Revisitng in the New Year....

O.k boys and girls...time to put away all that Christmas music thats been bombarding us for the last month, and start a new play list...I was a Clash fan in the days of 'London Calling' and 'Combat Rock' and have been revisiting Joe Strummer with his last band, The Mescaleros. Strummer had a way of singing which was raw, beautiful and full of punch...he sunk his teeth into every song he sang...even with a bit of mellowing, he still grabbed life by the scruff of the neck...A great talent we lost but his songs will be with us for a long time to come...cheers Joe.

this side of the edge of dawn...

Quite often I am up before the sun and I find this time especially peaceful and promising of the day to come.

Much of the world is still in slumber, save for the birds and creatures who call the dawn a time for their day to begin...

It's a time of day when the world starts new...ideas are born...tasks are planned...a chance to begin all over again...

To quote Harry Manx..."Morning arrives...so gorgeous like a great dog yawn..."

bird watching...

In my studio I have a large picture window where my work table sits. I purposely had this window put in for the view towards the garden, in the west for the sunsets and to watch the birds. Today is cold and damp and the bird feeding table is a busy place..

Mostly it is the Juncos that have come around...

My mom used to call them the executioner bird because of their black hoods...

The Towhee comes intermittently with his ruby red eyes and flicks of his tail each time he moves...

And every once in a while the Fox sparrow makes an attempt at having a small mouthful...

I can sit and watch them for hours and marvel at how those skinny little legs don't freeze up on them...

Bird watching brings me such joy and to think that they're not even aware of this...just having a snack and trying to get through another winter...

 Maybe come spring they'll find bits of this exploded bull rush around the place to line their nests with...

                       

 

Skating on a Frozen Lake in Austria

...wish I had a river I could skate away on...

Not so far in the distant past...

My mom gave me this funny little book of a collection of reproduced pamphlets put out by the British government during the war years.

Funny thing is though that many of these 'tips' are very relevent today in these times of the troubled economy...

Doing repairs yourself...

Recyling...

And being green.

Although quite corny and old fashioned, the tricks and tips on reusing and generally not being wasteful are more than appropriate for this day and age...

I make it a rule not to go NEAR a store on Boxing Day while all the other mad shoppers are out looking for that one great deal on something they really don't need.

This Christmas was low key and relaxing with visiting friends and family and good food and drink.

Calls to and from the ones I love who are far away and silly old movies on the tube.

One day trip to the mainland to see my sister and her family...a beautiful, cold, frosty drive with mom and the Da...Pogues and David Francy on the cd player.

Keepin' it simple.

the gift...

Yesterday I received a mysterious package in the mail...at first I thought that I had got into the wine one night and ordered something from etsy...there are so many of my favorite things there!

When I opened the box, I was even more dumbfounded by the contents...

Inside were two bundles full of vintage postcards, a bird book and most interesting of all was a little peice of wool roving that was 90 years old with a small note explaining that it had come from a museum and was about to be discarded.

Still feeling quite puzzled, I searched the box again and finally found the letter...

The letter explained the contents but not until the end did I learn of the reason and the sender.

To make a long story short, it was a sort of apology about a misunderstanding concerning an order from a past customer.

It was incredibly  generous and extremely kind and was more than necessary to make up for the blip.

The generousity of a woman whom I don't even really know touched me and the fact that these vintage findings belonged to her grandmother was even more of a blessing. She thought deep about the things she sent and researched enough to know that these three bundles in a box would bring me some joy...

At this time of year we are all opened up to stories of kindness. Most of the year we are involved in our own lives and time slips by with the busied everyday pressures of work, home and everyday commitments. But there are some people who have it in their character to think of others and it is a genuine action to give without condition...so I hope to somehow pay it forward with these small but significant gifts in the New Year.

solstice...

On this, the shortest day of the year...the candles burn bright and outside the wind is fierce...

The fire is warm and there's stew on the stove.

And just around the corner comes the New Year...

With promises of longer days and brighter light...

Stay warm and full of hope...

Happy Christmas and peace to you.

...the excursion...

Every year at this time, I like to go into the city and have a look at the lights and shop windows...This time I took my 2 nieces and 2 nephews along with me for the ride....and what a ride it was!

First was a trip through the busy streets in a horse drawn wagon...

...and then a browse through my favorite bookstore, Munros...it used to be a bank in the early 1900's and now houses the most wonderful collection of books...the childrens book area is full of treasures and the kids would have spent all afternoon there if we could...they all  love to read and I encourage this anytime I can...

Next stop was the beautiful Rogers Chocolate House...

 

...this is another gem from the past and of course we HAD to get some chocolate!

They are still all handmade and sickly sweet!

No trip into town would be complete without a performace by DarthVader on the fiddle...

The kids thought he was pretty spectacular...

Since it was raining so hard, we decided to take a break in the Bay Centre with its glass elevator and many floors with escalators leading up and down....the kids loved these and we must have looked like a right bunch of country bumpkins getting our big thrills trying to jump on and off and laughing all the way!

I really wanted to take the kids to the grand old Empress Hotel...An old Canadian Pacific relic that is the showpiece of the inner harbor. Every year, a  bunch of buisness' each decorate a Christmas tree and they are displayed throughout the halls of the hotel...

It gives you a good chance to walk around on the creaky old floors and have a look at all the beautiful antiques...

 

...and maybe find an odd little friend!

The two trees out front, stand like giant, furry creatures, gaurding the old dame...

And of course you have to take a stroll through Chinatown anytime you go to Victoria..

So with eight tired legs and sleepy eyes we made the trip home...

...with visions of sugar plums dancing in their heads....

on this day in history....

 Today is the day my baby girl was born...she's 29 now. Don't blink or you'll miss so much 'cause they grow up in a hurry...
             

....this song came out the year Aja was born...still one of my favorites...

                                                         Open this pretty little gift....

Happy Birthday bella!

...soggy days...

It was a soggy, foggy day and the heavy mist hung onto each and every tiny seed head...

Regina and Rosey met up with us for a walk on the Goose...that's the local name for the Galloping Goose Regional trail.

 It's an old rail bed that has turned into miles and miles of nice, easy terrain for walkers, bikers and equestrians and is littered with history along the way.Here's remnents of the old telegraph line that ran along side.  have a look here to find out more... ...and a piece of old railway tie, returning to the earth...

 They call it the Galloping Goose because of the rattling, bumpy little train that used to ride the rails in the early to mid 1900's...now it's a pretty corridor at any time of the year...

Griffin and Rosey always have a good ramble when we get together...

...'pawsing 'for a photo op...

Regina and I try to get together once a week or so to walk and moan and laugh and today, to remember a friend, who passed away a year ago...As I said to Regina...it seems like a long time and at the same time Debbie was only here a minute ago. A quote I once heard...It's not that life is short, it's that death is VERY long...

These small moments in life are what we cherish...a stroll in the rain, catching up with the local news and just watching the dogs wandering along...

On the way back to the van, we pass a  little farmhouse with this sweet menagerie of sheep and duck...

..."Uh...its raining out there y'know.."

Of course some, like us, don't mind a bit...good for the old feathers they say....

tea with new friends...

Welcome to Pamona's house...

Today I went for tea at my friend Pamona's...Mary was there as well as Noreen. These are some new friends I have met since working at Farmers Daughter Food Market. Sometimes when you live outside of a small town, it can be a challenge to develope new friendships...people tend to stick close to home, especially in the dark days of winter so when Pamona invited me for tea I was delighted to go....

As soon as you walk through the door, you know you are in the home of an artist! Strange little creatures greet you in the hall...

...and tea and goodies await you on the table...

Pamona sits beneath her painting of Madonna and child, telling stories of her travels through life.

We talk of art and life and death and trains and Scotland and Ireland...of lives lived in the city and lives lived on communes in Maine...

We watch the logging trucks endlessly rumble by with cut trees, again and again...we try to understand how they keep coming...and coming with more and more logs from the salmon bearing creek to the west.

But all is peaceful and full of grace here in this little house...the fire crackles in front of us...we talk of our children and where they are going in their lives...

Mary shares stories, in her soft Scottish lilt, about her life in the little cabin at the mouth of Tugwell Creek and will it ever rise high enough to lap at her feet...

Noreen's lotus mosaic sits in a place of comfort above the mantel...

Pamona brings out old favorites from her childhood and we all reminisce about books we have loved...

...and the tea keeps flowing with quince jelly on corn bread.

There are many sweet treasures throughout the place...

...some old...

...and some new....

...and some very odd...

...this cap made long ago in Austria out of pounded mushrooms!

And so on this gloomy, wet, coastal day, I'm thankful to have new found friends with thoughts and ideas and tea to share.