Mauvais Chien

 

 

These are my Christmas gifts. Some good reads, a gorgeous book on Hacienda's (which have me obsessed at the moment), an old rosary, a wooden fish block print carving, candles, hand cream and some beautiful soaps. One called Sugar and the other Sugar Plum. Frenchie took a liking to the Sugar Plum and proceeded to remove it from the table and tear it open, taking a nice chunk off the corner and proceeding to lick, lick, swallow and lick some more in disgust at the taste. I had to give him a large slice of last nights Grey Poupon glazed ham to get the taste out of his mouth. He has no concept of the word NO in French, English or any other language.

Packing up

This light at the Red Eye Cafe came from a New York City subway

I believe that's a cookie with a melted marshmallow on top...kinda like a smores cookie.

This Christmas was an odd ball for us. We have had every Christmas except one in our home town celebrating with family that live close, and neighbors and friends. This year we changed it up and landed in New Jersey staying at my brothers home. Boy Child's in laws are all in New Jersey while a family member receives medical treatment. They have a rental flat, but a traditional Christmas dinner for a crowd was not in the cards for their family this year, so we hijacked my brother's kitchen and hosted part of the family here. DIL and her family have certainly put their best foot forward and made the best of it all. We've tried to make things festive for them and offer them moral support. They've all done remarkably well getting through this past few months. 

We've had great visits with nephews and in laws, Girl and Boy Child get to hang out for a while, and we've met new people to celebrate with. We've been able to pat the pregnant belly and debate the best baby names. We've been trying out new cafe's and perusing the local shops, late night chatter and lots of laughter. We head home later today with happy memories and look forward to future gatherings of these 3 families.

Christmas Eve in New York City

TIFFANY WINDOW

Christmas Eve 2012. New York City. Tiffany window Bergdoff Goodman, Rockeffeler Place Christmas tree, random Santa's and champagne. And then it started to snow. Pure magic.

And I do believe I caught a snapshot of Santa in his sleigh.

Happy Christmas

Wishing you a very Happy Christmas. 

Craig Boyle December 19, 2012

My Beautiful friend Carol lost her husband yesterday.

I remember when she met him.

I remember when she married him.

Her joy and love for him radiating from within

God Bless you Craig.

For the second time this week, this hauntingly beautiful poem is fitting.

W. H. Auden

Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,

Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,

Silence the pianos and with muffled drum

Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come. 

Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead

Scribbling on the sky the message He Is Dead,

Put crepe bows round the white necks of the public doves,

Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves. 

He was my North, my South, my East and West,

My working week and my Sunday rest,

My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;

I thought that love would last for ever: I was wrong.

The stars are not wanted now: put out every one;

Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun;

Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood.

For nothing now can ever come to any good.

FUNNY, Funny and NOT Funny

I was grocery shopping this evening and my check out clerk was a young man, a bit awkward and a bit ill at ease with himself. He had a ring of eczema around his mouth and was shy and blushed when I spoke to him. He struck me (and I may be very wrong in my judgement) as the type of boy who would have difficulty with social situations and making friends, perhaps teased a bit and labelled a nerd or geek. Having been a real geek myself, and teased in school, I have a soft spot for those that don't fit in. I could be way off in my assessment of him, and hoped I was. But, I was more aware of him than I would have been last Friday morning. He caught my attention in a good way. He had a sweet smile and nice manners. 

He made me think of those young people who are ostracized, loners, misfits, depressed or struggling with mental and social issues. I asked him if he was affected by the current teachers strike, and then we struck up a conversation about his college and his studies of Pop Culture, and how he loved the debate about education going on right now and followed it keenly. He had such worthwhile opinions and ideas about the schools system. Once he got talking he was on a roll, actually holding up the line for a minute. He bade me a jolly and zealous Merry Christmas and smiled a big cheerful grin at me. It almost made me cry. There's something good and interesting in everyone regardless of social skills and appearance. He made me happy and sad at the same time.

On the home front a lovely weekend was had by all. Although I didn't get to feel the baby move, Girl Child felt her little future niece or nephew kicking and got that thrill you get when you first feel a baby moving in a mums tummy. We were able to get Sweet Mama out of the nursing home twice. Once to a garden center that was beautifully done up for Christmas. She helped me carry this large reindeer on her lap as we browsed the aisles. She was giggling all the way. She also came for our early Christmas dinner with the Raz Kids and Auntie. 

I love this photo of Sweet Mama....(she insists on socks and sandals and despite the cold weather we don;t argue any more.) I call her Sweet Mama because she has the sweetest and kindest nature of anyone I know.

My sweet little feral cat Hannah seems to be not well. She lost a bit of weight after she had an incident with a Foster Dog I took in, but seemed to get over that and was eating well again. Boy Child noticed she had lost a lot of weight and when I weighed her today she is down 2 whole pounds. So now I am worried. Vet tomorrow at 3 pm. Please be nothing serious!

Back to the spy cam.....this white suited man in my Florida kitchen is a Mold mitigation Expert. Seems we had a leak under the dishwasher that has destroyed our lower cabinets and they have all been removed. Back splash torn out, counters removed and now cracked.

The mold elimination is done, air quality tests expected tomorrow and cabinet rebuild starting after Christmas. We had Blue Eyes granite, a hard to obtain and pricey granite (came with the house) that is now cracked so we get to pick something else. I am thinking of Carrara Marble instead. But I really need your opinion. Here's the kitchen as it is.

and here's a pic of a house with Carerra and dark cabinets

A kitchen with Carerra ...photo from www.maorhousekitchens.com

What do you think????

and because we all need a chuckle right now  here's your morning funny

(please don't take offense to the swearing)

 A SHORT LOVE STORY
>
> A man and a woman who had never met before,
> but who were both married to other people,
> found themselves assigned to the same sleeping room
> on a Trans-continental train.
>
> Though initially embarrassed and uneasy over sharing a room,
> They were both very tired and fell asleep quickly,
> he in the upper berth and she in the lower.
>
> At 1:00 AM, the man leaned down and gently woke the woman saying, ...
> 'Ma'am, I'm sorry to bother you, but would you be willing to reach into the closet
> to get me a second blanket ? I'm awfully cold.'
>
> 'I have a better idea,' she replied
> 'Just for tonight, let's pretend that we're married.
>
> 'Wow! ... That's a great idea!', he exclaimed.
>
> 'Good,' she replied. ... 'Get your own f*cking blanket.'
>
> After a moment of silence, ... he farted.
>
> The End
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>

Stop The Clocks

Image from http://bewitching.tumblr.com/post/1079567144

Below are several lines I have copied/taken from W.H. Auden's poem Stop the Clocks. Although it was written for a lost love, I find these lines hauntingly beautiful and fitting at the moment.

Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,

Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,
Silence the pianos and with muffled drum
Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come.


Put crepe bows round the white necks of the public doves,

Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves. 

The stars are not wanted now: put out every one;
Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun;
Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood.
For nothing now can ever come to any good.

God Bless these little angels, the teachers and staff that protected them, the families of the victims and all those children and staff who survived the tragedy at Sandy Hook that day. Thanks to the First Responders who put their own lives in danger, and those whose job it is to comfort and support the survivors.  

Marmalade-It's a colour

I feel a bit like a kid on Christmas morning. Tonight Boy Child and Daughter in law arrive for the weekend. When we get home from our party tonight they should be just arriving. I haven't seen them much in the past few months because they have been travelling back and forth to New Jersey where they are needed. And because its been a while, I haven't had a chance to really see that beautiful baby bump (she was barely showing last time I saw her). I am so excited to put my hands on that belly and feel bubbie kicking. I always make marmalade for her grandmother so I need to get myself organized for making a batch this afternoon. These are photos from my last year's batch.

Do you not just love the colour of Marmalade. This gorgeous model looks fabulous with her marmalade hair and makeup. And my Girl Child did the makeup for this shoot! She is a very talented makeup artist who works for some very talented women who own the studio. They raised over $2000.00 for men's cancer for Movember and on Monday they are all donating and entire day to the women of a battered women's shelter. 15 women will arrive at the studio to have their hair cut, coloured and styled, a pretty makeup and lesson, plus a catered lunch from a nearby restaurant and leave with some hair and makeup products. Although they have so much more to worry about, we all know that a nice hairdo can make you feel 100% better.

On Sunday we are springing Sweet Mama from the nursing home for a family dinner here. I've missed her. She's been quarantined at the home due to a virus. I found this photo of us from 2 years ago at Christmas. She does like a good chuckle. Notice how I make this photo small. I hate photos of myself. Especially since I was at a wedding this summer standing next to another 50 something woman and I was asked if I was her mother!  I've been harshly examining my wrinkles ever since.

Me and Sweet Mama

Have a lovely weekend.

Gifted

With 2 Christmas Parties coming up this weekend, I opted for a simple little hostess gift and wrapping that used no paper and no tape. I pick up pretty soaps (this one is Spiced Apple) all year long when I see them at a good price. Same with tea towels. These pretty 100% linen towels came from Homesense. All tied with with a reusable ribbon and embellished with a simple tag, I finished it off with a sprig off my Christmas tree. One is for my friend Chickie, so the tag is quite fitting. She usually feeds us Homemade Tourtiere at her Christmas do....she's French Canadian and her pie is the BEST....

Someone asked me yesterday why a robin on my cards since they all disappear in the Winter. I grew up in the UK and the English robin stays all year and are frequently used on Christmas cards. You can see another tea towel wrapped gift right HERE.