A Christmas Angel

I finished the angel and she's pretty. I used gold metallic thread and a bit of red metallic thread for a touch of bling. She is after all, an angel. (The metallics don't show up well in the picture.)

I found another of this designer's (Jerome Thomas) patterns in the Winter 2021 issue of Primitive Quilts and Projects magazine and have decided to make that one as well.

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Some will say it is too early, but I took my Christmas trees out of the closet this week. They are not decorated and won't be until next week, but I wanted to get them set up so I can decorate whenever the spirit moves me.

There are three trees, one in the kitchen, dining room, and living room. I usually get a real tree for the living room but due to rising costs decided to buy an artificial one this year. I like that artificial trees come in 'slim' designs. The one I bought is only 3 feet wide. I used to have an artificial in NYC and when I moved here, made sure the tree was loaded up on the truck. A few years ago I went down stairs to get the box containing the tree and much to my surprise and chagrin, the box was empty! Whether the tree was taken while in NY or was taken during the move, I know not. (I had it stored in the basement of my apartment building, a shared space.) It is a mystery!

Our weather here has been cool but mild for this time of year. We are having a string of days with highs in the low 40s and lows in the upper 30s. That makes it hard to provide heat because the stove does not do so well if the outside temp is over 40. I lit the stove tonight but did not do so last night. It's fine by me, it means I'm not going through wood at the moment; and it's less work.

I bought a hot water bottle a few weeks ago. It's the best purchase I've made in a long time. I fill it with hot water before going to bed and place it where my feet will lie. No more cold feet while waiting for the sheets to warm up! They are a big deal in England, an acquaintance recently related that the latest thing over there are long, skinny hot water bottles which one can cozy up to. Cool. (Or shall we say 'hot'!). I love simple solutions.

Preparing for the festive season and cooler temps

The temperature dipped low enough for a fire a few weeks ago. The 9th, to be exact. Low 20's F overnight. It always feels good to light a fire for the first time of a season. The enveloping warmth and coziness brings a smile to my face. In the spring it feels like winter will never let go and I wonder how much more stoking the fire I can take. But in the autumn, it's just the opposite; full of romantic notions and the joy of fulfilling basic needs.

Several preparations are underway for the festive season, soon to be upon us. I made a Christmas cake the other day. Full of fruit (36 oz. worth!), full of spirits (brandy, marsala, port), full of spice (cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves). Oh the house smelled so good during and after it's five hour baking. It's all wrapped up now and sitting in a tin until Christmas. I can't wait to taste it!

I used a recipe from Marion's World. The written recipe is in the description box of her video, but do watch it, she's such a delightful person and her channel is fantastic.

I purchased a new Amaryllis bulb this year and contrary to last year, I have planted it on time! I also have the bulb from last year which grew outside all summer. It looks like it's doing something as well. Also this year are three Paper White bulbs. It's going to be glorious when they're all in full bloom.

(l to r) Geraniums brought in from the cold, the new Amaryllis bulb, Paper Whites, the old Amarylis bulb.

I've been steadily sewing, mostly holiday projects. The Santa ornament is finished:

The angel is well underway and will be finished this week:

I have started to applique the pillow cover.  This will take a few weeks:

And the only thing remaining on the snowman table runner is a bit more embroidery on the scarves:

 

A few years ago I bought a book at one of the local thrift shops, just a few bucks. It's a book of Christmas cross stitch patterns. I've never done cross stitch but I want to. When I got it home I found a project that someone had started, folded up and stuck between the pages. It will be a postman delivering Christmas packages when done. I sent away for embroidery floss in the colors needed to finish it and away it all went, up stairs in the room which houses all my craft things (which looks more like an attic at the moment). I brought it down stairs the other day and am meaning to tackle it. Since it's already started and a fair amount of stitching has already been done, I think it will be a good project to start with.

As I write this post I'm enjoying the aroma of Balsam Fir incense. The holiday season is indeed around the corner!

Reflections on an election

Pity the nation whose people are sheep and whose shepherds mislead them.

Pity the nation whose leaders are liars, whose sages are silenced, and whose bigots haunt the airwaves.

Pity the nation that raises not its voice except to praise conquerors and acclaim the bully as hero and aims to rule the world with force and by torture.

Pity the nation that knows no other language but its own and no other culture but its own.

Pity the nation whose breath is money and sleeps the sleep of the too well fed.

Pity the nation – oh, pity the people who allow their rights to erode and their freedoms to be washed away.

My country, tears of thee, sweet land of liberty.

-- Lawrence Ferlinghetti (2007)

“If we are to have another contest in the near future of our national existence, I predict that the dividing line will not be Mason and Dixon's but between patriotism and intelligence on the one side, and superstition, ambition and ignorance on the other.”

― Ulysses S. Grant

The following multifaceted poem is not so easy. Definitely takes a detached view, maybe not a bad thing, but not an easy thing. I suppose on the one hand, it's an honor and privilege to be able to experience the decay, but it's not easy and I don't know if it's inevitable. But it gives us an opportunity to shine, there is that; to look on the bright side. ("Only in the darkness can you see the stars" -- MLK.) I feel the ending of this poem is a bit pessimistic. We must have faith in humanity. Maybe Jeffers is just advising to be cautious.

Shine, Perishing Republic

While this America settles in the mould of its vulgarity, heavily thickening to empire

And protest, only a bubble in the molten mass, pops and sighs out, and the mass hardens,

I sadly smiling remember that the flower fades to make fruit, the fruit rots to make earth.

Out of the mother; and through the spring exultances, ripeness and decadence; and home to the mother.

You making haste haste on decay: not blameworthy; life is good, be it stubbornly long or suddenly

A mortal splendor: meteors are not needed less than mountains: shine, perishing republic.

But for my children, I would have them keep their distance from the thickening center; corruption

Never has been compulsory, when the cities lie at the monster's feet there are left the mountains.

And boys, be in nothing so moderate as in love of man, a clever servant, insufferable master.

There is the trap that catches noblest spirits, that caught — they say — God, when he walked on earth.

-- Robinson Jeffers

And always remember this Turkish proverb:

"When a clown moves into a palace, he doesn't become a king. The palace becomes a circus."