repeat

Is simply an anemic beet.

Some people call the parsnip edible;

Myself, I find this claim incredible.

There are other longer

and even more humorous poems

and I can only recommend to you that if you

happen upon a second-hand book store

you make a search of Ogden Nash -

or probably you can find him on your computer

and spend a happy hour ot two

being amused......

or bemused  if you are growing old

and reading this poem, ( that causes me to think!!!!!!)

"Senescence begins

and middle age ends

the day your descendants

outnumber your friends."

 Thursday, February 11th, 2021

Well, really it is Wednesday, February 10th, and I am on the verge of bed and expect a quick good-night visit from youngest son, so it is quite likely that the main portion of this correspondence will probably be accomplished some time tomorrow!!!  This is not an unlikely situation, - I find that many times  the things I muse about doing over morning coffee,  end up being a "tomorrow fact'.

However, I find that at least making a start at 'something' gives it a boost up on the possibility of it seeing the light of day within the next twenty-four hours, or so......

I have to confess to being a procrastinator, - - 'twas ever thus, and Charles was too.  This meant that life went on at a slow and stead pace without anybody becoming too agitated!!

I hear the front door open, and see that there are boots on the mat ---so Thursday, February 11th, is going to be the date this gets posted, I think!!!!

**********************

February 11th, 2021

Yes, posting day.......

Five robins in the Mountain Ash tree this morning

and the sky is a springlike blue!!

I even see a slight swelling in the catkins

and the little knobs of leaf buds

as they absorb this lovely sunshine!!!

and all those things speak SPRING.

Oh lovely, lovely.....

It will be so nice to get outside again!

Right now I am going to sit in the sunshine

and read a book on Brevity....

A lovely little book, edited by Zoe Bosslere and Dinty Moore...

One that you can pick up - read a page or two

and go on to the next 'flash nonfiction" little essays

the next time you get a yen to sit down!!!

February 4th, 2021

Well, that was yesterday!

Blue skies and sunshine...

Today we are back to gloom, doom and a depressing grey kettle hanging over the hills and valley.

Maybe tomorrow the weather will SPRING back to something more cheerful, hopeful and uplifting!! 

                              And perhaps I am a little eager in anticipating SPRING so early!!!

Wednesday, February 3rd, 2021`

What an absolutely gorgeous day, today!!

Some kind angel felt it was time to send a reminder that Spring was busy packing her bags with green grass and crocus bulbs, and would soon be on her way...

In the meantime the sun shone, all day long.  The sky was that heavenly early spring blue and any clouds that wafted across the sky were light and white and fluffy.  Perfect!!!!!

I had the front door open all day long, - the verandah swept clean and the tray with the bird feed well filled.

Of course the sun, shining through the windows, picked up and enlarged each wee speck of dust, but I was able to ignore that, - looked past it.... and knowing that M was coming tomorrow to clean house eased my conscience considerably!

It lifted my heart to new heights, - I may have said before that when one reaches antiquity each spring is precious and every moment to be enjoyed. 

Here is a lovely old rendition of Blue skies

Ella Fitzgerald

March, 1958

January 30th, 2021

Saturday again, to which I raise my glass!

It is nice that we have only one day left of what has been this very dreary month.

I am looking forward to the prospects of a February sun and blue skies, and I hope I'm not looking in vain.....

I shouldn't complain - it has been a good month for weaving, and I have done a number of pieces with a Krogbagd theme, - will they end up as cushion covers, or mats, - or will they just satisfy my creative juices that have been flowing with some encouragement these past few weeks... It has been so satisfying, not following a pattern but just weaving as the spirit moves me.  I will post pictures when they come off the loom.....

Most evenings I traipse through the internet, but it seems that eventually I stop at Vesey's and explore the seeding section, - especially the part that features 'sweetpeas'.  For many years now I have planted the hardy type of sweetpea that (if I am lucky) comes up again in the spring, but I have a yearning now for the prairie sweetpeas we always planted along the fence at home - the ones with the beautiful fragrance.  They can transport me in a twinkling into my father's backyard garden, and the scented bouquet that sat on the window sill above the sink.

Everybody grew sweetpeas!!!  They were a feature along each fence or trellis, just as a matter of course.

There was no question about it - they were as commonplace as the garden peas and beans that grew in the vegetable gardens.  As a consequence we must have spent our summers, at least, in a perfumed air, (and that's what makes 'prairie girls' so desirable, - perhaps).

Our Okanagan and Similkameen summers are too hot for sweetpeas - or they are not hardy enough for the heat.  This may be why the perennial type is popular here, where the summers can be hot, hot, hot, and not always relieved by evening coolness

But I am going to try the scented annuals again, anyway, - planted in between the houses where there is a certain coolness and the sun doesn't beat down on the garden.  Last year I had a little bed of climbers, and they survived, so perhaps if I shade the roots I will once again have these beautiful scented blooms.

The longer I look at this picture the more my desire grows, and perhaps a little homesickness for the gardens of my youth - so, I am off to dig around in whatever the seed companies have to offer, and the First of February will seem even more hopeful, gardenwise!!!

When I pull the covers up tonight, before I sleep, I knew that if my little early morning mind alarm clock wakens me that the full moon will be shining high above - if not in a clear sky at least through the lovely clouds.  And I will gaze at it, and then pull the covers up and go back to sleep.  Tomorrow is Sunday, - I will probably go to church (online) in my nightgown and robe, now that all the church's are closed.  At least the Anglican ones - my daughter told me that the Pentecostolites have not let this awful pandemic constrain them, - and I raise my glass to them, too!!

Saturday; January 16th, 2021 

I have been held captive in the kitchen, this afternoon.  A willing captive, - a sweet surrender to a roasted chicken and a crazy chocolate cake.

And while the baking was going on, perched on a stool, delighting in Mary Oliver.....

You may not have the recipe for Crazy Chocolate cake, and I will include it in this post in case NOT.  It is now my favourite - I gave up others ways of making chocolate cake long ago, when it became apparent that it was to become a staple in the kitchen drawer, available to all lovers of chocolate when they came home from school, or wherever they might have been dawdling, or working.

This chocolate cake manufacturing effort takes one large pan, a big silver vegetable spoon for stirring, and the following ----

Dump in the large pan, (- glass is nice.  I use the blue one....)

3 cups of flour, 2 cups of sugar, 5/8 cup of cocoa, 1 tsp of salt and 1 tsp of vanilla

stir well, then pour over 2 cups of cold water and 2/3 cup of vegetable oil (no veggie oil in my fridge so I used a cup of apple sauce instead) and 2 tsp of vinegar.  Keep on stirring! When everyone gets to know the neighbours well pop it into the oven (350 degreesF) for 30/40 minutes.  

Sit down and read a bit of Mary Oliver, or Jane Kenyon while waiting for the oven to perform its magic....

This chocolate cake never fails, - and only a spoon and maybe a cup to wash!

The oven is nice and warm, - just right for roasting a chicken for supper.  Stuff the chicken with an apple - easy peasy, and treat it to a buttery covering.  It comes out with lovely roasted skin and sweet slices of chicken - well, you know how nice roasted chicken is!!

If you want to you can ice the chocolate cake, but it is quite satisfying without getting all fancied up.

I have a potato baking in the oven, and soon it will be supper time.  What I need most is someone to share it with ❤❤❤

 Wednesday, January 13th, 2021

An update on 'joy in winter"...... and that lovely amaryllis that provides so much of it....

Blue skies and sunshine - and a fairly respectable temperature on the gauge!!!!

Lovely, - what more can you ask for in January...

Well, a beautiful blossom, soaking up the sun as it skims the mountain top and shines in the south window.

What a pleasure to gaze upon while I sip my morning coffee!  The second cup gets sipped - the first is what gets the engine going for the day, and is poured down liberally.....

Not all my bulbs are so generously gorgeous, but this one never seems to fail me.....

Lots to be thankful for....

p.s.  - after dinner (supper, really - whatever is eaten while watching the news must be a little bit of 'supper') I have settled myself in the computer room, but a little something keeps nagging at me to go and finish winding the warp that I started this morning (and interrupted to have a little after lunch nap!)

Perhaps I will do that, when I have said what I have to say, which isn't much!  The sun came out today,- the sky was blue, but the wind was cold, so I thought "spring" from indoors.  I have a feeling that there may be a stirring of green shoots in the side garden, and one of these days I will bundle up and go and see. In the meantime I let Bruce out to roam the garden, and watch from the little back sun porch!

I felt, for the first time since Christmas, a strong urge to get my looms dressed - well, the Glimakra is - just waiting for me to finish the little krogbagd thing-a-ma-jig I'm working on.  Too small for a rug - perhaps I will frame it and hang it in the loom room.

January seems to be lagging along, slowly - the days aren't swift, - but then, neither am I.  It seems a long time since I have been able to go outside and lounge around, reading and listening to birds and other garden sounds.....  Being 96 I have a little grudge about this - there aren't as many springs looming on the horizon as there was when I was 69 and I do want to take advantage of each lovely day....

Oh dear, - am I complaining, - or just stating facts.....

 Thursday, January 7th, 2021

Another of the January birthday days that overwhelm the family with love and good wishes, and both of these in great quantities to Nicola, up in the Cariboo!  How I wish I could have helped her celebrate today!

I have turned the TV down (not off. as I want to watch a program later in the evening).  

The TV has mirrored the image of a mish mash of topsy turvey mobs, all taking advantage of what they determine is an opportunity to riot and smash....so sad to see this kind of action in what has been a pretty civilized country for so many centuries.  I am of an age that the generation to which I belong is fairly restrained, courteous, and conscious of the greatest good for their country.  It pains me to see the disrespect and the raucousness of uncontrolled crowds, and I wonder what kind of people they are????  And what the future holds?

I grew up in the middle of the Great Depression, and although there were many financial difficulties, and probably a loss of self confidence among those who could not find work, nevertheless, as I remember it, there was still a great deal of compassion and support among people and communities.  I would like to think that this is still the same......

There was sunshine today!!!!!  Oh, hurrah, - January gets so miserable and weary without it, - especially when there is no snow to provide a pure white coverlet for the tired old grass. I was surprised by my cleaning lady who came this morning and polished up the floors and dusted where the Christmas decorations had been,

The amaryllis popped another bloom  - now there are four wonderfully petaled blossoms... These will do quite nicely until finally there will be daffodils in the store - not that I get to the store these days but I am sure youngest son, who shops, will keep an eye peeled!!!

                                           Lots of good mid-winter wishes, - soon it will be February 

                                                       and if there is snow it will be morphing 

                                               into little streamlets that make you think SPRING

Monday, the 4th of January 2021

Ah yes, Monday..the day of tidying up after the weekend.....

I don't find as much to tidy these days, - as I used to when all the children were home.

I miss them, and their ways, but am lucky to have visits daily in which  nothing gets out of place, and the time is spent chatting and appreciating their company.....

However, I did take down all the Christmas decorations this morning, and packed them away fondly for next Christmas - God willing! Wrapped all the manger figures, and put the Christmas candles in their boxes,,,,the red tablecloth went into the wash, replaced by an ordinary quilted cloth that my sister made for me, many years ago.  I put these things away reluctantly, but then found when all was neat and tidy that it spoke January to me, and little inspirations of how to fill the month.. A warp on the big loom, and some lovely sock wool that I was given as a gift at Christmas.....And some books to read!!

I am still immersed in Chris Arthur's essays in "Hummingbirds Between the Pages" ( I don't know why my type suddenly turn BOLD, but I will do a little research here.......  {Found that little red light at the top of the page....})  How I wish I could express my thoughts so beautifully, and find such a fine selection of topics to 'essay' on.

I have been interspersing Chris Arthur with 'The Silent Unwinding' by Jackie Morris.  It is just a small book - an 'illustrated notebook for dreamers';  wonderfully illustrated and a complement to Robert McFarlane's 'Lost Words' I think.. A lovely gift!! It has pages and small spaces for comments and maybe a poem or two, but I haven't ventured that far yet. It is also a companion to 'The Unwinding' but I will have to look into that further as it is not at present in stock.

This makes for a lot of sitting around with the heating pad at my back...

I peeked into the fridge to gather small things for supper, and I think it is on the agenda for tomorrow!!!!  So many left-overs 😏😏😏  I wish I could bring myself to dispose of the chocolate fudge I made before Christmas - well, I do dispose of it, but there must be another way besides nibbling every time I pass it!

The first ten days of January is birthday time in our family - every body gets a little older, and every mind a little wiser (one would hope....)  One of my granddaughters was 36 today......this does make me look askance at my own age!!!!!  On the 10th my youngest son will be 61 (of is it 62) which gives me pause for thought when I consider how close I am to celebrating the century!!!

Life goes on, - pleasantly and with great care, so all is well, and each birthday is welcomed with love.

Big news here today, - the amaryllis finally burst into glorious bloom, after nurturing her buds for the last few weeks.....

                               Just in time, as the Paper Whites are almost finished blooming.....

Next time I write a posting I am going to include a picture and description of the lovely new home

that Misty the Cat is enjoying, - a present from oldest son and his dear wife!!!  She loves it............

 January 1st, 2021

Well, I sat down to write a little post, - I know I had lots to say, but then I had a nice phone call from eldest daughter, and I must once again collect my thoughts.......

A warm day, with a little breeze to welcome the New Year.  I see a small feather that one of the little birds has left behind, clinging to the tree outside my window, and blowing gently, to and fro.

I did not see the New Year in, - he/she slid in shortly after I had closed my eyes on 2020, and said farewell to really a quite indifferent year.  It has had little to offer, except that I have grown even more familiar with my home and garden as I haven't ventured beyond the gate except for a few lovely family dinners.

I gathered up my memories of other New Years' Eves when friends and the beloved were still here in this world, with me.

 

There were a few fireworks up on the hill, that excited Bruce and made him bark a loud greeting to the New Year, and all those who were celebrating it...

But after awhile I drew the curtains, gathered up my memories and the shadows of the loved ones and climbed into my comfy bed, assured that the New Year would arrive even if I waited to toast the days with my breakfast coffee and a little brandy!

A  happy, happy, happy new year to all,,,,,,,,,

The end of the year Draws Near...

 December 26th, 2020

The end of the year draws near, and I ask myself, "do I look forward to this next year, and what it will bring as I age?"  In another seven days I will be 96, and although I have good health and still a wondering outlook on life, sometimes I feel my physical strength draining slowly away.....

Well, it has always been my motto 'to keep right on to the end' and I guess I am not going to collapse now - or ever!

Still, some days I feel more energetic than I do on other days, and some days my spirit is not as jolly and confident as I would like it to be!  Some days I find myself being somewhat confused, and very much aware of this, - and that's not the end of life I look forward to!  I suppose the answer is to keep each day as sinple as possible, and as well ordered (which is not hard, as apart from visits from children I am quite alone and have no events or persons to complicate my life).  But I have to be aware, at all times, and indulge myself with notes and reminders in my daily book.

It is a strange way to be living, these days, what with the pandemic and nothing really happening as it usually has, - there is no church, no singing sessions, or ukulele hours, - I haven't been to the store since last March, and I am so thankful to have space outside and a garden to wander in, and the plans I make for spring when it comes time to plant a bit and watch for little scarlet buds swelling through the rain - soaked earth.

I am so thankful that when Charles and I were first engaged and dreaming dreams of family life when we married on his return from Overseas, during the war years  - so thankful that we decided we would have six children (which we did) who are such a blessing to me now that most of my friends have passed on to the next life that awaits us, elsewhere!!!

I think it might snow tonight, - and I look forward to that, although people who have to drive probably don't anticipate snowy roads!!!  I was thinking tonight about prairie winters, in Edmonton, where I lived from the time I was born until I left to be married.  We skated every day, - and started early in life, on bob skates and a backyard rink that my father faithfully built and watered for the little ones in the neighbourhood.  As we got older we advanced to the Alberta Avenue rink, which still survives, and the band that played for skating on Wednesday evenings and Sunday afternoons.   I think fondly of winter walks in the snow, as it crunched under your boots, and the blue sky and sunshine that was so prevalent on the prairies in Alberta.

The holidays have been lovely, (although nobody has been inundated with family and visitors) but I look forward to January and dressing the looms so I can start creating again, and throwing the shuttle!

I think tomorrow I will wind a linen warp and prepare it to put on the LeClerc, and then I will gather up some hearty wool and weave a krokbagd rug, and I will be back in the swing of things, after all the December holiday days.

Lovely thought!  I will ;post a picture when it is finished...

 Many days since I have written here, but I have been busy, busy, busy.

I find these days that  I am not as swift as I once was,  in making plans for Christmas - presents and baking -and putting these plans into action!!!!  Oh well, the days pass pleasantly and if I am a little slow in making twisted scarf fringes the morning passes without too much stress!

I have a nice big cookie tin that I keep well deposited with shortbread, and watch that there are not too many withdrawals from that plain old tin (that doesn't bear any markings as to its contents!)

One of these mornings I am going to be filled with ambition, and will tackle the pastry bowl and make the mince tarts - the tarts that only appear at Christmas as they are not one of my favourites.  I much prefer lemon curd....always with a shortbread pastry... This year I decided to forego the traditional fruit cake.  Last year I made a "Dundee" cake, and the remains of it even went into a custard pudding.

This morning I spread all the intended gifts on my bed, - labelled them and checked them off on my Christmas List, to make sure nobody was forgotten. It occurred to me that I might be getting a little old for this, but still, it's part of Christmas and the tradition of gifts (preferably hand made ones) goes a long way back in my life!  I remember the Shin Plasters my grandmother used to send, - and the hope chest my parents surprised me with, the year I was eighteen. - and I just KNEW that I would meet the ' fellow of my dreams' that particular year.

This afternoon there was just a skiff of snow to relieve the foggy clouds that have been down at least to the mountain's knees, - if not their shins. After a while it turned to rain, but this evening all the neighbors Christmas bulbs light up their yards, and maybe the sun will shine tomorrow.

I have had Christmas music, floating through the house.  For about a week now!  I know it's early, and by Boxing Day I will be glad of a plain, familiar melody, but with music comes memories..... and that's always good at this stage of one's life.

It's getting towards bedtime, and those Christmasy things are still cluttered on my bed, which means I must find a shelf I can put them on, - make some bedtime hot chocolate, and see what nice dreams the night brings!!

 Monday, November 30th, 2020

A beautiful full, silvery moon shining on me from the East, - it came up over the hills, through the clouds, and spread it's silvery light, setting them all aglow within a rusty-red ring.

Marvelous, - I see it through the window in my office, and in the very early morning it will be shining on me from the west, through the bedroom window.   The world is full of such glorious things..... I kept getting up last night to look for the moon, shadowed with its partial eclipse, but I was never successful....

The end of November, and it leaves me full of plans for December, - time to send someone shopping for gift bags and tissue and ribbon.  I wish I could go myself, but between the pandemic and no driver's license I have to rely on shopping lists and sweet and willing family members. But I do have a chest full of hand wovens that I am anxious to distribute, and then I can start again to store away next year's treasures from the loom.  I am so grateful for my looms and for full shelves of yarns, just itching to be turned into something handwoven.

Today I printed out my Christmas card list and tucked it in the box of cards my daughter bestowed on me.  What shall I do first, - Christmas cards and letters or shortbread?  Well, considering the pace that the postal service favours nowadays perhaps I had better write a newsy letter and get it on its way with love and good wishes. I find that if I make the shortbread and the mince tarts too early, even if they are stored in the freezer, somehow the stash gets smaller and smaller as Christmas gets nearer and nearer......

Sometimes I look at that Christmas card list with dismay, - there are so many dear and precious names crossed off it - no postal service in Heaven, to reach them, and only memories remain here on earth.  But I treasure those memories, - they remind me what a wonderfully rich life I have had, - full of loving friends and family, and the little Christmas tree I have tucked in a corner is a sweet miniature reminder of the great ceiling high firs we used to have, and the wonderful children surrounding it....

I was thinking the other day of some of the Christmases we had when I was growing up, and how happy and meaningful they were, despite the fact that they fell into the depression years of the Thirties.  We were content with so much less, and the oranges and the pieces of coal in the Christmas Stockings complemented each other.

When I was getting out the Christmas candles I was also thinking of Advent, and how, when the children were still at home, we had purple and rose candles at the dinner table on Sunday, and each child chose the name of another from a little box, the idea being that the person they chose would be the recipient of their 'loving attention' during the following days!!!

Nice traditions, and although they may not be followed now, in these days, still they are remembered.

That gorgeous moon is high in the sky now, - I have to peer upwards through the window to see it, and after a while it will be right overhead, keeping watch over us all by night!!!