“Snow Effect, The Street in Argentuil,” (1875) by Claude Monet Since becoming single again in 2017, retiring from my fast-paced government job in 2018, and the onslaught of the pandemic starting in 2019, the holidays and their hoopla have been shifting into a steadily lowering gear. Where before there were multiple family and social gatherings,…
Category: Christmas
Doodads — Big Christmas Trees 2021
This year two neighbors not too far from here decided to light up the trees in their front yards with lights. It’s taken me this long to finally get pictures of them. I stopped on my way to the library and snapped them. Again, the new phone comes through for me with the night setting…
Doodads — Nature Walk on Christmas Eve
The Land Conservancy of West MI is having a Bow Walk Challenge, where you walk certain trails that have bows placed in them. The challenge is to find the bow, take a selfie with it, submit it, which enters your name into a contest for prizes. I decided to check out a new trail today,…
Favorite Holiday Movies — “The Snowman”
A repost from last year (and will probably be posted next year as well.) The beautiful simplicity of the animation, the tender-hearted magic of the story, and the music make this one of my all-time favorite holiday films. If you haven’t seen it, please take the time to do it.
#FF — The Christmas Gift
PHOTO PROMPT © Sandra Crook Six-year-old Princess Mina had little interest in the outside world. Her nose was stuck in books much of the time. Indifferent to pretty dresses and tea parties, Queen Gigi was getting worried. Christmas Eve’s family gathering reconvened in the drawing room after dinner. Uncle Alfie stood near the fireplace and…
Christmas Trolls v. VanHelsing
image link The following legend was posted last year and is being shared again today. A troll family lived in a cave under the bridge, by the wide river, in a remote part of the country. As this was in the northern region, the winters there were formidable. Trolls had no concept of putting away…
holiday poem — Christmas Mourning
This is a revisiting of a poem I wrote last year (or the year before.) At the time of writing I had nobody in particular in mind. This year, I’m thinking of my dear friend and mentor, Barb. I think of her husband, sons, their wives, and the grandchildren who will be missing her presence…
Tao Talk 