Tis Winter Now

Although the temperature has gone up a bit again, and there is no real sign of snow yet, we are having the most beautiful Winter sunsets, all quite fitting to go along with a long bout of flu and a delay in all my Christmas preparations.  Hence my absence from reading and commenting on blogs over the past while.  For ages I"ve been longing to have a day in bed to catch up on reading - be careful what you wish for - I had 8 days in bed and wasn't fit to read a thing.  And still feeling very precarious.   However, there's been lots going on around here, and now that I've finally got the Christmas tree up , I feel a bit more festive.  Time to bring in more greenery over the next few days. 

Around Here - the Holm Oak

I write often about stuff going on in the village here - and our latest escapade has been the Tree of the Year Competition.   Remember I asked you to vote for our Holm Oak a few months back?  Well on Channel 4 on Saturday night, it won the Northern Ireland heat - and now goes forward to the European Tree of the Year competition ... so I'll be back looking for more votes :)

Our Holm Oak won the Northern Ireland Tree of the Year on Saturday night.
Photo Courtesy of Light 2000 Community Group

The First Christmas Card

Amy from Love Made My Home organised a Christmas card swap back in November and I was delighted to be paired up with Tracy from Sunny Corner Farm. And this lovely card arrived in right at the start of month bring some sunshine into proceedings.  I love receiving mail from around the world and still send lots of Christmas cards, so it was a delight to hear from her and to hear a bit about her family.  

Amy has also been doing a crafting countdown to Christmas and has lots of really cool simple ideas on her site ... Had I been even vaguely fit, I'd have been trying more of them - as it is I think lights are going to be my limit.  

These delightful koala bears came all the way from Australia
for my first Christmas card of the season.

Happy Holidays 

In case I don't get a chance to post again over the holiday season, let me take the opportunity to wish each and every one of you a gentle, peaceful holiday season - it can be a lonely time for many people and for others it is a time of great devotion.   For me, it's the mid Winter season - the lull before the light starts to come back, the time to rest and reflect and to enjoy the pleasures of winter - cosy fires, the scent of pine trees and spices, soppy movies and time with friends and family.   

I cannot convey how much you all mean to me, those of you who read and comment on these ramblings of mine - I love hearing from my cyber penpals around the world.  

Some music

Let me leave you with some music - first a laugh - I just adore this little girl - I'm sure you've all seen her before but it's worth repeating ...

And finally a carol - in Irish and English 

Oiche Chuin, Silent Night

Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh, Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh, Eleanor Shanley, Geantraí Na Nollag TG4 2009

Happy Holidays.

Fil 

Helping Hands

A Show of Hands

I recently won a lovely prize.

A package full of Hands.

It was from the lovely Deborah at  Temenos of the Blessing Light Blog, which is one of my favourites to read on a regular basis - full of wisdom of the ages mixed with humour.  And Deborah has a great love of treasures.  

This package held such a trove of delights - lots of tiny hands, one that looks like it comes from Bali, a Hamsa from Israel, a chart on reading the lines of the hand and a book on sign language... so many aspects of hands.   I love it.  

And it came at a perfect time - when I was feeling a bit swamped.   So I've christened these my helping hands.  And they're making me feel helped everytime I look at them.  More in control.  They have a calming influence and bring a smile to my face.  They still haven't all found homes, but that'll come in its own good time.  Thank you so much Deborah :) 

A bit of palm reading anyone?

There was another little treasure in the parcel as well - which arrived incidentally on Christmas week, beautifully wrapped  - did I say that I love presents?

The only problem is I can't find it, cos I was showing it to someone else and now it has vanished - it'll be somewhere safe I know, but it's in that safe place which may take a while to locate.

The language of the hands

My husband has a theory about 'things'.   You know - the things that you simply can't come out of a shop without? ... that your life won't be the same without?  Well he reckons that by the time he (that should read I in his mind) get them home, the 'things' have turned to 'stuff' and before very long it has turned to 'junk' !!!   I have tried very hard to educate him, but it's not working and I end up going through mad rushes of chucking stuff out - at times I have to agree with him ... only at times, mind you! 

However, Deborah has a totally different view and she has given me the language to be able to defend my 'stuff' lol   

How about you?

Are you a minimalist?  Or is your house packed with little treasures?

Send A Cow

While dosed with a bad cold recently, I got time to wander around the wibbly web a bit - catch up on reading some of the blogs I follow, daydream about new sofas and curtains, and just generally have a nosey around.

And above all drool over knitting patterns and ideas.

And then I came across this image...  and I thought the meaning behind it was worth passing on.

This is Gloria, the 'Send a Cow charity' mascot, sporting a very chic jumper to highlight the charity's new Christmas gifts catalogue.

This is a charity that was set up by farmers in the West Country in England, who raise money to bring cattle to small villages in seven different countries in Africa, as well as helping with sanitation and various other necessities that those countries need.
In their own words:

Send a Cow’s Christmas catalogue contains gifts that make a difference to poverty-stricken families in seven African countries. Gifts range from ‘Local Cow’ (£205), which provides a farming family with milk and manure; ‘Little Donkey’ (£9) which helps families take good care of their four-legged friends who transport farm produce to market; and ‘Tip Tap’ (£10), a bestseller which improves hygiene levels in areas where soap and water are luxuries.

Simon Barnes, CEO of Send a Cow said; “This year we’ve taken the idea of the quirky Christmas jumper one step further, to encourage people to think differently about the gifts they buy this Christmas. Instead of buying chocolate for a friend, why not buy something unusual - for as little as £5 you will greatly improve the lives of poverty-stricken families in Africa. This is our 13th year of the Christmas catalogue and over the years we’ve raised over eight million pounds to help poor families. We really hope that you will support us this year by buying a gift, to help us change even more lives this Christmas and beyond.”

Send a Cow’s Christmas catalogue is available in print and online – for more information go to www.sendacowgifts.org.uk or call 01225 874222.

At our last choir gathering of the year, one of our members was sporting a fabulous Christmas jumper..   she comes from Australia, so she's forgiven, especially when the bells attached to it could very tastefully be used for percussion while we were singing the gorgeous Yorkshire carol Sweet Bells.   Go Belinda!!!  :)