Merry Christmas

 

Christmas finally arrived...

 

 

Many Yummy things were eaten

 

 

Some of which are now almost gone...oops

 

 

The tree lights fought back but were still sparkling

 

 

And we had fresh snow...

 

 

and New sleds for Christmas

 

 

And we were watched over by our New Nutcracker Bear

who is loved (and for $4 dollars in a sale ..worth far more to us than we paid for him :0)  )

 

We have been having a lovely Christmas ...I hope you are too!

Merry Christmas 

Even Moose play

A video posted on facebook by a person from the Valley here..hope it plays

It's snowing

quite heavily in fact....rather wet snow and quite sticky and deep. Fingers crossed we don't get the several hours of freezing rain that's due this afternoon...gulp swallow.

So it's hug the stove and dive into this novel (kindly found for me by the library...don't you just love libraries)

Out with the old.....

I'm a bit sore and a bit grumpy and after an earthquake this evening a 5.8 (epicenter twenty five miles away) I'm a bit disconcerted ...I'm not partial to them really and that one was a sway 'er so made for feeling nauseous.
After last years snow season (we had record amounts) this year we have a record lack there of...ho hum Just 2 or 3 inches of increasingly polished powder and loads of totally beautiful ice crystals building up on surfaces outside. It is a cruel cold season so far though ..our highest temperature this season has beaten our lowest temperature for this time last year and I feel for the small birds that feed in constant rotation on the fat and seed feeder by the front door.How they survive this cold I do not know.

I'm sore and grumpy after surgery on Friday..I finally decided to deal with an imbalance caused by bc ..it's no good being a half buxom lass.. it does nothing for your posture or balance  (well it did nothing for mine anyway) So I decided to go for not buxom at all...  I am now strapped up like a twenties flapper and am awaiting results. Hopefully it'll be worth the fuss as I'm not partial to anesthesia..it gives me such a hangover...yuk...but after viewing last Summers holiday snaps,  sad truths had to be faced up to. Next it's some dental attention  and then a lot of work in the gym to compensate for loss of muscle strength. I don't recommend BC followed by breaking a leg followed by dislocating a collar bone and tearing up shoulder tendons..it's terribly aging to say the least. So now if I'm not working on a new me I am at least trying to resuscitate the old one...and who knows with a bit of time (some chocolate) a new hair cut who knows.

For now I'm settling on a little chocolate and a good book and I can dream of being as stylish as Miss Brooks can't I !

Once upon an Art Room: Clay - Project 3 - Teddy Bears

Once upon an Art Room: Clay - Project 3 - Teddy Bears: These were amazingly easy and could probably be done with fairly young kids (as long as they know how to properly join clay pieces togethe...

Got to try these :0)

Lest We Forget

"They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years contemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them."

From "The Fallen" by Laurence Binyon

November Already!!!

Is it me or is this year charging along at a breakneck pace?


Since last post ....
We decided to indulge ourselves with really enthusiastic and totally disgusting colds and coughs plus conjunctivitis for variety...My other half could've been cast in a  True blood episode when you saw his eyes ..but he's much better now and mine are improving....but the kids so far have avoided sore eyes (but I'm not holding my breath)..we just snuffle and hack along. Which is why we're sitting by the stove watching Looney tunes cartoons on a Saturday morning.

The Weather...we have the remains of a couple of inches of powder snow scattered about and it continues cold (or feels it because we have colds?) it's about 16 f out their as I type.

And of course we couldn't miss Halloween....Ambitions were high "I'd like to be a twenty foot Basilisk this year" and "I'd like to be a Centaur" The Basilisk accepted shrinking for practicalities sake and the Centaur was changed to Tweety pie (it was too cold to go topless ..and preferable)

Books read...
A Simple Murder by Eleanor Kuhns

A Murder mystery with an Historical setting that takes place around a Shaker community. There is a nice review of the novel here

Ok My memory is even more wooly than usual as I read another Novel that I enjoyed but apart from remembering that the authors first name is Kate ..I'm totally stumped (Can I blame the cold ...please)
So I'll get back on this one .



Radio Highlights
First a cracker of a play from the 90's
The Stones of Muncaster Catherdral by Robert Westall
A Scary story involving a steeplejack... Joe Clarke's encounter with a grotesque gargoyle, that sits upon the Tower he must work on and the effects of the evil influence it wishes to exert upon his schoolboy son. It's a great listen for the dark time of year.

Also from the 90's a  really enjoyable  Radio series
The Virgin in the Ice by Ellis Peters just the listen when it's icy and frozen outside. Phillip Madoc makes an enjoyable Cadfael and Michael Hordern's voice is lovely as the narrator.

(Sis if you want me to turn my wireless up give me a shout)

So now it's Christmas rushing closer but Thanksgiving will be here first so I better get my act together! and thinking of pumpkin pie , the girls pumpkins this year were ALL there own work !

 Hoping you had a Happy Halloween ! and does anyone know a great way to remove Green face paint ? The poor Basilisk still has a rather vivid green tinge.....oops

It's October now...help that went fast!

The Weather....
OK it's a tad wet..still could be worse.could be snow...webbed feet/snowboots decisions decisions...Snow forecast for the weekend the rain also means that so far all the amazing Aurora shows have been hidden each night by low rain clouds...drat it


Books Read/reading....
Moved on to MC Beaton and some Agatha Raisin mysteries..
 Hiss and Hers: An Agatha Raisin Mystery (no 23)
As The Pig Turns: An Agatha Raisin Mystery (no 22)
Agatha Raisin and the Busy Body :An Agatha Raisin Mystery (no 21)


Yep read them in the reverse order by chance rather than design...just fancied some easy reads for endlessly wet days....I'm not a complete fan but they worked for this weather. Taken with Tea and fruitcake (bye bye waistline)

Good radio with an Autumn dark evenings/Halloween feel
from 1977
a Saturday Night Theatre "Rightful Possession" by Valerie Georgeson
A couple move into an old house in the country aiming to live happily ever after... but what is that strange smell...and why does the antique cradle rock when it has not been touched?      Rather creepy

Another SNT from 1978 starring Simon Cadell as the new Vicar "The girl who didn't want to be" by Frederick Bradnum.
Is there a ghost haunting the church? and if there is what should the Vicar and his wife do?   A fun listen

A third SNT from 1981 "The Autonomous Murder Complex" also by Frederick Bradnum
Interesting ...is the main character an insane murderer? even he doesn't know.


And now for a Summer memory...I think this is a Magical Dragon iceberg ...what do you think?

It's September!
and I'm trying to catch up..after a Summer of Camping , fishing and concentrated house repair and decoration.. so here goes

The Weather....
Rain/Wind Rain/Wind Storms Rain/Windstorms and flood warnings ...need we say more?

Books Read/reading....
I'm escaping to Venice via Donna Leon's -"Beastly Things" (A Commissaro Guido Brunetti Mystery) Page 69 and I'd like to read it now but must do chores

Exciting events ?
Nope none really ..We fitted a new toilet (which is only exciting to those who knew the charms and efficiencies of the old one...Whooo hooo this one works !!!!!!)
Dog is improving (bit of a back step when the phone rang a moment ago...bells ringing does not mean chew the moving human..drat him)
Found a fun video for the girls to dance to..

(song available from amazon..we bought it :0) )


Radio Plays/Audio books.
Enjoyed Jim Dales reading of JK Rowling's The Chamber of Secrets.
And also to my surprise a reading of Bram Stoker's Dracula read by Anthony Valentine.
(It's an abridged reading from Talking Classics)

Listened to two good radio plays
Death's Head Berlin by  Jack Gerson from 1987  Starring Bob Peck .
An engrossing and absorbing glimpse of Germany and the rise of Hitler set within a Murder hunt.

Dead Man's Bay by PM Hubbard  from 1966
Set after the War on the coast near a Navel establishment...smuggling and espionage in a time when life was less ambiguous ..Brilliant

Fun Finds...

Melamine Rice Bowls and Bamboo chopsticks on Bargain Sale at the local Grocery store..much fun trying to use chopsticks is planned for this weekend :0)

Australian fruitcake..real yummy fruitcake ..I can now have a slice of fruitcake made with cherries and sultanas with a big mug of  tea...YES  (they also sell custard creams and other biccies from Australia..who know ?!)

Note to self ..
"Go steady on the fruitcake or you'll turn into one"

Ice in July

Just got back after 16 days (15 nights) base camping on a Glacial Spit . It was Brilliant...exhausting ..but Brilliant.
Every Night we lay in our tent and could here the Glacier calving ..it sounded like the deep rumble of Thunder. We saw Dall Porpoises, Seals, Otters, Sea and shore birds galore..even Hummingbirds. A small  Minke Whale fishing and even a porcupine. (fortunately very few mosquitoes and only Black bear scat ..not the bear)..We had brilliant weather ..only 4 days of solid rain in the middle and then we settled down in our tent..worshiped the Wood stove played cards, read drank lots of tea and read the Hobbit aloud. The girls made a huge and colourful set of paper dolls from paper from their sketch pads and had great fun.

We Kayaked to the next bay which had quite a different character so more photos next post.

Beached iceberg on the shores of the Lagoon.

Glacier in background ,last nights icebergs waiting for the tide.

Our campsite...Sleeping and eating tents.

Me..walking on the Spit towards the Glacier.

Seals breed in the Lagoon.

The continually changing ice face.

Sunrise at 3am.

The dog worked out how the folding chairs worked and opened it up himself.

Visit to UK part 2..... Shrewsbury

Shrewsbury

Walking and tea and cakes :0)

First the Shrewsbury Castle

 

The buildings contain the Shropshire Regimental Museum.

The highest point is Laura's Tower..where you get great views...

 

Of the countryside,

the Station

and the Shrewsbury Abbey Church

Then a walk around the Ancient streets enjoying the buildings.

 

all enjoyed with a favourite Aunt

Then Tea and Coffee, Milk and iced water and large slices of Victoria Sandwich, Coffee Cake, Battenburg and Chocolate Brownies at our favourite Cafe in the Old Hospital. Delicious!

And a final diversion of a walk to the Abbey after visiting the river Severn via Traitors gate.

(" During the English Civil War the town was a Royalist stronghold and only fell to Parliament forces after they were let in by a traitor at the St Mary's Water Gate (now also known as Traitor's Gate)*.)

*info from here

The River was very high but not yet flooding.

 Inside the Abbey Church

 

The remains of Abbey survived the reformation as the local Church..it lost much size but most of the building is original and it's nice to think the Monks worshiped within these walls.

A Super day Sis :0)

Visiting the UK part 1

This is a post written by a jet lagged person ...so I hope it makes sense ...fingers crossed

First Catch a train...

 

Arrive at the destination Manchester Museum of Science and Industry

 

A taste of the textiles section

making braid

 

 

Loom

Knitted tube machine

 

the buildings themselves were fascinating

and on the way back to the train an unusual building...

The museum is free and full of fascinating things from cars to carriages, planes, engines, helicopters, computers even a Kamikaze ...well worth several visits (and great cupcakes at the cafe)