Snow in 2011

So far we have been very fortunate (if you aren't a school age child!) to have escaped the main fury of the last two storms that swept up the east coast in a swirl of frozen crystal. We got a sprinkling both times, a bit more the second. It was magical to watch it come down though, after I was safely home from work. Sleet and freezing rain fell first but most roads are well enough travelled that there wasn't much ice accumulation before the snow came. There wasn't too much to clean up after. The sand trucks were idling away all day on the side of the road.... sure hope we have the money when the real snow comes later in the season.

Happy Birthday Meghan!

My wonderful daughter turns 25 today! That is quite a milestone.... a quarter of a century. May she have a great many more years to enjoy this beautiful earth!

Happy New Year!

Nature's fireworks are so much better than man's, don't you think?

Do you have any plans for this new year? Mine all revolve around reducing debt and being creative. Both are possible, though not being able to do handwork for awhile will put a cramp in the latter, or at least make me be more imaginative!

Cheers to you and yours, and may your 2011 be far better than your 2010.

I heard in Addison’s Walk a bird sing clear:
This year the summer will come true. This year. This year.

Winds will not strip the blossom from the apple trees
This year nor want of rain destroy the peas.

This year time’s nature will no more defeat you.
Nor all the promised moments in their passing cheat you.

This time they will not lead you round and back
To Autumn, one year older, by the well worn track.

This year, this year, as all these flowers foretell,
We shall escape the circle and undo the spell.

Often deceived, yet open once again your heart,
Quick, quick, quick, quick! – the gates are drawn apart. C.S.Lewis

Happy Boxing Day

One of my favorite days, though since I work retail, I don't get to go visiting anymore. I did go to Merrifield Gardens and get Christmas stuff at 40-50% off, and come back to set it up. I think I have a migraine starting, though it could just be the weather affecting my sinuses, hard to tell at this point. Yuck. Off to work in an hour though, so it had better settle down quick. Cheers all, I hope you had as merry a Christmas as I did! All my children home, what a blessing! (Okay, I did turn the tree!)

Merry Christmas!

May the miracle of the birth of the Messiah touch your life in a profound way.

Second Post of the Day!

In other news, I have put the creche to rest, except for putting out the Holy family. I will pick it back up after the new year begins, but for now, have other things on whinch to concentrate. Pictures show the last tweaks. I have painted the bases of several of the figures. Much less jarring to look at on a dark substrate, I deem. I left the ones on a lighter ground. I will paint some of them too, later.

I built a shop for the potter, and made a camel saddle and more food and "stuff", and lit various structures. I changed the angle of the hill in front of the stable too. This has been alot of fun, though I am a rank beginner in the art of Nativity building. Still, everybody gotta start someplace!

Lunar Magic

Well, Blogger has its own ideas about the order to put things in, but isn't this amazing? My friend Jean Krevor in NY took these and since my pitiful little camera wouldn't have captured nearly the magic that she did, graciously allowed me to post them here. What a sight it was. If you didn't see the eclipse, you missed an entrancing sight!

Awesome, too, to think that the last time this same combination of events took place, Galileo was alive.... though he could not have seen it, since by then he had gone blind.

A Little More

Food! I made food! Soup and cheese and bread (baked and unbaked) and olives and apples and one lonely turnip. Was supposed to be an onion, but looks more like a turnip! This is too fun.... I can't stop!

Some more done

I really enjoy the making of things, but sometimes it seems I take the hard way rather than the easy way. I still have alot to do, and the photos really show up the flaws, but progress is being made. The well really needs a coat of paint, and I still have to make bedrolls for the camel drivers and more food for the Kings and the workroom for the potter.... maybe I will finish by next year, not this year! The coast of everything has gone up, what a surprise. I will be getting sticks from the woods next week.... three tiny two inch bits were $3.99! Can you believe it? Who would pay that? Well, maybe someone who lives in a concrete jungle. Not I. My creche won't be as professional as others I have seen, but I am having fun doing it anyway.

So cold!

No snow, but so very cold.

The Beginning

I have begun to get my creche set up.... just the bare bones so far, but it is a start. I haven't felt very festive, and the last 4 months were pretty ragged, but things are getting better, so here's a start. I have plans to build a workshop for the potter this year, and a nice display for the kings. I have two tents, I need a third, and a set up with a well/oasis and campsite. There is more to a camp than tents, after all. I have plans for next weekend, so the building will need to be done this week, at least for the workshop. I will keep the carpet seller under the bridge... I rather like that. I want to combine the potter with another workshop... I am thinking maybe an apothacary. I saw a nice figure of a boy selling herbs this weekend. I got an olive press last year at half price since the mechanics didn't work.... but I don't mind. Still is fine. So I need an olive shop too.... maybe that will be a good combo. Then the herbseller next year.....