Merry Christmas Everyone!

I would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and the best of the season.

We were blessed with an exquisite amount hoar frost and no wind. It has been like driving through a winter wonderland for the past four days. So incredible! I felt like I was in a Christmas card at times, especially at night.

Christmas is winding down for us now. We just finished a lovely traditional dinner with lots of turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes and the like. Now, we are all lolling about enjoying the digestion process and sipping a little something. It was a different Christmas for us as this was the first time one of our daughters was not here for Christmas dinner! It felt so quiet but it was still lovely because we had our other daughter and my sister-in-law here.

Well, hopefully your Christmas was just as nice. Have a great day!

Half of a Whole

I followed him as he drove slowly down the street. It wasn't a long street; just a long, short journey. I wondered if he even noticed me as I drove behind him or if he was still so wrapped up in his thoughts that the outside world didn't really exist for him. I noticed only because I had to. I had been following him since he turned off the main road just before I turned and followed close behind him. I watched as he slowly made his way down the street and turned into a driveway about half way down the block.

The house was unassuming in the most unassuming way. It had almond coloured siding and brown trim that had once been very popular in the 60's and 70's. The picture window was covered by equally neutral drapery, again reminiscent of a past era. The house was well-maintained and had an air of quiet comfort, despite it's bland exterior. It was so reflective of the way he lived his life that it made me sigh quietly inside.

As I pulled into the driveway, I could see that he had waited for me. I turned off the engine, undid my seatbelt, and slowly climbed out. I could see his pleasure of seeing me reflected in his eyes but also the deep sorrow furrow his face. He held out his hand and folded mine gently into his as we quietly walked up the path to the front door. As he reached into his right pocket, I could hear his keys jingling quietly as a solitary bird leapt from the bush by the steps and flew off. He pulled them out and unlocked the door.

"I...I guess we had better get out some food," he said with a hesitancy that had never been there before.

Knowing that he was overwhelmed and would rather just go and sit, I swallowed and quietly replied, "Yes, I guess we had better do that. Why don't you just go and sit for a bit while I put it out?"

He looked at me for the first time that day, as if he was really seeing who I was. "I would like... like that, just to sit a minute before...before..."

"I know. This isn't easy is it?" I cut him off before he could say it out loud and we would both have to face the awful truth once again.

"No it isn't!...I just wish it wasn't at all!!" he barked out.

His vehemence surprised me. He had been so placid and accepting up till now. I hadn't realized how angry he was. I didn't blame him, it was so needless that she died the way she did. They had always been such a loving couple, so supportive of one another in their quiet way. I understood in a flash that he was now only one half of a whole and beginning to realize it himself.

Into the Void

I stood on the edge of a dream, distraught and completely disorientated. I felt it's remnants in my shattered soul; a tapeworm of terror coiled in my bowels of hidden thoughts. Snippets of truth intermixed with the dream creating an indiscernible reality. I lay in terror unable to thaw my frozen limbs and not really knowing if I had yet awakened.

I could still see my lovely home floating in the abyss of space; it was split in two - a torso ripped in half with multi-coloured tendons of wire and raw splinters of bone/studs exposed for all to see. Tendrils of ice cold horror coursed through my veins and filled me with despair as I realized that I could not reach my precious babies floating in the black void of neither here nor there. My screams shrank and were sucked into the silence of darkness; my husband slept, unconcerned and completely disconnected from the truth around him. I wept tears of hopelessness.

Lust, Baby Lust

He thought he could hear her heart beating. He paused briefly, surprised with the knowledge that it was his heart beating that he could hear.

Thump-pa-Thump-pathump-pathump.

He could hear it speeding up...pathump-pathump/pathumppathump...as she drew closer to him.

He inhaled her smell, the perfume that gave her a warm, spicy, fruity, all-female smell. Her essence undermined her perfume and added a warm, earthy undertone to it.

How he lusted after her breasts, so warm and hard with perfect pink aureoles. It made him drool just thinking about them. He wanted them so bad that he could almost taste them in his mouth. He ran his tongue around his lips, as if caressing them. He reached for her and she dodged him, turning away briefly. He started shaking with a rage that soon overwhelmed him; the desire for them that great. With a raucous cry, he grabbed at her once again and pulled her roughly towards him. She laughed, picked him up and undid her top so he could drink the nourishing milk that he so desperately wanted.

The Dad, the Daughter and the Snowman

This was an email I sent out to my husband's sisters. My husband loves to pull practical jokes and tease us all quite mercilessly. Our Youngest can be the same way. Here is one of their jokes:

Hi Guys,

I had to email you about this because it is such a rarity in our household that Hubby admits he was beat at his own game....lol

Hubby and the Youngest were joking back and forth and somehow it came up that the Youngest would make a snowman this afternoon before her Dad got home from work. Well, the bet was on and the stakes were high - Hubby bet the Youngest that she couldn't make a snowman this afternoon because the snow was too dry and not sticky enough to roll the balls for it.

So, the Youngest being the Youngest, and definitely a knock-off of Hubby when it comes to practical jokes, sat down and thought about this snowman. She knew that the snow was no good for rolling because it was too cold out but there was $20 bucks at stake....She came upstairs at lunch and consulted with me how to make snow sticky. We talked and decided that if she just made a bunch of slush it would stick enough to make a snowman. So, she headed off downstairs and got all dressed up to go make this snowman. I, in the meantime, left for work thinking that it would take her awhile to make this work of art.

I came home later and asked the Youngest about her snowman.

She said, "Didn't you see it? Dad said it had to be out front to count."

Now, I hadn't seen anything resembling a snowman, other than snowpiles, on the front lawn. When I said I hadn't seen anything she said to look on the front step. So, outside I went and looked. Our step isn't that big that I would have missed seeing a snowman on it as I came up the stairs but I had! There it sat in it's glory, with peppercorn eyes, toothpick arms and bowtie, in the middle of one of the black planters - all eight inches of it!

I laughed so hard, I almost choked...and then we waited very impatiently for Hubby to get home. Like me, he did not see the snowman as he came up the front step and had to go back out and look for it. He was a little surprised and chagrined by the snowman's size but had to admit that there was no stipulation made in that area...it almost killed him to admit that she beat him at his own game but he did. In the end, he really enjoyed the joke quite a bit and was very proud of the fact that she had pulled a fast one on him!


Couldn't help but share this - it was too funny not too.

The Downside/Upside of Winter

We are now totally in the grip of winter. It is a gentle, beautiful vice of magical, glittering diamond sharp snow that surrounds us. Already, we have more snow than we have had in November in years. The temperature is hovering around -20 Celsius - the perfect temperature for winter. At these temperatures, the roads are not slippery and we know we have to dress properly or we will freeze. The rivers and lakes are making strong, rock hard ice as I write and soon it will be time to drag the ice fishing shacks out to the frozen water bodies.

I woke this morning to the kind of sharp frosty air that pulls at your nose hairs when you inhale too fast. Unfortunately, I had to stay home sick with a wicked sore throat. That was the downside...but the upside is that I can enjoy the lovely view from my window. The sun is shining brightly through the absolutely clear morning air, the kind of crystal clear air that you only get when the temperatures fall. The hoar frost is thick on the trees and there is a gentle wind that is just starting to blow it off. It falls through the sunlight like magical crystals, fairy dust that flashes cheekily as it twirls and rotates in a happy eccentric dance to the ground.

I can see Squirrely Magirly hopping along the fence and then pausing. She digs daintily in the snow until she unearths a treasure. It is a small pinecone that she gives a decisive shake to. Now she starts to peel away the layers to get to the delicious pine nuts at the base of each cone scale. The dog is going nuts inside because she can see her on the fence but Squirrely Magirly remains completely unperturbed as she snacks away in the sun.

And to think I would have missed all this if I wasn't at home sick!

Fingerless Gloves/Wrist Warmers

I just ordered some really neat wrist warmers/fingerless gloves from Sarah at Cottage Garden Studios. I have an artist friend whose hands are always cold - now she will be able to draw and stay warm! I picked up a couple of other pairs as well to use as gifts in the family. I think that they are going to be a big hit!!

Sarah has some wonderfully different yarns and some really cute styles of fingerless gloves/wrist warmers, scarves, and other items that she does for both kids or adults. She is also an incredible photographer that teaches and sells her work. (Both pictures I have shamelessly copied from her blog.) You should check out her blog and Etsy shop as well!

Here is her marketing address that also connects to her other blogs and Etsy shop:

http://cottagegardenstudiomarket.blogspot.com/

It would be wonderful if we could support her in her endeavours - she does lovely work and like a lot of people, has been affected by the downturn in the economy. I have followed her blog for quite a while and have enjoyed her photography immensely. I hope you enjoy her site.