December 1st

Here is our son Mike. He is the one in the back wearing a hat. He is a member of The Lions Club, and they are doing their biggest fundraiser of the year. Selling Christmas trees. The man in the front is our mayor, who is also a Lions Club member. The Lions Clubs do really good work in schools and other places. If you're thinking of buying a real tree this year, the Lions Club cannot be beat for helping out your community.

Here are our grandkids under their Christmas tree a few years ago.

“I wander forth this chill December dawn:

John Frost and all his elves are out, I see,

As busy as the elfin world can be,

Clothing a world asleep with fleecy lawn.”

~Robert Buchanan

Turning Poop Into Power

Remember the game of Jacks? Well, look what I found. A jacks game where the jacks are tiny pigs!

Bur if you think that is strange, you haven't heard anything yet! This is what I read in the paper today. Smithfield Foods (yes, the ham people) and Dominion energy (our power company) announced a joint venture on Tuesday. They will trap methane from hog waste and convert it into power for heating homes and generating electricity! As the headline said, pig poop converted into power.

Would you like to heat your house with energy made from pig poop? I would soon develop an urge to roll around in mud! Not to mention overeating...

“A large herd of pigs was browsing and rooting on a nearby hill. The demons begged him, “Send us to the pigs so we can live in them.” Jesus gave the order. But it was even worse for the pigs than for the man. Crazed, they stampeded over a cliff into the sea and drowned.”

Mark 5

The Poinsettias

A local garden center had a poinsettia festival last Friday, and we went. They served homemade donuts and tea, and had thousands of poinsettias! People think the leaves are the flower, but they are just leaves. The flower is what is in the center. There are over 100 varieties! Here are the plain ones.

Here are the fancy ones, as I call them. Some are dyed or painted, and  some have glitter.

An old Mexican legend tells the story of Pepita, who had no present to give the baby Jesus at the Christmas eve services. So she picked a small handful of weeds and put them at the bottom of the nativity, feeling embarrassed. Suddenly they burst into red flowers, and ever since then they were called "Flowers of the holy night."

The Tray

You may remember that last summer I bought a tiered tray. So versatile to decorate the kitchen for all the seasons and occasions! I am having fun with it. Here is what I did with it for fall.

Here it is in the kitchen now, all decorated for Christmas. I found the place mat for one dollar!

“As the deer pants for the water brooks, So my soul pants for You, O God.”

Psalm 42

How We Felt

At the "Art For Gifts" show, we also saw these. Felted scarves and shawls.

I love the intense color of the scarves and shawls! Have you ever tried to make felted things? From what I gather, it involves wool and a needle with sharp barbs. If I tried this, I would be a human pincushion.

I have saved my favorite felting project for last. I now wish I would have bought one of these little angels.

“How cold it is! Even the lights are cold;

They have put shawls of fog around them, see!”

~Sara Teasdale   "A November Night"

“The earth tucked herself in for the year with winter's cold, white scarf of snow.”

 ~ Terri Guillemets

Dashboard Delights

I came across these last week, at an "Art For Gifts" exhibit. They are all made from car parts. This first one is the front grill of a car, a Ford insignia, and reflectors.

A cross made from hubcaps.

Part of a dashboard, lights, & more. Maybe a grasshopper?

This guitar has some Chevy trim.

A fender and a guitar. Get it, the Fender guitar brand?

"Anyone driving slower than you is an idiot, and anyone going faster than you is a maniac." ~Author Unknown

Sunday Sillies

Last month when we had the girls for the weekend, Dara begged to play her favorite game. As you may remember, the game is Pie Face. Seems that little girls love nothing better than having whipped cream slung in their faces.

I took these pictures  of Anne Marie taking pictures of her sisters as they played.

“God, the Master, The Holy of Israel, has this solemn counsel: “Your salvation requires you to turn back to me and stop your silly efforts to save yourselves.” 

Isaiah 30

The Train & The Turkey

Today we went to see some craft vendors. I could not resist this one booth. The lady made things out of corks! Trees, turkeys, little trains, etc.

Since a lot of items were around $4.00, I could not resist two. 

The little train.

And this turkey!

“Be a bobbed cork: When you are pushed down, bob up.”

Vin Scully 

The Neighborhood Market

I bet you thought this was going to be about a farmer's market or a craft market, right? But in fact, our new market is a Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market. Have you heard of them? Is there one where you live?

We already have a large Wal-Mart, but this new Neighborhood Market is right in our neighborhood. It is a small Wal-Mart. They sell only a limited amount of groceries, plus gas. It is basically for people who just want to run in somewhere for a loaf of bread, and maybe some milk and cat food. This way, they don't have to look all over and do a lot of walking in a large store. We call it Wal-Market.

Here is their Christmas Tree

It is only fitting that I am posting about a store on Black Friday. Will you be going out to shop? Our Black Friday started today! They keep moving it sooner and sooner.

“Only in America do people trample others for sales exactly one day after being thankful for what they already have.”

 ~Author Unknown

Happy Thanksgiving!

Some memories of our Thanksgivings from the past.

I hope you all have a warm and wonderful Thanksgiving!

“The Pilgrims made seven times more graves than huts. No Americans have been more impoverished than these who, nevertheless, set aside a day of thanksgiving.”

 ~H.U. Westermayer

“Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.”

Psalm 100:4

Goodbye To Fall

To me, Thanksgiving is the end of fall. There are two kind of calendars: astronomical and meteorological. Meteorological divides each season evenly into three months. This makes December 1st winter. So here is my goodbye to fall.

“Every blade in the field, every leaf in the forest, lays down its life in its season, as beautifully as it was taken up.”

~Henry David Thoreau