We Need A Little Christmas...

Haul out the holly

Put up the tree before my spirit falls again

Fill up the stocking

I may be rushing things, but deck the halls again now

For we need a little Christmas

Right this very minute

Candles in the window

Carols at the spinet

Yes, we need a little Christmas

Right this very minute

It hasn't snowed a single flurry

But Santa, dear, we're in a hurry

So climb down the chimney

Put up the brightest string of lights I've ever seen

Slice up the fruitcake

It's time we hung some tinsel on that evergreen bough

For I've grown a little leaner(?), grown a little colder

Grown a little sadder, grown a little older

And I need a little angel sitting on my shoulder

I need a little Christmas now

Haul out the holly

Well, once I taught you all to live each living day

Fill up the stocking

But Auntie Mame, it's one week past Thanksgiving Day now

But we need a little Christmas

Right this very minute

Candles in the window

Carols at the spinet

And we need a little Christmas

Right this very minute

It hasn't snowed a single flurry

But Santa, dear, we're in a hurry

So climb down the chimney

It's been a long time since I felt good, neighborly

Slice up the fruitcake

It's time we hung some tinsel on that mayberry bough

For we need a little Christmas

Right this very minute

Candles in the window

Carols at the spinet

And we need a little Christmas

Right this very minute

We need a little Christmas now

We need a little Christmas now

We need a little Christmas now

Until next time.....

Sunday Happenings

Image taken at Mission San Luis Rey in California 

After attending church services this morning where we welcomed the second Sunday of the Advent season in waiting for the birth of Jesus Christ, stopping in at Trader's Joe's (after all it is right across the street), picking up some pretty Christmas greens,along with other goodies that don the shelves of TJ's during the holidays, and now waiting for my son-in-law, bless his heart, to help me haul the Christmas decor up from the bowels of the basement I am ready for the season to begin.  It was always tradition when my sweetie was home that the decorating would start immediately after Thanksgiving was over and then we would sit back and enjoy it for the entire month of December. Not so now, I was so late last year it was practically time to take it down before I even got it up. (that almost sounds like an off-color joke, but it truly wasn't meant to be....giggle). I don't know about you, but as the years march on and they truly do accelerate with each passing year, the struggle to decorate for the season seems to become more difficult.  I always volunteer to have our Book Club Christmas Party at my house because it is just the incentive I need to trim the tree and place all those pretties in their special spots for the holiday season.  

Well, Sam my son-in-law has come and gone and now the living room, family room, entrance hall and kitchen are brimming with boxes to be opened and Christmas treasures await.  And now the decorating begins.

PS On Lifetime Cable TV tonight is an adaptation of "The Red Tent", a book that I know many of you read.  It is a 2 night mini-series depicting the lives of women in the Old Testament.  Good reviews from People Magazine (and you know People is always right....giggle) I am definitely watching it as so little is written about the women of the Bible, should be interesting.

"Dear whoever is reading this, you're beautiful and someone out there is crazy about you. So smile. Life is too short to be unhappy." 

 

-- Author Unknown 

Until next time.....

Sunshine - Bright Sunshine

Since I am doing my best to re-connect and blog more and since it is a down-right gloomy day outside and has been ever since I came home with barely a peek of the sun, I am sharing a few of the many, many photos I took while in California.  We have no sun here, yet in California there is almost too much sun.  I say that with tongue in cheek (you know, kinda kidding) because how could one possibly say there is too much sun, especially in November/December.  I am stating this as a "photographer", the sun was so low in the sky being as it was very late November, casting an extremely bright light on your subject, but really bad shadows, creating a total light/dark contrast. Taking photos in this kinda light is not the best, but heh, I am not complaining about the abundance of sunshine, just the effect it has on photography.

The colors in southern California are intense, the blues are so blue, the reds, whites, oranges, and yellows are so full of rich deep color.

Even the bills on the sea gulls are bright red....

And the pink on the pigeons, dazzling...

So when the sun isn't shining here, which sometimes goes on for long stretches, denying us that wonderful light, I can easily get a blast of the sun just by re-visiting my photos.

As we wandered thru Laguna Beach, one of my favorite places to wander, we went into a shop that was just FULL of STUFF.  And I spotted this and I swear it was the only thing I bought other than a scrubby for showering, but now how could I resist this....??

Thanks for welcoming me back!!

"Ability is what you're capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it."  ~Lou Holtz

Until next time.....

Re-Connecting

Oh my gosh...I don't even know where to start.  After promising myself that I was going to post 30 days of gratitude, I failed almost immediately.  I seem to be having a lot of trouble with commitment lately.  Can I blame that on age or just me?  Probably just me.  I have become quite lazy which is not a good thing.  This blog and my connections with many of you gave me such daily joy, my photography was a passion. Hardly a day went by without grabbing my camera and taking a few pics, but it too has sat and not been used like it should be.  I am missing these connections and need and want to get back in the mode of re-connecting with you.

I will admit that prior to Thanksgiving I was busy, busy with creating calendars and greeting cards with my photography and I was able to raise almost $700 with the profits going to Alzheimer's Research.  That kept me really hustling, you know me, always last minute.  And then immediately after the Open House (where I sold my photography) I traveled to California to be with my son and daughter-in-law for Thanksgiving.  I don't know about you, but flying exhausts me.   What with the hassle with your luggage check-in, venture thru security, (you know that place where they practically do a strip search and x-rays, personally I don't think anyone should see my "rolls" except me in the privacy of my own bathroom with the door shut), walk the gazillion miles to your gate while hauling a back-pack with all my camera gear in-tow, standing in line to board while still hauling the back-pack and carry-on, struggle thru the skinny aisles to find my seat, helplessly trying to lift my carry-on into the over-head, (thank God for men who step up and help) and finally drop into my seat for the duration of the flight.  Instead of improving the flight experience for customers it has become an incredible ordeal with no snacks and to top it off you have to pay for your checked bags. (except for Southwest)   And then in landing everything is in reverse except now I deal with waiting for a limo to pick me up after retrieving all my belongings. Whew, I am exhausted just writing this.  I think I would prefer to spend 10 hours driving in the car than to go thru the hassles of flying. Ofcourse flying out of Chicago O'Hare and arriving at LAX has something to do with it too, 2 of the biggest and busiest airports in the US.  OK, stop the moaning and groaning.

I had a lovely time in California with my son and dil...it was sunny and warm almost everyday, however I did miss the rest of my family who were all here including that sweet Matilda who I don't see as often as I would like.  When I said "here" that is exactly what I meant, they spent Thanksgiving here at my house for 3 days.  I have the biggest house and I am located about half-way between my daughter and her family and my grandson with his family.  So with 8 people and 4 dogs the only thing missing was me. (altho my hairdresser told me today that maybe with all that I was better off not being there....snort).

I have a couple of books to recommend...one I read while in California and the other I began on the way home...Station Eleven and Big Little Lies.  Totally different from each other but truly enjoyed them, thumbs up for both.

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and I look forward to spending the holidays with you.

"In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: it goes on."  - Robert Frost

Until next time.....

 

 

Day 7 - The Gratitude Diary

Yes, I don't think this is going to be an original in anybody's book of gratitude....that morning cup of coffee and added to this the morning newspaper.  Every day after the morning stopover in the bathroom and letting the "kids" out for their morning stopover at their bathroom, I prepare the coffee. While that coffee is brewing I walk out the front door to retrieve the morning newspaper and the mail delivered the day before from the mailbox.  It is almost robotic.  Undoubtedly I could do this blindfolded except I probably could never find the newspaper since it appears to be in a different spot each day.

After this series of moves, it is now time to enjoy that first cup and read the good (the comics) and the bad (everything else) in the newspaper.  Just kidding about all the bad, but admittedly, there is a lot of that.  So for the robotics of the morning, the good & bad from the printed news, and that first glorious cup of coffee for these I am grateful.

"We have no idea what tomorrow will bring, but today is overflowing with potential."  ~Allan Lokos

Until next time.....

Day 4-5-6 Gratitude Diary

Day 6 - See, I have already fallen beyond on my "plan" to post once a day during the month of November, expressing gratitude and gratefulness along the way.  It's not that I haven't been grateful, Lord there are hundreds of things or moments that I could and should chronicle on a daily basis. Maybe it's choosing only one to blog about that becomes the issue.  Who am I trying to kid...it's a little thing called "time" and my tendency to "waste" it.  And choosing other things to do like an afternoon nap, and I am not just talking "cat-nap" I am talking NAP.  You know this was something I never did until probably this past year....now I relish those naps, sitting on the back porch, or laying on the couch with the sun streaming in. So perhaps those naps are what I am grateful for today. And definitely no, I am not taking a selfie of me napping, not gonna happen.

And since I have "fallen behind" I am combining a few days together with this diary of sorts. Again, combing thru my gazillion photos I noticed a trend, especially when I am on a trip.  I like old, rusty, mossy objects, they tend to have more character than shiny new effects.  So today Day 4, I am grateful for rust and moss, here here to the aging and the character it imbues.

Day 5 - Now really you knew that Toby would be right up at the top of my gratitude list.  He and Cinder have given me the love and companionship that keeps me in the here and now.  When one lives alone, getting lost in the "what-if"s and "maybe's" is a hole I fall into at times.  These two bring me back to the surface with their wagging tails, face licks, (aka kisses) and sweet dispositions.

Whew, now I am all caught up.

You pray in your distress and in your need; would that you might pray also in the fullness of your joy and in your days of abundance. ~Khalil Gibran

Until next time.....

Day 3 - The Gratitude Diary

I have been combing thru my thousands of pictures taken in 2014 in preparation for my yearly sale. I create greeting cards and small calendars that fit inside a CD case using my photography.  My good friend Marti and I partner together for this once a year event and all of her proceeds go to her favorite charity, The Cancer Research at Purdue University and mine, of course goes to Alzheimer's Research. The calendars have different themes, "Cups & Mugs", not surprised are you??, "Flowers" another big surprise, "Birds & Butterflies" and perhaps "Barns from the Midwest".  The greeting cards are some of everything....birthday, thinking of you, sympathy, anniversary and just plain with no wording. Every year I tell myself to start this process in the summer, and every year the summer comes and goes and nothing gets accomplished until the flurry of November.

So today I am grateful for this opportunity each year to create in order to give.

Until next time.....

Day 2 - The Gratitude Diary

 "Today is the day the Lord has made, let us be glad and rejoice in it."  Pslam 118:24

We are truly blessed in this country to worship the religion of our choice. I freely admit that I have struggled with my religion and faith because of the disease that took my sweeties brain and memories and left him with a body that is now in a state where he is helpless and must depend on others for simple daily living.  I know God has a plan, I just haven't figured it out when, in my opinion ofcourse, my sweetie could have done such great things in His name.  But I know that God took my hand and led me through those dark days, I was just so mad at Him that I didn't realize He was always with me until much later.  That is so comforting to know He is there all the time, ready and with open arms, even with my back turned to Him, he patiently waited until I turned around and for that I am grateful. 

Until next time....

Day 1 - The Gratitude Diary

I know, it's been awhile and while I have every intention of keeping up this blog somehow I let it take a back burner to everything else.  I so enjoyed the summer and we had a glorious Fall and honestly I just wanted to spend as much time as possible outdoors because I knew the day would come when the indoors would be the place where I would pass most of my day.  So long to my screen porch, so long to my garden, so long to windows wide open and flip flops....but I know they will all return next year.

So anyhoo, it is now November 1st, and btw can you honestly believe this year is coming to a close so quickly, July was yesterday. So I plan (that's the operative word....plan) on doing a blog post a day on something that I am grateful for.  I did this last year, and it was very fulfilling.  Typically this is the month where we focus on gratitude, I should probably do this in March when life around here is pretty boring and my chin is usually dragging about that time of year, but I'm stickin' to November.

I am totally grateful for the seasons of the year and especially the Fall, it is the most glorious, colorful time of the year here in these parts.  It would be hard not to see the glory of God when you gaze upon the colored leaves and blue skies, it literally takes my breath away.

But I am starting off this month of gratefulness with the most precious little person in my life right now, Matilda Mae, my great-granddaughter.  I visited her (and her parents of course) today and I am awestruck at how beautiful she is.  Probably, no certainly, the most beautiful great-grandchild ever. She is about 6 weeks old and so dear.  Hilary, the Mom, loves being a Mom, and Brandon, the Dad, loves being a Dad.  And Charley, the dog, is very protective of her.  So not only am I grateful for this bundle of joy, but also for her loving parents.  There is truly something special about a young family, blessed with love for each other and now blessed with the miracle of birth.  So I am beginning my month of gratefulness with Matilda Mae.

Now, surely you agree that she is indeed the most beautiful child ever!  A great-grandmother gets to state this loud and clear.  (PS I am sure all of us feel their child-grandchild-great-grandchild is the most beautiful and ofcourse we are absolutely justified to proclaim that, that's what we do)

Until next time.....

Hopeless....again!!

I know I have been a might lax in my blogging as of late.  But honestly, well let's just leave it at that. No excuses, no problems, just life.   And speaking of life I haven't even mentioned Bible Study and what we are focusing on this session, 12 Women of the Bible, 6 from the Old Testament and 6 from the New Testament.  Each week there is a different woman and how her struggles and issues relate to exactly what we women go through thousands of years later.  We began with Eve, we are all fully aware of her "temptation issues" but hey, who among us hasn't been tempted by something or someone in our lives?  I will be the first to step forward on this one with the temptations I have tripped on during my lifetime and I am not just talkin' chocolate chip cookies either.  Next we studied Rebekah and breaking free from feminine stereotypes.  Aren't we constantly bombarded with ads on being beautiful, slim, and wrinkle free?  Shouldn't we stop and look at our inner beauty and the "other" gifts God has given us?  But I gotta admit that same week we studied Rebekah I was flipping through a recent magazine where I came across an ad for a new makeup that would instantly make you look younger.  So what did I do, not only did I fall for the temptation but I immediately purchased a tube in hopes of the "promise" of wrinkle less skin.   Clearly the study is not sinking in with me. Undoubtedly we women have struggled with temptation, body issues, rejection, confrontation, needs and wants since the beginning of time.

OK, I just wrote about temptations, so what did I do after Bible Study, went to Trader Joe's and fell into temptation again with flowers, pumpkins with curly cue stems (totally irresistible) and pumpkin cream cheese spread.  I am absolutely hopeless.

On the way home, I did stop at a small park where the leaves are turning those wonderful shades of reds and orange and along with the bright blue sky it was calling me to stop and snap a few pics....couldn't stay too long didn't want the ice cream to melt...snort!!

And then, because I happened to be standing underneath an oak tree where the acorns had fallen to the ground a squirrel was giving me heck, obviously trying to tell me I was standing on his lunch.

While another one could care less that I was there, he just kept on eating, but clearly this one either had an ear defect or had been in one too many fights over those acorns.  Not sure...

Off to Bunco and a delicious meal.

"Live your truth. Express your love. Share your enthusiasm. Take action towards your dreams. Walk your talk. Dance and sing to your music. Embrace your blessings. Make today worth remembering."  ~ Steve Maraboli

Until next time.....

A Few Randoms

I think I am joining Kim's Random Finds on Friday since this post will be filled with bits of randomness.  But before I begin my ramblings I would appreciate a hop over to our collaborative blog Focusing On Life where I am musing on "When Is Too Old".  I think some of you may appreciate my thoughts on the matter.

OK, can't start without a couple of more pics of my great-great grand.  I find it extremely difficult not living closer to this bundle of joy.  I want to capture her as she grows and changes but being almost 2 hours (and that is fast driving) away, I will have to restrain myself to occasional visits.  I won't even be around for Thanksgiving (going to California to visit my son and daughter-in-law).  Rather excited considering I haven't seen them since last Fall.  They have bought a new house and have a new dog which adds to the excitement.

Her hands can't be constrained....must be that artist in her.

Well, nothing is going to compare to that sweet bundle, but I did go to Trader Joe's this week and came home with pumpkins.  I love this green one.  Remember the days when pumpkins were just orange?   Now we have orange, light and dark, almost red, green, white, variegated reds & oranges and probably more and then there are the gourds that come in every size, shape and color.  Maybe some of those odd color pumpkins are really gourds and then again aren't all pumpkins part of the gourd family. Who knows, I am certainly not a pumpkin connoisseur.   I just enjoy them and take their picture.

I also came home with a bundle of beautiful flowers that were picture worthy. 

The crab apples are in abundance this year as well as the acorns.  Had to have been all that moisture (snow) from last winter, but then I read where the apple crops around here have been decimated by that same winter.  Some crops are down 60% which does not bode well for apple pickin' in these parts.

And finally a shot from my trip to Ohio with a little added word art...

So just a few of the "finds" from my week.  Hope you had a marvelous past week and that the week ahead will give you joy.

"May every sunrise hold more promise, and every sunset hold more peace."  ~  A Blessing

Until next time....