Merry Christmas, One and All!

Wishing each and every one of you the Merriest of Christmases, or just the most perfect possible day with family and friends - whatever you wish!

Thank you for visiting with me this year, especially this past three months when I have lurked more than sharing.  Your good thoughts and wishes were really helpful and I have missed communicating with you. 

Hope 2013 will a wonderful year for us all and that we will finally find lasting Peace in our world!

Love to you, All! 

Peace and Joy.

(Unauthorized) Flowers in the House

Near the top of my list of things I love at Christmas is the table: making an arrangement, deciding just how I want to set it and all that good stuff. 

This year there will be five of us: our friend from South Africa who has joined us for many years and a happy new addition.  One of the Lebanese teens we sponsored for immigration to the U.S. is all grown up and married.  He and his new bride will join us for their first "American" Christmas.  His parents are visiting family in Lebanon this year and his brothers are with family in other cities, so they will enlarge our circle this year.

I hope Jane will forgive me for sharing flowers on "her day", but I know she is working today and doesn't have time or energy to host a flower party this month.

She would be proud of me, tho, that I filled both containers with water and oasis last night and let them sit and soak.  Although I purchased the flowers in a ready-chosen bunch, I did gather the greens from the yard:  'Otto Lueken' myrtle, rosemary and some 'Blue Rug' juniper that grows as a ground cover by the door. (I cleverly used it to cover the oasis in the sides of glass bowl.)

 

When I got the greens in, I wanted to stop.  

 

I loved how they looked and didn't want to tackle the challenge of adding the flowers.  But I am glad that I did.  Here are the finished products.  The tall one (at the top) for the buffet in a milk glass compote that I bought recently just for this purpose.

And Mother's gorgeous glass dish.  A wedding gift to my parents during WWII that has survived children, moves and many Christmases.  One of my favorite things!  And, just think ... we only have to be good for one more night!

Noel!

Wednesday Workday!

Back in the garden at last!  I was beginning to doubt that I would see this day.  While still under the one-pound rule (I can't lift more than one pound in my right hand!), I was able to cut some greenery and make an arrangement for the foot of the steps.

At the Sackler Gallery on Sunday we saw lovely urns filled with pine, bittersweet and dried stems.  They lined the sides of the parterre and were quite uniform and formal. I really loved them and wanted to do something similar for the house - since we are having guests for Christmas dinner this year.

A foraging trip into the woods behind our neighbor's house produced cedar, which I augmented with euonymous from the hedge, stems of Harry Lauter's walking stick, dried sedum heads, rosemary and nandina berries.  My arrangement is more natural than the inspiration, but fits better with our more laid back home and style.

With Mitchell to move the finished product into place, we are officially decorated outside. 

 

Joys of the Season

A Night at the Botanical Garden!

 

We took advantage of the warm weather to tour "GardenLights" at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden.  They do a lovely light display every year from Thanksgiving thru New Years Day. 

 

This year's theme is oriental.  In the conservatory they have a wonderful tree decorated in soft pastel colors,  a model train with oriental villages and a darling little cottage. 

 

 

 

If the tree is not the star, then the chandelier of origami swans must be.

On a whim we slipped into the restaurant and had dinner surrounded by dark trees and tiny lights.  It was a magical evening!

Sadly, the photos don't do it justice.  You will have to take my word for the magic!

Sunday This and That...

It's been a weird couple of months - as you know - but I have declared it time to get back to normal, well nearly normal.

This - New Traditions:
You may remember that the Christmas season speaks volumes to the child in me, i.e., I adore it all - the flowers, the gifts, the wrappings, the music, the food, the tree.  Name it and I love it.  But circumstances change and sometimes one must start some new traditions. 

We have lovely plans for Christmas dinner  Our friend from South Africa has joined us for several years and will be here again, as well as a young couple from Lebanon.  He has been a family friend for years, but she is his brand new bride.  With both families currently in Lebanon, they will come to dinner with us.  (Hope we don't ruin them forever for American Christmases.  They are Druze, so we have no idea what they expect.)  Mitchell will do most of the cooking, but he says he will allow me to make a pie and season the pork roast.

With the addition of the harp, we no longer have a place for the "big" Christmas tree.  It always went here:

So, I went out and bought a table-top variety this year.  Put on the traditional tree-trimming music and went to town today and now we do have a small tree.  It will have to do for a few years, until I can downsize my office and share it as a music room/office with Mitchell.

Because I was a bit bummed at the pitiful smaller than normal tree, I decided that I need to make a special effort this year to find other little things that make me happy this season. So the next few weeks I hope to share some things that I find interesting or fun this season.  I promise to carry my camera all the time to capture them.

That - It's my Blogaversary!

When I pulled up this screen I saw that this is my 400th post.  Thank you for hanging in and reading the drivel.  Thanks so much for your support of the past several years, and especially the past two months.   Wish I had planned a big party for us, but as part of my decision to get back to normal, here is a commitment to post at least twice a week.

Report from Beowulf*

Rehab is going very well according to Beowulf, my physical therapist.  Actually, I can see tiny gains every day.  I finally got to the painful part last week but, thanks to miracle of good drugs, even that is bearable. I have nearly 100% of the motion back (passively) and am working on active motion.  That means that Beowulf can get my arm all the way up to 170 degrees and external rotation to about 80 degrees  (I need 180 and 90, respectively.)  I can now reach forward and use a mouse, but can't pick up that cup of tea sitting next to me.  I have no strength at all and they want to keep it that way for another month.  By January I think things may actually start getting normal again.

* You remember Beowulf ... from English lit.  "When that Apryl in its sura sota, the drought of March has pierced to the roote, and bathed every vein in sweet liquor" or some such ...  He was the hero of the middle English epic poem who ripped off Grendel's arm in battle and won the day.   Call me Grendel.