MERRY CHRISTMAS - HAPPY NEW YEAR TOO!

Happy Winter Solstice! 

I have been waiting for this day for awhile now, especially since walking to my little job every morning has been in complete darkness.  That's not an issue in a city, but in my town, where the street lights are really only on the corners, the blocks between the lights can be very dark indeed.

I look forward to the light - I look forward to spring and the time of renewal - but here in Manitoba there is a lot of winter to look forward to first.

A lady I follow on YouTube from Ireland calls the misty fog that comes over a mountain and settles into a valley, Dragon's Breath.  We get a lot of Dragon's Breath here were we live, and often are fortunate to get the hoarfrost  covering every surface that follows the fog.

Here are a few more pictures from the batch of photo's I took a few weeks ago of the lovely remains of the Dragon's Breath that blew down upon us from the Riding Mountains.  The photo at the very end is one I took this morning on my dark walk to work.  As you can see once again the Dragon has been blowing his frosty breath upon our town.

I am also sharing a link to a video about the Winter Solstice which I found quite fascinating.  Here in North America we tend to think of it merely as the first day of winter, the shortest day of the year - other countries and cultures regard it as much more.  Take a listen to Colette O'Neill as she shares her wealth of knowledge, and the beautiful Bealtaine Cottage surroundings.

https://youtu.be/B506bN2XMfQ

Along with the photos, I would like to wish each and every one of my followers and readers a very Blessed Christmas, and A Safe, Happy and Healthy New Year!

I will be back in January, but until then, stay well everyone!

Till Then -

24-HOUR SALAD - A FORGOTTEN TREASURE!

Even though Gary and I are going to be alone this Christmas, we are planning a special Christmas dinner as usual.  We may not have family with us to share our feast, but that doesn't mean we will short-change ourselves on tradition.

Part of our Christmas tradition has always been a full turkey dinner for Christmas day.  Turkey, dressing, potatoes, turnip, cabbage rolls, coleslaw, made from scratch cranberry sauce, at the least - and if we had extra guests, I always added more sides, and more salads.

Over the years I have always tried to include a very special salad, which has always been our family favourite, but I haven't made it for quite a few years now, and I decided this year, to make our dinner extra special for just the two of us,  I am going to make "The Salad"

This Salad is actually a meal in itself, and suits very well to most meals, and take it from me, you will be making it more than once, if you try it this year!

24-HOUR SALAD

1 head iceberg lettuce, torn

sugar

6 hard-boiled eggs, sliced

1 10-oz package frozen peas, thawed

1 pound bacon, crisp-cooked, drained and crumbled

2 cups shredded Swiss cheese

1 cup mayonnaise 

In the bottom of a large bowl place 3 cups of the lettuce.  Sprinkle with a little sugar, salt and pepper.

Layer eggs atop the lettuce  and stand some eggs on the edge around the bowl if desired.

Sprinkle generously with salt.

Next: Layer in order: peas, remaining lettuce, bacon and cheese.

Spread mayonnaise over the top, sealing to the edge of the bowl.

Cover and refrigerate for 24 hrs, or overnight.

Garnish with sliced green onion and paprika, if desired.

Toss before serving.

Makes 12-15 servings.

Enjoy!

MEET JERI!

Our world is full of creative, talented persons who use their talents and work extremely hard to make our world a better place.

 I want to introduce to you some of the people I have stumbled upon quite by accident - people who have inspired me to continue to use my own talents to the best of my abilities, and to share my talents with as many as I can, in hopes to inspire someone else.

Please meet Jeri Landers.
Artist
Storyteller
Mistress of the Garden

Jeri is a woman living in Tennessee, whom I first found on the Internet while searching links on Potager Gardens.

She lives on a farm, and if you visit her farm via her YouTube videos, you will see a place of beauty - gorgeous gardens, critters of every kind, and you will also see Jeri's special talents as an artist and storyteller.

Jeri writes children's books, and illustrates all her stories herself.  If you are a parent or grandparent of a young child, you must check out her children's books: Pippity Trimble; Hopalong Jack; Bushky Bushy Bottom and Mamsey...

The link below will take you to her book section on her website.

https://www.jerilanders.com/jeri-s-books

But I would really like to share a video she posted this past week.  This is a wonderful look at Christmas' Past -  in particular The Toys of Children of Christmas' past.  Her talent as a storyteller will take you back to a time in our history where simple pleasures were the order of the day.

So grab your cup of tea, and enjoy Jeri Landers as she takes you on a journey back in time.

Don't forget to subscribe to her channel, if you find her as endearing as I do.

Enjoy!

https://youtu.be/3BsbxxxY0Hw

ALL PATHS LEAD SOMEWHERE!

All paths lead somewhere! 

If you follow the same path over and over again you would eventually create a trail, then a road, and eventually a highway.  Think of all the paths that have become highways, all kinds of highways, large and small, heading in every direction, leading us wherever we need or want to go.

Life is a highway?  Isn't that what we have heard?

Well maybe for some, it is - but for most of us I believe Life is merely a path!  Us ordinary people who are born, live and die as ordinary people, who's paths only go in a couple of directions, and always bring us back to the place where the path started in the first place, are not capable of creating a highway - and if truth be told, perhaps we were never interested in creating one anyway.

 I believe we are more capable of seeing this reality with age, or perhaps we have reached the point where we have decided that the energy needed to create a highway, has long been exhausted.

Thank the Good Lord Above that our ancestors didn't believe as we do.  They, who were the builders of the first highways, started merely from a few simple steps.  Their paths were fueled by their dreams, and sometimes for their need to survive.  

I think about that a lot.  

Maybe more than I should.

Certainly more than would be considered "cool" in this day and time of fast- paced lives making circles of paths that lead nowhere.

I believe those early highway makers - those who walked the path that became a trail, and then a road; would be so disappointed to see how their tired foot prints are being used today.

All paths lead somewhere.  Where are yours headed?

CHOCOLATE FIX ANYONE?

My mother was a great cook and  a great baker.  I can not honestly think of any dish that ever flopped for her.

She made the most amazing brownies.  Not the cakey kind that a lot of people make, but the sweet rich chewy kind that you can't leave alone, once you start eating them.

She usually only made her brownies for special occasions, and Christmas was one of those special times when she would make a few batches and store them in the freezer to serve to guests or to us as a treat over the days of Christmas.

The thing is - her recipe even tastes better frozen, so every year she would bake and store, and every year all five of her children would raid and consume.  When it came time to bring them out of the freezer to serve to guests or to us - they were already gone.

The poor woman would get so mad at us -  every year the same thing occurred, so she started getting creative.  She locked the freezer -  which actually did work, until she forgot where she hid the key, and then of course, we all were in trouble again.
She stored them outside - that didn't work for long - you see we loved winter, so if we had to be out in it just a little bit more to find brownies, well it wasn't really a hardship at all.

Her last brainwave led to the end of her brownies ever being made for us again.  She made a triple batch and put them in a long flat plastic Tupperware container and shoved it in the drawer under the oven.  I don't really think she intended to leave them there, merely just put us off track for a bit before she moved them elsewhere.  In the meantime she decided to use the oven for several hours - I'm thinking maybe she was baking her 12 loaves of bread, which she baked every week.

That particular early plastic Tupperware container melted as did the brownies, and I do believe it was the one and only time I ever witnessed my Mother so angry that she was speechless!

God Bless You, Mom - and I'm so sorry that we all loved your brownies so much!

So today I'd like to share her recipe with my readers.  Go ahead and freeze them, but do yourself a favour and pop one of them in your mouth when it's frozen, you won't regret it.

Dale's Mom's Brownies

1/2 cup melted butter

1cup brown sugar

1 egg

1/2 cup flour

2 tablespoons cocoa powder

1 teaspoon vanilla

3/4 cup walnuts  (optional)

Mom never put nuts in hers and neither do I.

Melt butter, add sugar, egg, vanilla and beat well.  Add dry ingredients, mix well.

Place batter in 8x8 " square pan

Bake 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes

 - - - 

I made some cookies last week, I have no idea who gave me the recipe, but the first thing I said when I took a bite was " They are just like Mom's Brownies"

so here is yet another yummy recipe!

Chocolate Crinkle Cookies

2 cups sugar

3/4 cup vegetable oil

3/4 cup cocoa powder

4 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

2 1/3 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

powdered sugar.

In a large bowl stir granulated sugar and oil together , add cocoa and blend well.

Beat in eggs and vanilla.  

In a separate bowl mix flour, baking powder, and salt.  Add cocoa powder and stir.

Add flour mixture to egg mixture and blend well ( batter will be very sticky)

Cover and refrigerate until dough is firm enough to handle.  I leave mine overnight.

Heat over to 350 degrees.

Grease cookie sheet.  Shape dough into 1 " balls and roll in powdered sugar.  Place balls on cookie sheet and bake 12-14 minutes or until almost no indentation remains when touched lightly, and tops are cracked.

*** Keep batter in fridge between batches, it goes soft and gooey unless kept cool.

Yield 4 dozen cookies

Happy Baking!

SEND ME A LETTER - SNAIL MAIL AND PEN PALS!

Whatever happened to the concept of having a Pen Pal?

Did you have one as a kid, do you have one now?  My answer would be yes to the first - no to the second.

There was a time, when children had their own magazines to read.  They were filled with stories, ideas, adventures, crafts, puzzles, things to do, things to experience, things to think about.  Better yet, they encouraged children to read.

 


At the back of the magazine was the advertisement section - this is where you found a section with a heading of Pen Pals.  You would see names and ages of children who desired to write a letter to another child somewhere in the world.  I can't remember if the addresses were there as well, I think they were.

So you selected a child in some far away place that you had never even imagined, and you wrote a letter and posted it off.

The best part was the anticipation of getting a response!  When you received that first communication back from your pen pal, you couldn't wait to write another letter... and so it went.

Writing to a pen pal, was a great way for children to learn the art of writing, to learn how to communicate, it opened their eyes to other countries, cultures and traditions, and it connected them to real people in a very tangible way.

It's a shame this practice fell out of favour.  The process of writing with a pen or pencil on paper, folding the paper, addressing the envelope and taking it to the post office and watching it be mailed is a really good thing for a child to learn.  To say nothing of practicing the art of writing  - things like grammar, sentence structure, spelling,  all those things that seem to be disappearing from our language at an alarming rate.

I don't know about you, but the pathetic overuse of the work "like" in conversation just really sets me off.  The word like being inserted in every other word of of sentence... "Like - just makes no sense"!

I digress...

My dear friend who recently passed away had a pen pal from Sweden.  They stared writing to each other when they were quite young, and they kept up that practice for over 50 years.  Over the years they shared their lives through letters, and when the Internet became available, they communicated through emails.  I heard from my friend's pen pal yesterday, and she was devastated to hear of her friend's passing - a friend she would have never known or grow to love, if not for a little advertisement in the back of some magazine so many years ago.

Technology has brought convenience, but it has also brought laziness.  It's so easy to fire off an email!   So why write a letter when you can abbreviate an emoji -  filled message that says the same thing?

Why indeed?

My old-fashioned belief that we all need to step away from the convenient aspect of our lives once in awhile is frowned upon - I know this.  But no one will ever convince me that the way we are headed as a species of intelligent human beings, is superior to where we have already been.


If you are interested in finding out more about current-day pen pal trends - check out this blog...it's informative and filled with links to get you to your own pen pal of the future.

Happy letter writing!

https://www.thereadingresidence.com/find-pen-pals/

WHERE IS THE SPIRIT?

What has happened to the Spirit of Christmas?

If you watch all the Hallmark Christmas movies, you will see Hollywood's version of the same story, over and over again.  In fact if you watch more than five of them, you will be able to write the ending to the story all by yourself.

What is the Spirit of Christmas anyway? Or should I say who is the Spirit of Christmas?

I was taught to believe that the Reason for Christmas is the Birth of Jesus, and the Spirit of Christmas is Santa Claus.  I still believe in the Reason, but I'm not sure I still believe in the Spirit.

When I was a child, there was only one Santa Claus.  He rode in on his sleigh during the Santa Claus parade put on by Eatons' store and then you visited that same Santa later on at the Eaton's store.  Santa was the same man to every child in the city - in fact you could go to school as a young child and discuss him with all your friends, because they all had visited the same man as you.  He wasn't seen on TV, or on billboards, or anywhere other than sitting on his guilded Santa chair in Eaton's store.  He was the real deal.  Santa Claus was the kindly friend who never forgot a child, who considered each child a precious thing - precious enough to bring ONE gift every Christmas Eve.  It might not have been the gift you asked him to bring you, but in the end it didn't matter, because he always knew what you liked or wished for, even when you were not sure yourself!

Now-a-days, Santa Claus is the over commercialized gift-giving Guru that looks different every time you see him - and you see him everywhere.  In fact, he now is not even Santa Claus, he's really Santa's helper.   He accepts wish lists a mile long, and he is known to deliver every item on the lists of some of the luckier children.

It seems our greedy society has completely forgotten what the "Spirit of Christmas" is supposed to be about, and they have certainly turned the man who has personified that Spirit for hundred's of years, into a commercial joke.

A real man, who lived in the 4th Century and was born in the Greek city of Myra ( now Turkey) is the reason we celebrate the "Spirit" of Christmas in the first place.   He was an early Christian Bishop during the time of the Roman Empire, and his name was Saint Nicholas. 

Saint Nicholas was a healer and a helper to all in need.  He is considered the Patron Saint of many peoples, including children.  His legendary habit of gift-giving gave rise to our present day Santa Claus.

Saint Nicholas' remains lay in the Basilica di San Nicola in Bari Italy, to this very day!

Saint Nicholas is Venerated in Anglicanism, Baptist, Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy, Lutheranism, Methodism, and Reformed.

It's not the present day Santa's fault that Christmas has become so over-commercialized, - that fault rests with all of us.  We have encouraged this through the years, by feeding into the "I didn't have it as a child, so I'm going to make sure my kids have it all,"  mentality.

We have killed the "Spirit of Christmas" with overindulgence of "things".

We call those things gifts - but they are nothing of the sort.

A gift is?

Here you go - try this.. type in the word gift in google search or whatever search engine you use, and see what you get.  Do it!  I double dog dare you!


I guarantee you won't get this:

gift, n. 1, something given; a present; 2, the power to give or bestow; as, the position is in his gift; 3, natural talent or ability; as, a gift for oratory.



My point is?

Overindulgence has killed our "Spirit", and this can be said of many things, not only Christmas.  We have become a society of entitled overindulgent people, who have forgotten where we started, how we started and who directed us from the very beginning.

We have to go back to the beginning, consider the then, and the now.  Think about the gift that makes not one day special - but every day of our life special.  I can only think of one gift that could possibly make everyone of us happy every day of our lives.

You won't find it in Santa's sleigh, nor in your Christmas stocking, nor under your tree.  You will have to dig a lot deeper for this gift, because it is buried deep within us all - in our hearts.

We call it LOVE - and it is the only gift that can truly make any human happy every day of their life... and we all have it to give.

So this Christmas - give the "gift" that really counts. 

Look up that person you were mad at 20 years ago, give them a call, talk to them and remind yourself what it was about them that made them so special to you, all those years ago...

Go visit someone who is alone.  Young or old - doesn't matter.  It could be the neighbour you know is alone, but you hardly ever talk to;  maybe a relative you haven't seen or even thought of for a long time. 

Take your child out for a coffee, a milkshake, a meal - just you and your child, one on one... they will love it, and so will you.

Call your parents, or better yet, surprise them with a visit when they least expect it... take donuts... or bake them some cookies...  give them the best gift ever - You!

Give the gift that really counts - store bought ones, won't last - but this one will last for a lifetime!

When you give this gift, I think you will find the Christmas Spirit.

 Truly you will - it will be You!

UNTIL WE MEET AGAIN!

Here we are, another new week is upon us.  I have to tell you that nothing I did all of last week could come close the results of my last post.  I am still a little in awe of my own photo's and that almost never happens to me.  Most of the time I am disappointed and certainly overly critical of the work I do with my camera, so to say I am pleased with my photography is a rare thing indeed.

I did manage to get some of the studio tidied up late last week.  I have put away a lot of unfinished projects that I just don't feel up to working on at the moment.

But I have spent a lot of time going through my seeds, both those I saved myself and those I have bought previously.  And better still, I have been pouring over the 2019 seed catalogues and making lists of things I want to order for the 2019 gardening season.

Top of my list is some trees and shrubs, and root stock.  2019 is going to be the year of change on our property.  We are replanting trees where others have been removed, and adding a lot of new ones.

I am ordering fruit trees, shade trees, and a couple of Blue Spruce.  In the meantime, earlier this fall, I was picking up seeds from trees along my walks.  I have popped some of those in pots since then, and I am happy to say, I even have some very tiny seedlings starting from my efforts.


For a few months now, I have been very unsettled.  The kind of unsettled that you can do nothing about, because the events that are unsettling you are beyond your control.

By now I would normally have created a special blog about this, but this has been too close, too heartbreaking, and if I am totally honest with myself, much too hard for me to bear.

You see, a few weeks ago, I lost someone whom I loved so very much.  Someone who had been in my life for fifty years, someone who was a best friend, but so very much more.  I haven't written about her death, because I just can't  - not yet.

My dear friend had cancer four times, and even though we knew this last one would take her from us, when it happened it really knocked me off my axis.  I am trying to figure out why her death has hit so hard.  I am relieved she is no longer suffering, but the rest of me is numb.

We were so much alike, my friend and I.  She loved gardening, and so do I.  She loved country life, country living, and so do I.  She loved being outdoors, and the beauty of nature all around her, and so do I.  We loved the same music - in fact one of the last things I received from her was a CD of Eva Cassidy, sent to me because our favourite song "Somewhere over the Rainbow" was done so well by the late Eva Cassidy.

We could talk about anything, and everything - and we did... even about God... and we did.  She was spiritual, and so am I.  She believed in Angels and Fairies, and so do I.

She had breast cancer, and so did I.

We always called ourselves Kindred Spirits, Sisters in Cancer, and Sisters in life - and we were all of those things.

My beautiful friend - Forever in my heart, "Dear Heart" ... until we meet again! 

UNSURPASSED BEAUTY - WINTER PHOTO SHOOT!

This past weekend, we had fairly mild temperatures and along with that, three days of heavy thick fog.  The result of the fog could be seen each day as the layer of hoarfrost covering every visible surface got thicker as the days went on.

Then on Monday morning the sun came out - the result was stunning!

I walked with my camera for an hour and I shot 200 photo's before my camera decided enough was enough and froze up.

 

The camera wasn't the only thing cold.  Even though it 

was a beautiful mild morning, I decided not to wear my

heavy coat so that I could have better movement, so I wore only

a sweat shirt with a hoodie on top.  I was cold after 20 minutes,

but there was no way I was heading home without getting every

image I could.

I still have the majority of photos to go through, but I think I can say very confidently, that on this particular morning, the camera stole every beautiful image it could.  And once again I must say how Blessed I feel to be living where I do.  I love this place I call home...

This one even made it on to the CBC Manitoba News at 6, on Monday evening.

Many Thanks to Mother Nature for giving me such a beautiful day and such subject material!  You see photo's, but I got to see the real thing and it was awe-inspiring!

Which one is your favourite?  I know mine!

ON OUR WAY TO THE LIGHT!

A couple of days ago I was watching a video from a lady that I  follow who lives in Ireland.  Her name is Colette and she has a website and a YouTube channel called Bealtaine Cottage, which is also the name of her home on three acres in the West of Ireland.

Colette was talking about the darkness of winter, and how it affects so many people adversely.  I personally have never experienced this phenomena, but I know many who have, some in my own family.  They have even given this condition a name - Seasonal Depression.

It is true that winter is dark, and if you work all day in a building where there are few windows or even if you have windows, you might not be able to be near them much, so you go to work in the dark, work all day not really noticing the light, and by the time you are ready to go home again it is once again dark.

I remember those days so well.

What is it about the dark of winter that brings us down?  Is it the lack of Vitamin D?  Is it the inactivity?  Or is it truly the absence of light?

I am very lucky indeed to live in a part of the world where winter has an abundance of bright sunny days - in fact the general rule here is the colder it is the brighter it is.  But even so - I do welcome the dark of winter.  For me it means a time to rest more, especially during the long evenings.  I read more, I listen to more music.  Sad to say, I also watch more TV, spend more time on the computer, but in any case, I don't feel the darkness as a negative thing - I cherish it.

As we work our way through December towards the Winter Solstice, I sort of get a feeling of excitement.  Yes we still have a very long winter ahead of us here in Canada, but in just 18 more days, the days will start getting longer each and every day, the light will be with us longer, and with each new brighter day, we are one day closer to the day the winter will truly be over and spring will have arrived.

There are special lamps one can buy to help you through the darkness of winter.  I know they do work well. There is help...

 Colette lights candles,  I prefer a soft filtered light of a lamp turned low.  Both are restful in their own way, I guess... both embrace the darkness with warmth, not necessarily light.

On days that you can be home during the day - throw open the blinds, let the light in.  If it's a sunny day, move your chair into the sun.  Go for a walk, even if it's cold - bundle up and take a few minutes walk outside, if you are able.

Take extra Vitamin D, or even a multivitamin, we tend not to eat the same amount of Vitamins in the winter as we do in the summer months.

And remember in just 18 more days, we are starting our daily journey towards the light.

The sun still gives us many hours of warm beautiful light each day - seek it out - find that spot on the floor where it rests, and stick by it, and know that soon every day that spot will stay longer and longer, until spring finally arrives.