Happy New Year Everyone!

Here's Auld Lang Syne from You Tube.

ABC Wed. - "X" = X-Tra Special

This is one of my plants in my yard. I love the looks of this plant (forgot the name), but it's nice in the summer and I thought it looked X-tra special with the snow on it.

X-tra special
X-tra extraordinary

To see more ABC Wed. participants, go here: Mrs. Nesbitts Place

Poems In Shops, Bits and Bobs

Phew! Two days of utter, joyful chaos and now we're drowning in Hotwheels track, Marble runs and (joy of joys) a remarkably lifelike remote controlled tarantula. That scuttles.

I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas, and there is good news about Eryl, as although she has had to undergo an operation she is expected to be in hospital for just over a week to recover and then can go home for a longer recovery, after which all should be well.

And no, I did not got to the sales on Boxing Day (how do people do that?), but whilst doing my Christmas shopping on Wednesday (personal record - 3 hours), I managed to get a few ready-mades in the right places and photographed. These are some of my bookmarks, which normally have a section from a longer poem on them, although "Conversations in Nithsdale" is just the four lines long.

The closest to white stilettoes I could find for "The Countess Bathory of Romford".


From "Homemaker".


And "Conversations in Nithsdale".


And now a picture of a small dog sleeping for a small girl of my acquaintance.


Finally, I must bid you all a very happy New Year tonight, as tomorrow the small ones and me are off to my heartland to spend a week with Mum and my family. Husband, big ones and dog all work-committed, unfortunately.

Still, we get to stay at a dream of a hotel (same one each year, it's Mum's present to us), so it really is like a holiday. We get an apartment too, so no sharing bedrooms or trying to watch the television silently whilst the children sleep. The hotel is an original Essex Manor House, now converted and has a fascinating history which I'll probably bore you with when I get home!


My love and very best wishes to all of you, and see you in the Brand New Year. 2010, it's got a kind of ring about it already!

Now off to do the packing...

Stampin sisters in Christ Challenge

I love this sketch and this group of women!! you should check out their blog--http://stampinsistersinchrist.blogspot.com/

anyway here is my take on the sketch they provided!! and a big thanks to all of the inspiration!

May our Lord continue to guide you all in making such beautiful scrappy goodies! and May he watch over you and your families during the holidays!!

ABC Wed. -"W" = Window

Today is ABC Wed. and the letter "W" for window. I took this photo of one of the shops in Boalsburg, about a 15 minute drive from Bellefonte. I thought it has a nice cozy warm feel to it.

To see more ABC Wed. participants, go here: Mrs. Nesbitts Place

Real News

The beautiful, talented and unfeasibly intelligent (she reads Nietzsche, for God's sake!) Eryl, aka The Kitchen Bitch, is in a bad way in hospital and facing abdominal surgery.
Full details are at Kim Ayres' blog, here: http://kimayres.blogspot.com/2009/12/support-for-kitchen-bitch.html , and if you're on Facebook you can leave messages of support (he's got all the details).

However, if anyone wants to leave a message here I have an efficient post-policeman who can get stuff up to the Dumfries and Galloway Infirmary (she's in Ward 6) on a daily basis, so I can print off any messages and send them not-so-very-snail mail.

Let The Little Ones Do The Work

Firstly, thank you for all your good wishes, and whilst not recovered the combination of husband's return to work after his days off, plus Night Nurse, Day Nurse, Sudafed Max and every other cold and flu remedy I can lay my hands on have left me having to be ambulant whilst as high as a kite and quite unable to write anything sensible.

However, in a vague attempt to wean the children from their current addiction to Skull Island (a sort of pinball-with-hazards type game, the noise of which as a ball-bearing negotiates a track is unbearable), we carried on from this morning's Nativity at Church (one Herod, one Shepherd) by having a little bit of quiet time making decorations and writing poems (the children, not me - anything I write at the moment would be an LSD fantasy considering the amount of drugs that are circulating my system).

So in the spirit of "It's all about the children", here are their poems. Acrostics are all the rage at school, I fear, so do allow for the fairly idiosyncratic spelling of Joseph. All (sic).

From the materialist:

Santa is up all night delivering presents.

Toasty warm fires everywhere.

Oh, I wonder what Santa got me?

Christmas is always happy.

Kings gave Jesus gifts of gold. frankincense and myrrh.

In the field there is lots of snow.

Nice presents are in our stockings.

Great Christmas Decorations.

Snowy days are fun days.

From the rather more spiritually inclined:

Jesus is the son of God,

Everlasting son of God, it is Jesus.

So there can be peace on earth, let me know,

Usually there is war, let there be peace on earth,

So we are happy as can be, it is done by God our Lord in Heaven bright.

Mary will be the mother of him,

Already we have passed from that,

Ready for a war, no, let there be peace.

You love me and everyone, it is what You were born for.

Jesus can make wishes true,

Oh, for the pride he brings to us!

So the Lord can spread the light,

Everyone needs the light

Fairies and Angels come to one thing, Heaven.

Donkey, little donkey, don't go now

Oxen graze by their side

No one else can break His promise,

Kings are good and wealthy

Even bringing Him birthday gifts

You and me will love each other forevermore.

Santa is not important
To the Lord of the skies,
And there God and Heaven rise
Rise to each other.

And so to the decorations. This is not a snowball handbag. I don't know what it is, but IT IS NOT a snowball handbag.

This, however, is Santa on his toilet roll sleigh. With Rudolph.

Hoping for a better day tomorrow so I can come visiting!

Camera Critters - Duck Looking in the Distance

This duck is looking out into the distance at Tallyrand Park.

To see more participants of Camera Critters hosted by Misty, go here: http://camera-critters.blogspot.com/

Back soon!

Apologies for the absence of late, but have been more than a little under the weather. Back soon, I hope.

Happy Birthday to me!!

Can I just say that I have one of the most amazing friends in the world yes I said the world--ok so my scrap buddy txrnc well let me tell you she gave me the best scrappy present for my bday that anyone could want!! so I tried to take pics so that everyone could see what I got and I had to take 2 yep thats right 2 pics just to get it all in. anyway I just wanted to give a big shout out THANKS TO VERONICA!! Here are the pics--yes its ok go ahead you can drool --hehehe!

My Mind's Eye challenge

ok so my buddy txrnc posted about this and I had to check it out and totally cool challenge so I decided to give it a try! so here is my take on the sketch this was fun!! I had been wanting to do this pic of my mom and marina. Ok so we had to do some pp flowers--I decided to do my own take on the classics. The first one is using my punch in different styles and sizes and then layering them together. I did them in different colors, bent some of them, add marker and stickles to a few to make them different. I also did my own take on lollipop flowers I used some of my embellies as the centers of the flowers again changing them up!! Hope you enjoy this page I really do!

Sky Watch Friday - Walkway at Tallyrand Park

This is looking out over the walkway at Tallyrand Park in Bellefonte.

To see more participants of Sky Watch Friday go here: http://skyley.blogspot.com/

GREAT GIVEAWAY!!

Ok you all have to check this out and go do it!!! This is such an amazing awesome giveaway!!

go check it out http://www.gcdstudios.blogspot.com/

40 40 40!!!!

OMG I cant believe that I am going to be 40 the big4--0--!! hehe! Its all good because for one I know I look good for my age and second I am at a good place in my life and truly blessed with so much. I love how God has touched my life and continues to put peace in my life when chaos surrounds me! So lets see oh yeah I WON!! yeah a big thanks to Amber --http://amberscurlock.blogspot.com/ for the chance to win!! You should ck out her blog! Gosh cant believe another year almost gone. Time sure does fly by when your having fun. Wow I cant believe how big the kids have gotten and how far we have come as a family. God is awesome he has blessed me with amazing and awesome family and friends. ok enough of the sappy stuff! hehe! So this friday is my bday and we have lots planned. We are going to going out for some dinner and drinks with family and friends. The whole weekend is mine mine mine!! ok so I know I say this everytime but I am going to really try to blog more--new years resolution??? haha! but hey im gonna keep trying!

ABC Wed. - "V" = "Vibrant" Colors

This photo was taken at Fun Unleashed in their laser tag play area.

To see more ABC Wed. participants, go here: Mrs. Nesbitts Place

Monday Poem: Christmas Vignettes

I was hoping for the twelve days of Christmas, but only got to nine. You'll be relieved to hear.

When I Believed

I

Father Christmases are a flurry of moments
that compact together to a single snowdrift memory,
as fresh and as deep.
It is not snowing, though, for Dad’s ritual,
pre-lunch, post present-frenzy and fry-up,
was to hose down the top yard, the middle yard
and the bottom yard: cleanliness being
next to godliness in the slaughterhouse,
and this was the godliest day of the year.
We never killed on Christmas Day,
even if it was a Sunday.
Eid came parlous close one year,
but the crescent moon waxed,
just before our star stopped.

II

From those credulous years, I can only remember
three sleigh-delivered presents,
and one of those my younger brother’s -
the shaking wrist doll who threw a dice
like a Vegas high roller;
for Robert could not but cheat at games,
else wail on losing.
The doll, like any good gambler, took losing in good part,
always came back for more, and never cottoned on
to the fact the dice was loaded.

III

My first, firmest remembered is Mousy,
and whilst I recall his arrival,
suspect the reason he nested in my mind
has more to do with my leaving him once
with Uncle Edwin in Abergavenny.
Yes, we left, three decks fully laden
Yes, we got a fair way home,
Yes, I screamed the cab down,
Yes, sheep, lorry and Dad turned round.
I think Mousy finally bought the farm in Knightsbridge,
sacrificed during a spree at The Scotch House,
and mother never so malleable.

IV

The last of the three, the typewriter that didn’t come:
I had dreamed its keys, my expertise, for a month.
Having descended to the present room,
Santa had been, but not, bad girl, for me.
Shock; horror; guilt; tantrum; tears,
until laughing parents made bigger brothers
take me back upstairs, to behind the curtains
of the half-way landing windowsill.
There sat the steel-grey typewriter,
waiting for me to strike it.
I think we specialised, at our house,
in cruelty as entertainment.

V

There was a year it did snow,
and after dark we were all out
skidding standing on tea trays.
Mum joined in. Mum fell.
Mum snapped her wrist.
Snow silence, then how we laughed,
and anyway, said Dad, look on the bright side
the hospital’s across the road.
Next day, she cooked Christmas dinner
for the usual twelve, for who else?

VI

My top bunk gave the bird’s eye view
of the junction of South Street and Oldchurch Rd,
and better, of Jock and Vi’s house,
which was our house, only they stayed there.
Jock slaughtered, Vi sold the station flowers,
both drank, neither washed much.
Most nights something came flying
out their door, followed by Jock,
or vice versa, for he was a little man.
One year a sideways-sloping Christmas tree
in the front window (they didn’t do curtains)
was secured at star height to the vacant rail
with a pair of tan tights, stretched out
so the gusset hung down.
I laughed because we all did,
but even I got the joke when Vi
ran the flashing lights along the tights as well.

VII

Rows at Christmas were the best all year,
a whole day in the house together,
the turkey tension palpable.
Were it not perfect, my father’s plate
would hit the ceiling, sometimes sticking,
dependent on gravy to bread sauce ratio,
for a whole minute; by which time
there was no table for it to land on,
for he had turned that over too.
We’d run, hide, I’d read aloud,
very loud, to Robert,
and by the time we got to bickering
one of the big boys had come to find us.
The table got righted, we got fed
on mis-matched plates, but best of all
the brussels could never be saved.

VIII

Come the evening, our ranks would swell
with drunk Uncles, Aunts and not-Aunts,
who would all be shepherded to that massive table,
and twenty of us sat for “Stop the Cab”,
the greatest card game ever invented.
We innocents always won,
yet I never wondered why,
so certain of my own superiority
and Robert’s ability to cheat.
The final hand of the night, stakes raised
from copper pennies to silver tanners,
and either he or I got three Kings,
shouted “Stop the Cab!”, and collected the pot.
I can’t recall what I enjoyed more as winner:
the chink of the money in my hands
or his uncomfortable wailing.

IX

Christmas gave you confidence back then
that no matter how bad things got
things would be as they always were.
But times change, and no one rows properly anymore.
We forgave each other easier in those days,
closer to Jesus, perhaps, than you might think.

Camera Critters - One House and Lots of Lights

Here's one house with lots of light decorations. I was driving around just to see lights one night and spotted this one on a side road in Boalsburg. Boalsburg is about a 15 minute drive from Bellefonte. This is a must see if you go looking at lights. I can't imagine their electric bill.

I loved this one. A horse and cariage.

A few photos I snapped of idividuals, a working carousel...

...and a penquin with the igloo.

This Navity scene was off to the right of this house.
And, just a few more pictures...You can't take just one photo of this house. There's alot going on.


To see them up close, just double click on photo and they will enlarge.

To see more participants of Camera Critters hosted by Misty, go here: http://camera-critters.blogspot.com/

To see Pet Pride and what my dog, Tucker, got for Christmas in 2004, go here to: Barb's Blog

Woody Things

Too many things, not enough hours at the moment, so as an act of charity my husband took me on a tree-break today, as the only two kinds I can recognise on my own are London Planes and Shoe-Trees.
The excursion was because I had read swiss's (?) post here, http://theswisslounge.blogspot.com/2009/12/tree-poems.html

which he derived from Colin Will's post here,

http://sunnydunny.wordpress.com/2009/12/10/the-trees-workshop/

I gave myself an hour and came up with these. My folklore tells me that elm was traditionally used to make coffins and that Christ's cross was made of aspen.

Before we go all poem, thanks to both Poetikat for her recent award to me, and to Wigeon for her not so recent one. Ladies, I am honoured; more anon.

Elm Hateth Man, and Waiteth

“Who lives in thee, elm tree?”
“No one,” cried the rooks,
“No one and nothing live in this tree,
Come closer, and see.”

“Who lives in thee, elm tree?”
“Spirits,” cried the rooks,
“Spirits departed live in this tree,
Come closer, and see.”

“Who lives in thee, elm tree?”
“You shall,” cried the rooks,
“You shall arrive to live in this tree,
Come closer, and see.”

“Who lives in thee, elm tree?”
No creature hailed me,
No creature spoke for my deadwood tree,
Save me, save me.

There is an Accursed Tree

At the death of a tree
the earth conspires
to cast a long shadow.

Sideways single aspen,
sucker root bred
was not one, but many.

Yet the grove is over,
sorrowful stand,
west winds found you out,

to leaf-murmur no more
heartwood remorse
at the holding of Christ.

Sky Watch Friday - Snow

Photo is of this past Saturday's snowfall. This photo is in my neighborhood.

To see more participants of Sky Watch Friday go here: http://skyley.blogspot.com/

International Poems in Shops #2

Hurrah! Work took me to town, town means shops, so here's my second go at International Poems In Shops Month (see Niamh B's blog, here, http://variouscushions.blogspot.com/ and scroll around a bit).
All a bit feminismo Kate Millett this time. I was a 70's adolescent.
Stuck with englynion for the first, but the form seems to make me vitriolic:

So a looser four lines for the second:


Full text:

I cannot recall a lesbian urge,
so why these crushes, this carried torch,
for Paloma, Lady Gaga, and that lanky red-head
from Florence and the Machine? Boy singers, you cannot hold a candle.

And yes, this time the poems remained in situ. I was a little worried about the first as it could be construed as incitement under English Law, but luckily (?) this was Scotland and my legal adviser assures me that, at worst, it would be a breach of the peace if the officer investigating was in a bad mood.

For more Poems In Shops antics, see Rachel's blog, here: http://crowd-pleasers.blogspot.com/2009/12/lightness.html

ABC Wed. "U" = Unique and Unbelievable!

Today is ABC Wed. and the letter "U".

Here's a couple of unique newspaper dispensers. I found these in Altoona mall. One is a farm and the other one is Frankenstein. If you click on the photo to enlarge you can see a better view and Frankenstein has shoes on too.


Here's another photo I took with the letter U...Unbelievable! This past Saturday we woke up to some snow. I took this photo standing in my yard looking out into the neighborhood. It was more unbelievable when it snowed in October, but I'd rather spend all year in warmer weather.


To see more ABC Wed. participants, go here: Mrs. Nesbitts Place

Take the Illustration Challenge #3

Once again, a marvellous illustration challenge from ArtSparker, here: http://artsparktheatre.blogspot.com/2009/11/challenge-3.html

Take this image and develop;

Not one the boys fancied, so I'm venturing out on my own with this one.

Monday Poem (and pictures)

Posting this now as early up tomorrow and a too big work day. The Christmas Fair this afternoon was great, particularly the Lady GaGa-on-stilts Christmas Fairy. Although thinking about it, Lady GaGa has probably appeared on stilts herself.

Busy working on a massive triptych of a poem "Meditations on Pain" (working title), inspired by the Penpont bestseller, 'Transcriptions from Old Dalgarnock Graveyard' . So in the meantime, here's a lot of pictures and not much poem.

A Clear Day

I walked awhile with death.

Today, glass shards glint

from the mud puddles;

wheel ruts, Lilliputian Andes.

The shadows are sharp and long

and brilliant white

and delight in frost.

There is a saltire sky

over the sandstone kirk:

I should like

one more day
such as this.

What does this mean?

I got this e-mail today. What does it mean and who else has had one?

"Hi,
I was curious what it would take to get a text link on your blog saying something like ³Tungsten Wedding Bands² or ³Tungsten Wedding Rings² with a hyperlink to our site (www.superiorweddingrings.com). We are a relatively new company and we are currently trying to improve our page ranking on Google. We operate on a small budget, and we would be more than willing to give you a tungsten ring from our site in exchange for a link. Let me know if this would be something that you would be interested in. Thanks for any help you can give us.
Thank You
Nick
Superior Wedding Rings"

I have checked, it's a real site. Does poor Nick know I don't have the blog-technique to link to anything?


Why couldn't Mercedes get in touch?

Now I'm off to a Christmas Fair! Yippee!

Camera Critters - Skunks, Snowman and Santa

Here's a few Camera Critters for today. Today is Saturday and it's snowing outside. It should be our first snow but it isn't. It's our second snow, because our first snow was in October when it was still autumn outside.

Here's a photo of our neighbors yard with a Santa and Snowman. I really like how the bench looks in the snow.


Here's a picture of my skunks in the snow in my front yard...


To see more participants of Camera Critters hosted by Misty, go here: http://camera-critters.blogspot.com/

I also wanted to tell you about a site I found from visiting another blog. I recently visited a blog called Cici's Corner, and she listed a place you can go to here to get your blog put into a book. I thought this was a neat idea and will have to check it out further. I don't know anything about this site yet, but will be taking a look around. Thought I'd share it with all of you. Go to: Blog 2 Print

And, if you want to learn more about why I started my three blogs, visit my other blog here to find out. Go to Barb's Blog

Sky Watch Friday - Morning Moon

The moon in the morning.

To see more participants of Sky Watch Friday go here: http://skyley.blogspot.com/