my sympathies

 I feel sorry for anyone who doesn't live where there are snowfalls.

 I think it’s so cute when cats turn in their paws like this.

I'm all for that longer celebration

 

I've picked up Elizabeth Goudge's Towers in the Mist, and found that St. Edmund Campion is a character in it - I hadn't looked at a synopsis beforehand. So it's more historical than some of her others.

I'm doing well with my mending and today fixed a torn flat sheet. 

Do you see that the tear is an L shape? I used to try and stitch those on the machine, but they end up being bunchy and looking like they will just tear again. So I found someone on youtube who says you should do it by hand. I did, and it does look better, but I don't know how it will hold; I'm ready to make a patch if need be.

After a day of rain, today was in the mid-fifties - the snow is gone. But Sunday afternoon we may get more, and with ice, which seems to be a theme this winter. Snow and ice. 

I took in the silk poinsettias and cleaned them - they look fine, and I'm glad I thought to put them out there for a bit of cheerfulness.

"One of the things about our own topsy-turvy time is that we all hear such a vast amount about Christmas just before it comes, and suddenly hear nothing at all about it afterwards....I am going to plead for a longer period in which to find out what was really meant by Christmas; and a fuller consideration of what we have really found... There is no modern legend of what happens just after Christmas; except a dismal joke about indigestion and the arrival of the doctor." 

                                    -  G. K. Chesterton

"If it is treated as such, it is because the modern world does not know what Christmas really is and why it is worth celebrating in the first place."

                                -    from Winter Fire: Christmas with G.K. Chesterton, by Ryan Whitaker Smith

knowing the way out

 "Christendom has had a series of revolutions and in each one of them
Christianity has died. Christianity has died and risen again;
for it had a God who knew the way out of the grave."

G.K. Chesterton

a bit about St. George

 Well, it did snow yesterday to freshen things up a bit and the cold continues, with today being the coldest - but it didn't end up as cold as predicted. And, as we came out of the grocery store we felt a very fine snow again! It continued for a few hours and now it's all a beautiful soft white blanket out there.

Daisy has been helping me pack away some of the Christmas things.

I'm sure I don't need to elaborate.

There's a piece about St. George in Magnificat this month which surprised me. As we all know, Shakespeare died on his feast day, April 23, and was either born or baptized on that, too. And there are the legends, that he slayed a dragon. That's about all I ever knew of him.

The article says he died around the year 303.

this book is lovely, by the way

"Saint George is generally considered to have been a soldier-martyr under Diocletian. He was canonized in 494, but gained enormous popularity during the Middle Ages as one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers, who were specially invoked during the Plague....George is also a beloved patron of England, in whose battles he has a long tradition of miraculous intervention. As recently as 1914, British soldiers, about to be overpowered by a larger German force, reported a winged army around them, calling upon their leader: either Saint George or Saint Michael, depending on the account. The German infantry paused their onslaught, and the British forces escaped destruction. Later, German prisoners mentioned their surprise at seeing the British using longbows again."  emphasis mine

What a story!! 

The above book was illustrated by the late Trina Schart Hyman, whose work I love. I also am fond of a book of John Updike's poetry about the seasons, for children, also illustrated by her.

January

The days are short,
The sun a spark
Hung thin between
The dark and dark.

Fat snowy footsteps
Track the floor,
And parkas pile up
Near the door.

The river is
A frozen place
Held still beneath
The trees' black lace.

The sky is low.
The wind is gray.
The radiator
Purrs all day.

-  John Updike,  c1965.

Simple in their descriptions, but greatly enhanced by Trina's wonderful paintings.

cats and things

 I'm working on adapting a new bedskirt to my day bed; I always have to cut off one long edge and attach some of it to a short edge. 

I found it where I get all my bedskirts - on ebay. This one is so pretty with the crocheted lace.

I enjoy reading Christina Rossetti's poetry and admire her gift, but many of them are on the same theme: lost love. I'm in the "lyric poems" section, so maybe things will be different in the other parts. I also have a biography of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., and it's way more interesting than I expected it would be. The author seems to be a friend and has nothing bad to say about him, but that doesn't seem to get in the way, since every chapter is full of details for each situation described. I think there are still many in this country who do not know he's running for President. The press hardly mentions him. 

It's so cold this week, that the iced bushes from Tuesday's storm still sparkle in the sun. And tomorrow another inch or two will fall - not ice, just snow. 

I just finished a charming children's book I've always wanted to read, called "Whittington", by Alan Armstrong. 

This is the cover; you can tell why it intrigued me - the cat. Not to mention the fellow in his Renaissance garb. Well, turns out it was a Newberry honor book, and worthy of the recognition, a very enjoyable story about the life of Dick Whittington and his cat, legendary figures to British schoolchildren, I guess. Of course, it's fictional; Dick Whittington was a real mayor of London back then, but there is a cat in the story who is the real person of interest. However, the author found that Mr. Whittington did not come from a poor background; it seems his story got mixed up with a poor boy's and the cat may have been his. I don't know, but this book was well-written, going back and forth from our age to the fourteenth century. 

Another important cat, our Annie. I actually managed to get a fairly nice portrait of her, a very pretty girl.

And I'm still with the Chesterton Christmas book. It's supposed to be for Advent, but since I received it at Christmas, I am reading it now.

The world will never starve for want of wonders, 
but only for want of wonder.

- G.K. Chesterton

contrasts

 I only worked half a shift today - we've got snow. Not a lot, but mixed with wetter precipitation and temps in the twenties, everyone was nervous about slippery roads. I took some pictures.

It's those bluish gray tones and the dark of the bark.

And the red of the barns and the flags.

shortening winter

 "The best way to shorten winter is to prolong Christmas."

- G.K. Chesterton

Eternal Light

Eternal light, shine in my heart;
Eternal hope, lift up my eyes;
Eternal power, be my support;
Eternal wisdom, make me wise.

Eternal life, raise me from death;
Eternal brightness, make me see;
Eternal Spirit, give me breath;
Eternal Savior, come to me.

- from Magnificat, January, 2024 

enjoying it while we had it

 We had a snowy day at last. I'll call it a Christmas snow since we are still in the "greater" Christmas/Epiphany season. But it went quickly, after a warm day and then rain, more rain. 

I often wonder how my raised beds are doing out there, in so much wet. It rained again overnight, hard, and the wind howled; I was surprised the barrels stayed upright. It ended up a warm day, though, and I even opened some windows. But now the cold air is coming.

Meanwhile, the Three Kings left - they never can stay long because of Herod. So things are quieting down. 

I wanted some color outside and there are these silk poinsettias I don't seem to use in the house - I stuck them in the dirt, and there they have been at least two weeks. They're like the mail carrier: outside in sleet and snow and all weathers, uncomplaining.

that deep, Christmas red

 There is a very nice shop in town, and I like to at least go there before Christmas, when they have a good sale. 

This year I noticed that the shade of red they choose is consistent year after year.

The napkins were purchased several years ago, after the holidays; they were on clearance. They're so nice, they don't need ironing, but are cotton. I got the center table runner a year ago, and they look fine together.

This year, I bought four placemats in that same red, with white snowflakes on them. Very nice.

wintry thoughts

I had forgotten how cold everything seems after a snowfall.   This is not a complaint! 

 A WINTRY SONNET

A Robin said: The Spring will never come,
And I shall never care to build again.
A Rosebush said: These frosts are wearisome,
My sap will never stir for sun or rain.
The half Moon said: These nights are fogged and slow,
I neither care to wax nor care to wane.
The Ocean said: I thirst from long ago,
Because earth's rivers cannot fill the main. -
When Springtime came, red Robin built a nest,
And trilled a lover's song in sheer delight.
Grey hoarfrost vanished, and the Rose with might
Clothed her in leaves and buds of crimson core.
The dim Moon brightened. Ocean sunned his crest,
Dimpled his blue, yet thirsted evermore.

- Christina Rossetti

the season of Epiphany

" Epiphany is a season especially set apart for adoring the glory of Christ. At Christmas we commemorate his grace, in Lent his temptation, on Good Friday his sufferings and death, on Easter Day his victory, and on Ascension Thursday his return to the Father. And in Advent we anticipate his second coming. In all of these seasons he does something or suffers something, but on Epiphany and the days after it we celebrate him as an august and glorious king. ...

 As great men of this world are often plainly dressed and look like other men - all but as having some costly ornament on their breast or on their brow - so the Son of Mary in his lowly dwelling; and in an infant's form, was declared to be the Son of God most high and the Prince of Peace by his star, a wonderful appearance that had guided the wise men all the way from the East, even unto Bethlehem. The only display of royal greatness, the only season of majesty, homage, and glory our Lord had on earth was in his infancy and youth."

                                                           - St. John Henry Newman, from Magnificat, January 2024

about the Baby

 I like the way the nativity is set up in church this year; it's a bit cramped-looking, actually, but somehow more dynamic. The three kings are very close by, but it creates a pathway of sorts in between them where you can see the Baby.

When I typed "baby" above, I got that double blue line which tells me something's not right. When I changed it to "Baby", it went away. Isn't that surprising to you? That it thought I should spell baby with a capital B? I hadn't thought it was necessary there, but guess I was wrong. 

The Baby and his mother

Happy New Year!

 I often intend to post something here, get sidetracked, and then find I'm too tired. I need a better plan. 

I discovered a most delicious and mainly healthy treat which I brought to our cousin's for Christmas. Here is the recipe , if you want to read the post, but I can tell how to make it, it's so simple.

Gently heat half a cup of natural peanut butter, a quarter cup of maple syrup and three tablespoons of coconut oil. When it's all melted, remove from the heat and stir in a half cup of grated coconut and one cup of Rice Krispies. (get the generic brand - Rice Krispies are over six dollars a box!) Spread in a pan and chill in the fridge for twenty minutes.

Meanwhile, using a double boiler, melt one cup of dark chocolate chips with one tablespoon of coconut oil. When the peanut butter mix is cold, spread the chocolate over, and chill it for two hours at least. 

This stuff is way more than the sum of its parts - it would make you well-liked at any gathering. Delicious.  Of course you can use other nut or seed butters, or crunchy peanut butter, and I'm thinking if you don't want the grated coconut, try crunchy peanut butter and more of the cereal. Good luck cutting it as neatly as the recipe's author; I don't know how she did it. I just broke it apart. It will get sticky if left out, so keep it cold. But do try it! 

*The recipe says to use a 9x13 pan - that is too big; it won't spread that much. I used something a couple of inches smaller. But it would be easy to double it, and then I'd use the nine by thirteen.

I've been thinking about The Hobbit for some reason lately, so I picked it up, and it's been so long that I really didn't remember most of it, so it's like I never read it before. 

In the past week or two, we've seen large flocks of blackbirds along the main road in the mornings. Hundreds. The ones I saw were grackles, and I'm not sure why they're moving in such a large group at this time of year. I used to see them in November, thinking that some left the area for the winter (but am not sure they do). We saw them on Friday and later my brother said when he went to his car at lunchtime (he comes home for lunch every day) it was so covered with droppings, he had to go first to the car wash. So this afternoon I looked out and there were thousands of blackbirds swooping around our neighborhood, not a starling murmuration but just flying around in groups from tree to tree, maybe lighting on the ground for a bit. I got my camera and starting filming. Wouldn't you know, the film I thought was the best one, didn't film! I must have stopped it without realizing. But it was quite amazing, and we have never seen it before like this. I found this online from a year ago. 

A small number of them came back later, but that's all. 

It's been snowing since before eight - we're finally having a real snowfall, still in time for Christmas. I was afraid it wouldn't happen. 

Winter is the mother-nurse of Spring,
Lovely for her daughter's sake,
Not unlovely for her own:
For a future buds in everything;
Grown, or blown,
Or about to break.

- Christina Rossetti