I appreciate holiday lights when the nights are looooooong.
I love these because they are beside a lake which reflects the colors.
This resort’s lake has ducks and swans that call it home. I was glad to catch a duck in a photo.
We saw both the real swans silently swimming this afternoon.
It is important to focus on lights in darkness. Just as it is crucial to look for hope during periods of sadness.
Look for the light!
FLOW in the glow
Sometimes we must make decisions that our people do not understand. The need inside is so strong that the pulls from outside must be ignored.
That is where I have been for the past year and a half. I know I belong on the mountain, despite the challenges.
My family gifted me a battery port and solar panel to keep me connected even during power outages.
This is the best give of all. Maybe they cannot understand my decision, but they support my decision.
FLOW ready for snow
One of our family traditions is to ride around town looking at Christmas lighting and decorations. We found a new favorite this year.
We visited the known hotspots along the main streets. There are two streets with rows of giant, blow-up Santas with an occasional snowman. There is a neighborhood of assorted lighted balls hanging from the trees. We even found a street of blow-up nutcrackers in town.
We visited the usual yard near us with dozens of the old-type of plastic lighted figures. (I have posted on this one before.) The choir on the bleachers was missing this year, but the snowmen, ceramic look-alike trees, toy soldiers, teddy bears, angels and a nativity scene were present in the presentation.
My husband and son found our new favorite while looking for something else. That is how life works!
This neighborhood was developed in the hundreds of acres of nature that surrounded our home for decades. I was glad to see the sparsely populated development in the previous woodlands getting into the holiday spirit.
Several of the yards were over-the-top lit up. There was even a lighted herd of deer where a real herd probably bedded down back in the day. They had a good assortment of Santas and snowmen and lights of all colors strung across roofs and trees. Just when we were getting to the deadend of the road, we spotted a bright glow on a hill.
Wowza! The over-the-top yards got topped by the most ecclectic grouping of lighted figures ever. These folks did not stop with tradition!
There was a gingerbread house with two dancing cookies.
The tree in the middle of the yard held colorful lighted ornaments. There were several angels. The gold one had flapping wings. The lighted mailbox’s door opened and closed. There were cute teddybears here and there.
The giant word JOY was behind the tree and Merry Christmas was down in front. Big lighted candles and snowflakes were scattered about. These images were fancy versions of the expected holiday decor.
This should have been more than enough cheer to spread, but these folks were not done yet. They had more to say this holiday.
Front and center of the glowing menagerie stood the three stand-outs of the ensemble. A golden Statue of Liberty glistening beautifully was noticed first.
Beside Lady Liberty was the silver Eiffel Tower, and beside it was a big, glowing Ferris Wheel.
There is a story here. I hope I get to hear it before I leave town. I will let you know if/ when I do. It is going to be difficult to stay away until I know what inspired such a display.
Merry Christmas readers. I hope you each have an over-the-top holiday with events full of twinkling lights and dancing cookies and liberty.
FLOW
I opened a special package this morning. The gifts were given by the two beautiful daughters of my soulmate, Sandra who died in July of 2024.
Sandra’s two girls were about the same age as my son and Rose. We went to the same church for decades. Our families were involved in many of the church’s children’s activities together.
This meant that we spent alot time laughing together. Things never go as planned when young ones are involved.I remember vividly when Sandra and I were supposed the be helping with the Christmas program. The two of us were sitting on the floor out of sight of the audience facing the stage. I think our role was to mouth the words of the songs for the young performers to mimic.
Mayhem broke out on stage. Angels were everywhere. Hay was pulled out of the manger and thrown. Lines were forgotten. Wings were bent, halos were tilted. I think someone picked up rubber baby Jesus.
One of us looked at the other and mouthed the word, ” Fiasco.” We both burst out laughing while doubled over on the floor of the sanctuary. Modeling singing and mature behavior became impossible.
This is who we were together. One word or facial expression was all we needed to communicate. Sandra’s photo is by my bed. I miss her every day. Sometimes when I see something hilarious I start to think…” I need to tell Sandra.”
Now, she is my angel. Her symbol for me is the hummingbird. She is missed greatly but somehow I feel her with me.
Her girls sending me these treasures is proof that she is still doing things here. How did they know to give me a Nativity pin and an angel? Maybe they heard the ‘Fiasco Story’ from her or maybe Sandra told them what treasures to share with her buddy Flower?
Thank you girls.
Flower
Before I start this post, I would like to announce that I have been blogging via my phone for the past year or more. This is my first time back on a computer on the mountain. Boy, did I see past mistakes! Between the tiny screen and the tiny keys, it was hard to see what I was sharing. I have finally moved back to a computer because the book I am writing got so big it needs Scrivener for me to control it. My printer has decided to work as well, so this has been an exciting morning. There have been other technical difficulties, but that is nothing new.
Back to the three signs. Dismiss these if you wish. When events go way beyond coincidental, I call them signs from the Universe. That is what I say happened last week. I have posted about the copy of the letter that was sent from my mother to my aunt and back again. I also shared that the envelope from Canada did not have a date stamp. That catches you up for the rest of the story.
The next day two more related events occurred. The Universe knows that I am slow. First, I found the envelope that my mother mailed the copied letter to my aunt in. It had a date stamp of Dec 16, 2005. That was twenty years ago yesterday. My Gran died in 1995. Thirty years before that. I guess my Mama had been too busy to go through the box and read all the letters until then.
So the third time I saw the letter I realized I needed to look closer than just to write a summary on a post-it note. That’s when the surprises started. The first paragraph blew my paternalism theory for the book out of existence.
The first sentence was, ” Well ’tis done____ for better or for worse! The letter goes on to describe their efficiency apartment and includes a hand-drawn map of it. This map is the only thing I remembered from seeing the original letter in the box disguised as a book. My goal then was just to get them in order.
The next several paragraphs glowingly described things in the apartment. Then comes the sentence, “I wish you could see my ring! … It’s platinum with five diamonds. The engraving is exquisite. It has EMD – DIP 5.10.’29 on the inside.”
Here comes number two bonus of the more than coincidental events. My sister called to tell me to look for some things I had found earlier and bring them to her over the holidays. I really wanted to do it later, but was afraid I would forget. I stopped what I was doing to go find that box and stick it in my suitcase.
I opened it to be sure it was the right box and there inside that box another little box. Written on the top was “Wedding Ring (Broken).” I opened the box to find two pieces of a platinum ring with only one diamond left embedded in it. I got out my jeweler’s loop and looked inside it.
There it was! EMD – DIP on one piece and 10. 29 on the other.
Believe what you wish. I am just sharing the facts.
FLOW
This is my first winter on the mountain, so everything is a first for me. The wind woke me up this morning. I looked out the back window to see snow tornadoes swirling where the wind met the corner between the house and the garage.
Circles mean things to me. They are a sign that I pay attention to. I know these swirls are due to the blowing snow, the wind direction and the configuration of the corner. I also know that natural forces create supernatural events.
I stood mesmerized by the swirls. I remembered back to teaching about breaking waves with water in a fish tank and how the water swirled back when it hit the edge. I thought about how wave swells are really circles under the sea. Nature does not have corners nor deadends. Wind and water find their way out, over or through eventually.
I am in a time-circle now. Here on the mountain circling through the past of my family, again and again. Trying to find my way through to a present where all the pieces fit together.
Now, it is actually snowing. The air is white and fiercely dynamic. I am in the midst of a giant snow swirl.
I am where I belong.
FLOW
This will be our first Christmas without Mama. I am making memorial ornaments for me and my sister. They are pink, Mama’s favorite color.
I will share the steps for doing this. You only need plain ornaments, decorative napkins, glue, foam paint brushes, glitter and scissors.
I use paper plates to contain the mess. This is a really messy project. That’s why I love it!
Used yogurt containers, Choboni flip and Qui, are great for glue and water. I labeled my glue containers M for matte and G for gloss. I have used both so you can see the difference.
Peel the back two layers off your napkins. Save these for cleaning up.
Also remove the top hanger of the ornaments. Do not lose these in the mess!
I stick shewers and my fingers in the top holes to hold the balls.
Cut out the central designs to be featured on your ornament. These go on first. Plan your spacing and arranging.
Sometimes parts get cut off and must be replaced, like little paper Frankensteins.
Then either hang or perch them on something to dry. This means leave them alone for a bit. Repeat again until totally covered.
If this were a Decoupage Party it would be time for Mimosas and snacks. Since I am alone, I am using the down time to write steps as I go. Pausing is hard for me.
Now use the napkin scraps to fill in the blank parts of the ornament. Overlap as little as possible. Glitter and glue will cover the booboos.
Lastly, you cover any bare sections with custom cut pieces of plain background from the waste left from the napkins.
Let’s talk glitter. It is possible to do a perfect job of decoupage and ruin it with the wrong glitter. Very detailed designs need white, extra fine glitter. Do not use irridescent unless you want to add color, or there is a simple design, or lots of repetition or you want to cover up some ugly. Some shaggy irridescent glitter totally blocks the design
Party Blend or bling should be used on plain ornaments as a featured texturizer.
I usually save all residual glitter and mix it on the last ornament. I hate the ball glitter. It rolls. Do not buy it…ever.
Let the completed ornaments dry over-night. I usually use clear spray to seal these, but don’t have any here.
Warning, if you sigh alot or sneeze, this may NOT be the craft project for you. I am a sigher and usually send tiny pieces of napkins and glitter all over.
FLOW
What happens when the storyline falls apart and you are left looking at a completely different tale. In my digging through family artifacts to write a book that was supposed to be about paternalism and over-reaching parenting in past generations of my family history, I have discovered evidence to the contrary that was never mentioned.
The thread that joined the parts has been broken. The stories have shifted. How do I piece this history back together. No one is left alive to ask about any of this.
Does every family clean up their past and hold the next generation to higher standards? What do I do with this mess?
It is funny how one conversation or one letter can change everything.
I found this last night as I purged another box of letters and papers. I may have seen this letter before in the box of letters from my Gran to my great, great aunt Ethel. I got up in the middle of the night to check for a date stamp on the envelope. There was not one.
Inside this envelope was a letter from my mom’s sister thanking her for sending the copy to be copied.
So my mom found this letter after my Gran died and thought enough of its contents to mail it to Canada to be copied and returned.
This flagged that letter for me. Upon closer inspection, I realized a new part of the story was in there. How did I miss this? My cousin now has the originals. I am anxious to see if this letter is in the box and if it has my sticky note attached to it. This will confirm my craziness!
I must add a side story here. I found the box of letters from my Gran to Aunt Ethel in 2024 as we were cleaning out the house to sell it. I took pictures of everything in the house in 2022. I did not know that the box of letters was actually a box, because it was disguised as a book. So to find photo of where it was all those years, I had to go through thousands of photos, mostly plants, to find a picture of the bookcase in my parents’ bedroom.
It has occurred to me that I am the only one who can carry this through. I am the one with the photos and memories. I would never have had the time to do all this if bad things had not happened to put me in the right place as the world has shifted around my family.
I will continue until the universe stops me.
Stay tuned.
FLOW
Water drops and snow plops are making patterns in the snow.
The deer have criss-crossed the yard many times during these past three days.
Deer spent time under our porch.
The two rabbits that live in the thicket bedded down in the leaf pile.
The quiet is now punctuated by the soft sounds of snow cascades dumping off the tree limbs.
Even endings are lovely here on the mountain.
FLOW
floweralley 