Merry Christmas to All

I do love the Christmas season and hope yours is Merry.
"I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord." Luke 2:10-11

"And this will be the sign to you: you will find a babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger." Luke 2:12
This is what makes Christmas so meaningful to me and to Christians around the world.
Below is my nativity snow globe which plays "O Holy Night." I had been wanting a snow globe for a few years and purchased this in 2018 for that Christmas. I keep it out all year.

Joy to All.

Our new Christmas Angel is Flying Our Way

Our new Christmas Angel above is flying our way. Isn't she lovely?
I ordered her today online.
I am sad to retire our 20 year old angel but I noticed scorch marks around her lights, so it sounds dangerous. I will keep her and display her but not plugged in. Quite a few of you blog friends have commented on her being retired, and I realized, I am retired too. Now she (we) can sit back and enjoy the season.
Here is our graceful older angel below.

Lane brought over our beautiful tree. He went to three Christmas tree sales places, then went back to the second one and made the purchase. He also used a kit and made an ornament with Bounce's footprints on it.

The first two ornaments I put on the tree were Bounce's above and one that Colt gave me in church yesterday. His neighbor is short on money so sold ornaments she paints and he bought five. They are very pretty. He also bought one and gave it to my friend Carole in church. That was the first time he met her. The one I chose, below, has a cute whiskered gnome and a mushroom on it.

Our new Christmas angel arrived 3 days after I ordered her so today she is at home on the top of our tree. This Sunday Dec. 15 we will have a Christmas party at church with a white elephant gift exchange. You do NOT buy a gift, but bring something from your house that you don't want and wrap it up to exchange. I think then after you open your gift anyone can claim it. It sounds entertaining and I will let you know how it goes. Plus everyone brings food to share, I am buying a fruit tart to bring. The party will be after the first service, in our Bible study group, usually 20 people show up, but lots more might come for this gathering.
I am excited about this holy season and church is a great preparation for it, full of lights and joy. I hope your December is a good one.

Tea bags contain plastic, corruption in project to protect Venice

Here are some things I am mulling over recently.

Venice and that screwed up Mose Project, that is being built to protect Venice from severe high water conditions. The Mose Project is far from completion and has a huge cost overrun, now looking like costing $8 Billion dollars. The project began in 2003 and completion date is pushed back to 2023. It is a series of gigantic gates that are meant to rise from the sea floor and protect Venice in time of need, but thus far they can't get the gates to rise. The metal parts are very corroded from being submerged in the sea for three years and mussels and other sea creatures are causing damage to the hinges too. Thus far the gates don't work.
In contrast, the Netherlands built a huge project recently for a mere $500,000,000 dollars, it took only 5 years to complete and it works. Maybe some Dutch engineers could fix the Mose Project?
Did you know that Mose Project is dogged by massive corruption? A former mayor of Venice and 35 other people were arrested. This failure of Italy really bothers me because Venice is a world treasure.
Will the project ever be successfully built?

Above are my favorite new kitchen utensils. This kind of infuser is easy to use and to clean and the mesh is fine to hold in most tea.

Tea in Tea Bags
Did you read the article in the Washington Post on September 27, 2019, about how almost all tea bags are sealed with polyproplene, a sealing plastic glue, and when we steep the tea in hot water, microplastic particles get into the tea we drink? These tea bags each release billions of plastic particles into our tea, researchers at McGill University found and a quote from a researcher is "Some of the particles, she noted, would be small enough to potentially infiltrate human cells." I want to see more research on this. Maybe these researchers are wrong!
So when the paper tea bags are "crimped" a plastic glue is used. You can understand that regular glue might not hold up when immersed in hot water. Also some "silkie" tea bags higher end companies use, and that I often buy, are not made of silk but of Plastic. Who wants to immerse tea in a plastic bag and end up drinking plastic microparticles?
So I have switched to bulk tea and tea infusers which work wonderfully well. I am using up my tea in tea bags by cutting open the bag and putting the tea into an infuser, and brewing it that way.
There are tea companies that do not use plastic glue or plastic tea bags. Clipper, Teapigs and Pukka Herbs do not use plastic. Some tea companies fold the paper bags and tie them with a thread. That sounds a lot healthier.
Good news is that most tea companies are hurrying to eliminate this problem and moving quickly to fold and tie the paper tea bags with string, so sealant is not needed.
What shocking news about the pleasure of drinking tea.
Still, if we use bulk tea we can avoid that problem.
Here is some delicious bulk tea I bought recently. It was harvested in spring of 2019 and I like that they tell you when it was harvested. The tea is grown in India and the company is run by a young man in his twenties.

Happy Thanksgiving to One and to All

I love the colors, markings and variety of fall pumpkins and squash. So pretty.
Happy Thanksgiving to One and to All, in the USA and around the world, may your day be blessed.
Remember to pause and count some blessings.

My sons and I are gathering for a feast at my house on Thanksgiving Day. It involves little cooking for me, yay. This is the third year I am buying a smoked turkey that a BBQ restaurant spends hours smoking, the guys there work all night and earn a big tip for their hard work. My younger son will pick up the turkey for us on the day and we will eat right away when he arrives with the bird. The restaurant only makes 30 of the turkeys so I get my order in early.
Happy Thanksgiving.

I am a confessed bookaholic, new purchases finally allowed

Yes, I have rather happily admitted to being a bookaholic for decades, along with my darling husband, Will. I tested my will power recently by declaring a book buying moratorium for all of October and I sort of succeeded. My rules were no online book buying and no going into a book store and buying.

I did let myself get free books from my near by Little Free Library, buy cheap books from the Goodwill book store and buy inexpensive ebooks that BookBub offered to me. After all, I AM hooked on books.
So today in this new month I went to our local book store, spent my $11 buyers club credit there and bought two books in mystery series. Dying Fall by Elly Griffith, I read the first four in the series. Murder in the Marais by Cara Black. I got three free novels in this second series from a Little Free Library but wanted to start with the first in the series.

Then I ordered Elizabeth Berg's Still Happy : Includes The Book of Homer (collection of her Facebook posts and Homer is a tribute to her beloved dog who recently died) and Funny Side: 101 Humorous Poems, edited by Wendy Cope. From what I can tell she wrote all the poems which is what I am hoping, as I read about Cope on Weaver of Grass' blog.
Two on my next buying spree are Leif Enger's Virgil Wander (I love this author) and The Second Coming by Walker Percy (I've read good things about him.). Also I will buy Anthony Trollope's The Bertrams. I have read about 28 of his fabulous novels.
I think my career choice of librarian suits me!
Do you ever self impose a ban on acquiring more books? Or other things you like?
What are your favorite recently purchased books or favorite new item?

Miss Hargreaves

I read a book that is so amazing and original that I am putting it on my list of 20 top favorite all time novels I've read.
"Miss Hargreaves" by Frank Baker.
Written in 1940 and set in England, a college age man named Norman and his friend Henry invent an eccentric old lady to explain their presence to a sexton in an old Irish church where they shouldn't be. As part of this lark they enjoyed making up all sorts of details about her. They decided her name is Miss Hargreaves (pronounced Har graves), she is 83, eccentric, travels with her talking parrot, dog, harp and a bath.
On a whim  Norman sends her a note inviting her to come visit him and his parents and sister, making up where to send it. The most amazing thing happens. Miss Hargreaves received the note and  arrives in town, causing Norman much fear and trepidation. She is sure they are old and very dear friends, which is pretty much impossible to explain to his family, his girlfriend, and circle of friends in town.
Miss Hargreaves establishes herself in town and amazing things happen.
I will say no more. I enjoyed reading it. Some reviewers didn't like it, as is always the case, people's reading tastes vary. I bought a used copy online and it is a keeper, one to loan to friends. In the comments Rita says she found online an audible copy, now that is one I would like to listen to.

My goal is to age a bit disgracefully

I am a senior citizen and have decided it is time for me to grab more silliness. Let's face it, life is short, whether 10 days or 100 years, I have always realized our time on earth is short. Just a blip of days or years.
I mentioned my goal of aging disgracefully five years ago in a Christian writers' group here in my town. We were truthfully telling our oldest member that she is a great mentor, both for writing and for living. Someone told her that she is aging gracefully.
That is a big compliment. I then chimed in that I have a goal of aging DISgracefully. You know, liven things up a bit. Wearing my hats even when no one else wears hats. Who cares? I have a selection of hats that are covered in sequins. One is a bright lime green. When I don't wear one one of my sparkly hats to my favorite garden store my favorite clerk tells me he is disappointed. Plus my wide brimmed lavender sun hat. Oh, and one with butterflies on it. I do care less now about pleasing other people.
Some of my hats and dresses below:

Another recent change is that beginning in September I started wearing dresses. Before that I hadn't worn a dress or skirt in more than 10 years. I bought a loose flowing dress and wore it to my son's birthday lunch. My sons were suitably surprised. I bought several more and am wearing them to church and to meet friends. Now that is NOT disgraceful, I know, just a change of pace for me.
A fun find I bought for me and for my niece, a daily calendar with inspiring and irreverent quotes.

Here is a quote from the above calendar: "Learn from the mistakes of others. You can't live long enough to make them all yourself." Eleanor Roosevelt
Another quote "As far as I am concerned, age does not exist. I know twenty-year-old girls who are older than me." Zsa Zsa Gabor
Another quote I found online is "Do a loony-goony dance 'cross the kitchen floor, Put something silly in the world that ain't been there before." Shel Silverstein
I think it is never too late or too soon to shake things up a bit. See you dancing in the kitchen.

Bougainvilleas, one that invaded our house, and Senior Angels program

I took these photos yesterday. What a richly colored happiness-evoking bougainvillea. And gold stars for everyone who can spell this plant's name, it is rather tricky.

I pass this magenta bougainvillea every day while walking with Bounce. The color is more like the top photo, and less of a red like the second photo, but I want to show you the size and shape of the bush, it reaches the top of the door.
A bougainvillea invaded our house
Decades ago when we bought an old wooden farmhouse, on the farm we transformed into a small winery, there was a stunning bougainvillea, which turned out to be growing into the attic and its vines were wrapped around the electrical wires to the house, inside the attic.
An electrician told us this monster vine had to be removed because it was a fire hazard as it clutched the electrical wiring. My husband had to cut it down with a chain saw, the trunk was about a foot across and very hard wood. The spikes or thorns were fierce and sharp and my husband was a brave man to do battle with it.
The plant liked what it decided was an invigorating pruning and quickly grew back and we kept it pruned to a modest size, no longer growing into our house.
Senior Angel Program
I don't recall which of my dear blogger friends recently suggested Chemo Angels and Senior Angels on her blog, to do as a volunteer. I want to thank you, please tell me who you are. I signed up to be a Senior Angel, haven't gotten matched with my senior yet, but I am excited to begin. It sounds like a good program that we can do from our home which is super convenient. The responsibility is to write notes of encouragement a couple times a week and to send small gifts if you want, I think it said the gifts should be only 2 or 3 dollars, just a friendly token.

Tea With The Dames, lavash for lunch, sunflowers

I don't post often about food, since cooking for one is not that interesting to me, but I discovered Lavash recently, a flatbread, just bought it on a whim. It seems to stay fresh longer than a loaf of bread, about a week. I cover it with grated cheese, tomatoes from my garden, taco sauce, put it in the microwave for 20 seconds, and then roll it up and eat it. Yum. Nice with olives and an avocado on the side. The traditional way to enjoy lavash is to spread it with cream cheese and add things like sliced ham and lettuce before rolling it up.

Above is a native penstemon, which is purple with undercurrent of blue. There are 4 different purple native penstemon, some with a white throat. My five plants are all purple and bees and butterflies and people like them.
After a decade of dropping cable and not watching much TV I have discovered the delights of streaming channels. I subscribe to Hulu and recently watched the documentary Tea with the Dames. Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, Joan Plowright and Eileen Atkins (she is Aunt Ruth in Doc Martin which I am watching). I found it delightful as the four actresses shared laughs and career highlights and family and husband moments. Some of the laughs are bawdy. Other Hulu favorite shows for me are Blackish, New Tricks and Elementary.

Below is another photo of the penstemon with some of my new bottle bush plants on the left. I had 11 bottle brush planted on both sides of my driveway and they are the kind that only grow to 3 or 4 feet tall, which is what I wanted. Many bottle brush grow to 6 or 8 or even 10 feet tall and all are gorgeous when covered with their red flowers.

And my neighbors faithfully plant many sunflowers from seed each year and the flowers are blooming now.

I thank their perseverance because last year they barely had any plants survive an onslaught by squirrels and birds as the squirrels dug up the seeds and birds ate the seedlings. Last year they kept planting more seeds and even put netting over the planting area to little avail. This year the sunflowers are back and didn't bloom til September and they are very welcome.

Bits and Bobs

Here is a gathering of recent photos I took.

Above are some heart shaped leaves I found while walking Bounce. The tree is tall, maybe 40 feet tall, and healthy and had been trimmed so there are leaves on the ground. I wonder if it is a type of eucalyptus. The leaves I gathered that are in my photo look like they are made of bronze; one friend said they look like they are made of gold.

Can you see how big these zucchinis are? I put a pair of garden gloves on top of the pile to show the scale. My friend uses large zucchinis for baking, but I don't. I am sorry I let these get too big. I only planted one green and one yellow zucchini but I am not keeping up with them, obviously.

My very old cement sun bird feeder; I like to photograph this and the volunteer nasturtiums that climb up to it.
Two words new to me that I like the sound of, and that I found in a UK blogger's post this week:
Faffing
Pootling
I hope they aren't rude!
I decided to look them up online and they meant what I thought, faffing is doing something slowly, taking your own sweet time, not in a rush. Like faffing about in my garden.
Pootling means moving leisurely without a plan or goal or time frame, like pootling about on a country walk or drive. and seeing what you find. British friends, if I am on the wrong track with these definitions let me know.

Do you like the waterfall cascade effect of these orchids? This orchid is a prolific and dependable bloomer and I bought it for a low price at a big chain food store, Safeway. I am pleased with it. I have six orchids in my kitchen in front of an east facing window.

Here is a closeup of Mary who continues to reign in my garden bringing a peace with her. I used money from payment for a garden article I wrote decades ago, it seemed an appropriate way to spend the money.
So now, if you are like me, let's take some time to do some garden or library faffing and then pootle around the neighborhood. I think dogs are the kings and queens of faffing and pootling and they can teach us well. Be sure and wave if you see me.

Happy Birthday to my darling Will, I miss you

My husband Will would have been 72 on this his birthday, on August 27. My words are not able to convey how much I miss him, so I include here the profound words to Death Is Nothing At All

Henry Scott Holland

Original version read as a sermon upon the death of King Edward VII

Death is nothing at all.
It does not count.
I have only slipped away into the next room.
Nothing has happened.

Everything remains exactly as it was.
I am I, and you are you,
and the old life that we lived so fondly together is untouched, unchanged.
Whatever we were to each other, that we are still.

Call me by the old familiar name.
Speak of me in the easy way which you always used.
Put no difference into your tone.
Wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow.

Laugh as we always laughed at the little jokes that we enjoyed together.
Play, smile, think of me, pray for me.
Let my name be ever the household word that it always was.
Let it be spoken without an effort, without the ghost of a shadow upon it.

Life means all that it ever meant.
It is the same as it ever was.
There is absolute and unbroken continuity.
What is this death but a negligible accident?

Why should I be out of mind because I am out of sight?
I am but waiting for you, for an interval,
somewhere very near,
just round the corner.

All is well.
Nothing is hurt; nothing is lost.
One brief moment and all will be as it was before.
How we shall laugh at the trouble of parting when we meet again!

Bounce sitting on Will's memorial bench that we donated to the park near our house, where we can sit and watch the skateboard park and children's swings. Can you see the rose made of straw left there by an unknown person? The bench says "Bike Adventures" and has a bike carved into the back. That was my man!

Feeling Blue, Give P.G. Wodehouse novels a try

I think that if you read Plum, as P.G. Wodehouse's friends and readers call him, his words will give you many cheerful heart moments. I find that his world of silliness is a good one to enter. If you are feeling down, or even already cheerful, read a Plum novel for laughter. Good news is that he wrote about 90 novels.
"It is impossible to be unhappy while reading the adventures of Jeeves and Wooster. And I've tried." -- Christopher Buckley.
Wodehouse is known for his Jeeves and Wooster books, and Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie did a brilliant job acting in the TV series "Jeeves and Wooster". So funny to me and to many.
Here are covers of some representative titles. My favorite Plum novel might be "The Code of the Woosters." I gave a copy to our minister when he left on a sabbatical; I have seen that being a minister is a very tough job and laughter can be applied as needed.

I find I can turn to any page in a Wodehouse book and find humor. Here is one random snippet from page 2 of My Man Jeeves. "After this," I (Wooster speaking to Jeeves) said, "not another step for me without your advice. From now on consider yourself the brains of the establishment."
"Very good, sir, I shall endeavor to give satisfaction."
And he has, by Jove! I'm a bit short on brain myself; the old bean would have appeared to have been constructed more for ornament than for use, don't you know; but give me five minutes to talk the thing over with Jeeves and I'm game to advise anyone about anything."
Another fabulously funny series is the Blandings Castle books featuring Lord Emsworth, not the brightest guy around, and his devotion to his prize winning pig, The Empress. See above photo, Uncle Fred in the Springtime, on the cover is the Empress taking a bath. Just the character names alone bring me smiles, uncle Fred is the Fifth Earl of Ickenham and he dependably drags his nephew Pongo Twistleton into trouble and somehow they survive.
Proverbs 17:22 reminds us that "A cheerful heart is good medicine".
Here is our esteemed author himself, living in the USA.

Visit With My Niece Who Drove From Seattle

My niece moved to Seattle from Connecticut this year and drove to hang out with her two cousins (my sons) and me. She brought KittyDog with her and great fun was had by all.

That first night she came to my house at five p.m., we chatted and got a reservation for dinner. We got the best spot in the restaurant, on the second story roof, with a view of our downtown and the tourist trolley.

My Bounce, Elizabeth's Kittydog,Elizabeth and my sons walking along the ocean near my house.

If you walk to your right from my house there is a beach at the end of the walk. The beach looked pretty with lots of colors from the sun tents, umbrellas and beach toys and swim suits and towels, and kites flying overhead.

Above is Elizabeth and her Kittydog relaxing on my new flagstone seating area.

Kittydog at my house waiting for his mommy to come out and play. I think he weighs 7 pounds, more or less. He has soft silky fur and is a quiet guy and I think Elizabeth said he is a Havanese.

Another view of the rooftop restaurant, E and my younger son. Bye Elizabeth and come back soon!

Catnip High and Fluffy

See the little bits of green catnip? My sister grows the catnip and so it is fresh and organic. Fluffy looks a bit insane in the top photo.

Fluffy is sure enjoying herself. Some cats don't care for it, and my dog sure doesn't.
Have a great day friends.

Bounce, his outfits, seniors adopting dogs and some shadows

Above photo is of my dog, Bounce, preparing for a July barbeque party.
Yes, I am a senior citizen and in November 2016 I adopted a dog from an animal shelter. I chose to adopt an adult dog, looking at dogs 2, 3 and 4 years old. The dog who won my heart had an unknown age which they guestimated to be 5. So today Bounce is almost eight, according to their guess.
Bounce in his new security outfit, keeping the party crowd in line.

Part of the reason I chose to adopt an adult dog is that I am no expert on raising or training puppies. They had no info on Bounce beyond that he was found on the street, was very thin, and not fixed. Before I took him home per their rules they fixed him and pulled two problem teeth.
Bounce turned out to be very house trained already and is a fabulous companion. He likes all people.
The reason I am writing about this is that I recently read criticisms online about a person who is 80 and who adopted a puppy. My goodness, critics were worried the person would die before the dog. The critics insisted the person should not have adopted a puppy, but rather an older dog.
Personally I am happy that puppy has a loving home. When it comes to dogs, let people follow their heart.
I know that people of all ages sometimes turn in their dogs to shelters because of new life situations for them, so dogs can lose their home no matter the age of the owner. At the animal shelter when I filled out forms one question was who would care for Bounce if I couldn't and my younger son who was with me, signed up to say he would. My adult sons LOVE Bounce.
These shadows on my bedroom curtain caught my eye. The one on the right looks like a cute alien peering in with little antennas sprouting from his head. Well, it does to me!

Fourth of July and Betsy Ross Flag

Happy Birthday to my beloved country, the USA.
The above flag is the design with 13 stars and stripes in honor of the original 13 colonies, made by Betsy Ross during the Revolutionary War.
Following are some lines from the poem and song "America" by Samuel Francis Smith.
"My country, 'tis of thee,
Sweet land of liberty,
Of thee I sing.
Land where my fathers died,
Land of the pilgrims' pride,
From every mountain-side,
Let freedom ring."
 and the final verse:
"Our father's God to Thee,
Author of liberty,
To thee we sing.
Long may our land be bright,
With freedom's holy light,
Protect us by Thy might,
Great God, our king."