Dare

So you wish to hear a little more about my word for the year. Dare is the word and, just because I am so timid and fearful about many things, I am afraid to tell you how I hope to use the word; therefore, I am going to do it anyway.

I have shared briefly and from time to time that I have been writing. I have always written. My mother packed my construction paper bound stories away in a wee trunk. Funny little stories that are mostly reworkings of Wagon Train scripts. I do crack myself up. In adulthood, I've continued to write essays and short stories.

As most of you know, any first novel (written by anyone) is largely autobiographical. I have been working on such a book for years. It gets put away and I can't find it for years and then I find it again and it all begins over again. To put an end to my torment of never finishing anything I start, I have decided/dared to post it here. It will be on a separate page. I'll probably post it one chapter/portion at a time and it will be your choice to read or not. There will be no comments removing any difficulty one might have of not knowing how to tell me that it's all drivel. I am not selling it. I am not planning to ever publish it elsewhere. It's just a way to get it off my chest. [Edited to Add: "Off my chest" as in the not finishing of a thing and not any angst that might be associated with my life. Though this little book is autobiographical, it is most definitely not an autobiography.] Since these portions do not exist on a disk or on my computer, I must retype them. The first chapter should be up sometime next week. I'll mention it that day and then I'll not be mentioning it further.

There are a great many other ways that I hope to use the word and I may share them as we go. It's already begun today. For example, I wanted to go to "the city" and enlisted John's going along. I really dislike going anywhere alone. I can do it, though only with great effort. Now that I see how cold and windy it is out there, I'm talking myself completely out of it. And so it goes... I can become one very happy cabin queer gal in winter perfectly content in my own little realm.

***

Tomorrow is the final day of Christmas until next December. Do you love, as I do, that a year begins and ends with Christmas?

I hope that not all of you have put away your Nativity Sets. Epiphany is the perfect day to bring the Nativity set to the table using it as the focal point.

Yes, I do appreciate symbolism — metaphor, simile, motif — it's all good. 

I'm almost ready to pack Christmas away, though if you decide to read here, there are at least two more Christmas posts in the wings. Yup, I dare to do it.

A Reader's Favorite

Note the year... 

I had a delightful email from a reader named Peggy yesterday. She said: Since 2007 I have always gone back to one of your Christmas vignettes and used it during the Christmas season as a background on the computer. It's the picture of the peppermints in a jar - sitting by a basket lamp that holds pinecones, with the December 2007 calendar behind it. This year I decided to let you know!

Thank you, Peggy. Much appreciated and glad I am that you enjoy that photo even if it was taken with an old point and shoot.  

I had forgotten all about that photo so had to go see it again for myself and I smiled to note the sweet little tree that we (my sister and I) used to set in the bowl somewhere in the kitchen...no room for it anymore. There's the pink depression glass containing the starlight mints, a bottle of liqueur so that we could serve it to anyone who enjoyed a special something at Christmastime. It's a pretty bottle and, if I still had it, I'd be tempted to display it again. 

I am not opposed to an occasional drink, but when I married a man who had given up alcohol years ago, I gave it up, too, as a way to honor him. I didn't want him to ever smell it on my breath. 

And there's my wonky lamp that now pays service in the sewing room. I was a bit more of a prim person in those days than I am now. 

So this whole photography thing has me thinking about photos. There are many blogs where one photo stands out in my memory. I always see Mt. Cheam when I think of Judy's Front Porch. I think of King's Landing when I think of Pam's Playing With My Camera. Eagles and bears come immediately to mind when I think of Donna at Cottage Days and Journeys. Name a blog and I can name a photo I have loved there. I'll name one more...Jill's work with snowflake photography has been exceptional.

Oh, if anyone was wondering, my word for 2013 is DARE.

Have a great Friday and a wonderful weekend!

I Remember the Night

I remember lots of nights listening to my grandmother play The Tennessee Waltz. It was a favorite in her home and with her friends. My mother would often hum it and my father could sing it word for word and with great feeling. I'm sure that many of you (of a certain age) remember the song well. 

My first memory of Patti Page probably comes from her photograph on the sheet music that adorned my grandmother's piano. There was this one, of course, and How Much is that Doggie in the Window, Allegheny Moon, and definitely Old Cape Cod.

Years later, I would impress the family by telling them I was going to school with one of her nephews.☺ (She grew up in a large family and had a great many nieces and nephews.)

Most recently, and that was five years ago, I wrote about attending a concert at the Fryeburg Fair...

But I wasn't there for any of the above, I just wanted to see Patti Page who was the featured performer of the evening. She of "How Much is that Doggie in the Window" and "Tennessee Waltz" fame. My earliest memories of her are from her picture featured on sheet music that sat on my grandmother's piano. Last night Miss Page was in fine voice singing before an extremely large crowd...standing room only. (I was one of the chain link fence huggers.) I learned a few new things about her last evening and one is that she's in the maple syrup business as she and her husband own a farm in New Hampshire where they harvest maple syrup.

I see from the treasures I have of that evening that somewhere in this house is a cd of Christmas music. I'm on a search.

Patti Page left us on New Year's Day, though we have our memories and recordings of her smooth, mellow voice. I will remember her as one who had a great deal of pluck right into her senior years.

Do you have a favorite Patti Page song?

Tea and Cookies

I don't feel very much like Pooh today, said Pooh. There, there, said Piglet, I'll bring you tea and honey until you do.

A good pot of tea can set a great many things to rights and that's the truth. This is my new Christmas tea pot, which I will use all year through because it pours so nicely. Until now, all I've owned have leaky spouts. Not fun. Some of them are going to be donated very soon and I will be so kind as to put a small card in that says "spout leaks." 

This pot is so very new that I tempered it again by sticking a long handled tea spoon in the pot and very carefully pouring the hot water on the spoon rather than directly into the tea pot.

Isn't she lovely? I do think so. I ordered mine online through Amazon using a dear friend's Amazon widget. If you have a blogging buddy who has one, you might like to order that way, too, so that she may get points. It's easy and just one minor extra step of going to visit your friend and gaining access that way.

I don't usually select a word for the year, but when you are looking smack dab at a great word perhaps the Lord is speaking. Which word do you think I may have chosen? These are the last of the cookies, Niki. I will savor them. (I'm actually down to the last one now. I am taking wee mousy bites.)

When I found two more little gift boxes in the Christmas stationery this morning, I decided to decorate the tree some more. (John is already asking, "How many more days now will the tree be up? ☺)

And in so decorating the tree found a little package for my daughter. I have no idea what is in it so it's kind of exciting. It can't be much because I know that she got her larger gifts. It reminds me of a great post I read just yesterday titled Happy New Year and The One Good Thing About the Aging Process. So funny! And so odd that it has already happened to me this morning!

Off to refresh the cedar. It's getting a bit crispy. Since my Beloved is off for the day, I have much to do...I'll catch you later. I promise!

Calendars

Seems a good day to discuss calendars. Briefly. Actually, that depends upon how inspired I get as I write this down. Let's see...

The calendar says 2013 so it must be true. Doesn't feel much different...yet. Didn't even get whiplash from nearly falling off that cliff that everyone keeps talking about.

Ever buy a calendar based on one picture? It appears that I may have. I love the picture above, which belongs to June. Yikes! Six months to wait!!

I shall miss my former calendar, though you may remember that I have a handy trick for changing out my calendar pictures when I feel like it. Nothing like a stapler to simply attach a former calendar picture to the current one. The staples then are hidden by the frame.

We had considered going to a movie—Les Misérables or The Hobbit—and then decided that waiting for a less crowded day would be preferable. A day at home, tickling the new calendar, seemed just right. John tickles the calendar daily with his scale numbers. He has not liked what he's been seeing so, like half the planet, we'll be back on a better eating plan starting tomorrow or as soon as the food is gone, whichever comes first.

Off to tickle that calendar with doc appointments, eye appointments, car registration, inspection stickers, dog tags...ohhhh...good thing I remembered that one...and all those items of business.

Hope that the first day of your New Year is a little more exciting!

2012 in First Lines

Some have done this meme in the final days of 2012. I read  *A Year in First Lines* yesterday and thought I'd try it myself. Mine is not nearly as well organized and I hope that no one can read anything into these fractured sentences totally out of sequence. =D

Just after Thanksgiving, I heard a report on Black Friday Shopping. Snowflakes...lovely things...do you believe that no two are alike? What is it about March that, even though the calendar says that the new season won't arrive until the 20th, we feel that spring arrives on the 1st? Barely, get it? A few days ago, I was searching Google for an appropriate image to use for this Palm Sunday, I found one showing Christ entering Jerusalem on the back of an ass's colt. Late last evening, I asked John of his plans for this day...the one sunny day in the middle of ten rainy ones. There are times when being a citizen of any country is a challenge. Higher prices — I so remember my grandparents whining (at least, it sounded like whining to my young ears). Since Ashokan Farewell was so popular, let's enjoy another by the same composer: ♫Lover's Waltz♫ Yes, Day Four of rain though there may be a slight brightening. I've been waiting for you a long, long time. Here it is December already!

Saturday evening, we fell asleep to Christmas lights and woke to snow and Christmas lights.

Some of us slept better than others.

He read a book, too. He really did!

Ahhhh, a sunset at day's end. A real sunset! The joy of bare branches and new snow that allow such a scene.

(John and I are currently out for breakfast with Jake. We can't let Sam have all the fun and Jake likes some special time, too. The plan is breakfast out and then play time until he (Jake not John) is ready to go home. I'll keep him as long as he's a happy camper. I'm really hoping that he'll surprise me and stick around awhile.)

Have a terrific New Year's Eve! Have any plans?

2012 in Review~Mosaic Monday

~January 2012~

~February 2012~

~March 2012~

~April 2012~

~May 2012~

~June 2012~

~July 2012~

~August 2012~

~September 2012~

~October 2012~

~November 2012~

~December 2012~

Thank you for indulging me ~ Thank you for visiting me through the year ~ A Very Happy New Year to you!

Linking to Mary's Mosaic Monday at Little Red House.

Christmas or New Days?

I have enjoyed this NOEL sign fresh from The Christmas Tree Shop for a mere $2.99. Perhaps it could stay out for a while. It looks so much like a New England winter.

Some say that Noel has nothing to do with the Nativity of Christ, that it rather comes from the Gaelic meaning "New Days." In that case, I could use it this winter without any qualms whatsoever. Yet, don't you know that every time I see it, I will think Thank you, Lord, for coming to this earth to be one of us. 

It's incredible to think that Jesus existed before he was born in human form. He didn't need to be born to come into existence as the rest of us did. Why was He willing to become the only baby ever born whose soul mission on earth was to die? Love. Pure love. We need a Savior. He is the Savior. That's the truth—straight up.

So "nativity" or "new days" it's all good with me. He's going to go with us into this new year and that's the best news ever.

...It is a land the Lord your God cares for; the eyes of the Lord your God are continually on it from the beginning of the year to its end. ~Deuteronomy 11:12 NIV