December 20, 2010

the nineteenth of december


…and the day has gotten away from me…
only ten minutes to post actually on the day!

So just an amusing photo of the hens.
If the door to the porch is left open, they enter
in and take it over, as tho’ it is their own.
They did spend many weeks of their chickhood
there (but in their apartment, not running
loose as they do now), and it seems to have
made an impression.

The joint compound tray adds a festive note,
don’t you think? And makes the photo appropriate
for Advent…if you make allowances.

I loved reading your comments this
morning and hope to make a Christmas book
post in answer tomorrow….

And I would make a recipe post in answer
to the fudge appreciation, but don’t know if I
can bear to pass along a recipe that I have been
making since the fourth grade and is made with
the worst sort of ingredients. And yet-it does
sustain me throughout these busy days, and
hey ho, Christmas comes but once a year.

the twentieth of december

If it weren’t the end of a very busy day,
with a very busy evening ahead…if it weren’t the eve
of our Solstice gathering…I would write a long and
loving post about all of the books I love at this time
of year….with links to explore for each book….

But since I am just
about to eat some homemade
pizza and finish lighting our Christmas tree and
decorate matchboxes for our friends who will come
tomorrow and frame some wintery illustrations
and make the lists for tomorrow….

I will just tell you
that just before I fall asleep tonight,
I will read the last dozen pages of Mandy
by Julie Edwards and that after the Solstice I will
be getting out my Alison Uttley Christmas Stories
which are the loveliest stories I know. And you
should know that any book by Alison Uttley
(her children’s books or her essays and memoirs)
have the right spirit for these days. And if you
have never read Winter Solstice by Rosamunde
Pilcher, I would highly recommend that you check
it out of the library today. And you might see a
few of the Miss Read Christmas books and stories
awaiting an hour or two of leisure around my
house…

And that will have to do…the pizza is warm and
waiting-as is my family-and I will see you here
again tomorrow, as we await the Longest Night.