Tuesday ...

    Christmas was quiet here.  Church in the morning.  Charlie was gifted a new snuggle bed from the neighbor's across the street whose German Shepherd puppy quickly outgrew it.  He loves it, and so does Gracie, so I imagine there will be some disagreeing over whose it is.

   I've been waiting on ordered craft supplies to finish a few things here and there before posting before and after photos.

   In the meantime, I've been fighting insomnia the last few weeks. At one point up I was awake for over 24 hours, and just unable to get any rest.   Some of it, in the beginning, was due to being sick and coughing all night, but that has gone away. Trying to sleep on my back to breathe easier and cough less made me have nightmares of my ex-husbands (sleeping on my back has always given me nightmares).  I've stopped drinking coffee the last few days which seems to have helped a little.  Getting my mind to be fully quiet and relaxed is part of the problem, and I'm looking into healthy herbal options.

   More soon ...

Monday ...

     When my mother was alive, she would always send holiday or birthday cards and gifts with strict instructions on the outside that I was NOT to open them until the appointed date.  

     Of course, since I'm a bit of a smart-donkey at times (okay, full disclosure, most of the time not "at times.") I would respond that since I had no adult supervision, I would do whatever I wanted, which meant ripping them open the day they arrived.

    I still hold to that life principal, however, when I saw this sign, I decided that it would be the one "rule" I needed to adhere to.  It is now mounted on the inside of my kitchen door which leads to my outside porch.

    I love it.

    I sufficiently conquered my cold over the weekend to attend church yesterday morning, and our children's Christmas play last night.  It was wonderful, and the play was held two nights in a row because we had 95 children participating and wanted to give everyone a chance to shine (and audition as future stand-up comedians, of which there were quite a few). 

     I don't think I've been to a children's play since performing in them in elementary school in the early 70's (I was the unfortunate performer one Thanksgiving who had to sit in the audience and stand up at a certain point to shout "Yes!  But what does that have to do with Thanksgiving today?"  It was traumatic, trust me.  One teacher nearly yanked my arm out of the socket trying to get me to sit down and hush!).  

    One of the items my sister recently sent me from Mom's apartment is this village and train set that I remember from my childhood in Germany.  I was thrilled to get it and may find a place to keep it out year-round.

    I found some cute little Christmas baubles at the dollar store, and quickly made some snow globe earrings using Kosher salt, a little bit of silver glitter dust, and snips from my juniper wreath.    

    I'm also working on restoring a box my Aunt Linda made for my parents.  There used to be a verse written on the top of it that has faded with time, and so I want to put it back on.  Photos of that project later since I have botched it and now need to figure out how to fix it.  My handwriting is not as graceful as Aunt Linda's was.

    The week will be another busy one.  I'm picking up a few extra hours from tonight until Wednesday night to make up for the half-day off we are being forced to take on Thursday.  Tomorrow night is the virtual office Christmas party; Wednesday night will be Bible Study; Thursday night will be a movie with the kids at church to see the latest [2018] remake of the Grinch; Friday night Charlie and I will be scanning the skies for Santa's sleigh ~ actually probably sipping gluhwein and watching dysfunctional family Christmas movies (my favorites!!!).  Some domestic goddess tasks thrown in the mix here and there, and maybe some singing of Christmas carols at the top of my lungs until Charlie joins in.

    May you have a beautiful holiday season filled with lots of laughter!

Quilts and pickles ...

Click images to enlarge

   I got some woodcraft boards a few weeks ago and after a delay in getting the fabric I wanted, I went with a Plan B.  More variety, but a little disappointing since I'd had my heart set on a turquoise and brown color scheme.

   I made one board with a 4th of July theme, but wish now I'd painted the back of it white.  I may do it after the fact with a whitewash and sand the whole thing to give it a rustic look.

 

   This one I did at about 4a this morning after coughing and nightmares woke me.  I like that it is a subtle color scheme and pattern.

    A week or two ago I won a contest on Instagram from the German Consulate General in Atlanta.  Today, my prize package arrived.  A gluhwein gift box with two mugs, a bottle of spice mix, sugar, two sugar spoons for flaming rum-soaked cubes (really authentic recipe!), and Lebkuchen cookies.  I also won a yodeling pickle ornament.

   This pickle.  Oh. My. Gosh.  I love it.  Altho after it yodeled at me about five times in a row when I kept getting up and walking past the tree it felt a little pervy and I had to turn it off.  But it will be loads of fun if I ever have company in the house.  I might have to keep it on the tree all year!

Wednesday~ish ...

Click images to enlarge

    Tonight is the Christmas dinner at church, and I'm going to have to miss it.  I've caught another cold, this time with a fever.  Not sure if that makes it the flu or just another virus, but I don't like to share when I'm sluffing off bugs with the fever.  I'm super disappointed, but just trying to do my part to limit the spread.  I think I caught it at last week's music concert at the library since Nancy is also sick now  ~ someone attending was coughing quite a bit and not wearing a mask.

    I will also miss out on another art class tomorrow night, this one for block print gift tags, and again, I'm bummed.  I wanted to learn how to make them because I think I will be making Christmas cards by hand next year instead of buying them.  Perhaps another time, or a tutorial on Pinterest or YouTube.

   I'm not working today, which is sort of a good thing.  By the time I got off the phone yesterday afternoon, I could barely speak without choking and did not get more than 4 hours of sleep last night because of my coughing and choking.  I may have to sleep sitting up tonight.

   Today is mostly being spent on the sofa, sipping hot organic Throat Coat tea, taking elderberry syrup, vitamin C, and catching up on things that don't require me to go outside or be around other people.  Laundry.  Dishes (hot water was out four days last week).  Craft ideas.

    I experimented with some air dry modeling clay to make some Springerle ornaments with anise seed on the back of them.  I'm not sure I like how they came out just yet because the design is hard to see, and while they smell good, they are still soft and a little plain (kinda like the cookies, which was the whole idea, but I could have made them a little thicker to show the design more)

.  I put light brown watercolor paint on them just to make them less white, and thought about coloring the design, but didn't like that because it made them not resemble the cookies.  I will probably get some more clay, the kind that has to bake dry and try again.

     I've also been trying some ideas for turning this year's cards into next year's tree ornaments, and have two possible designs.

     But I think right now I hear a nap calling my name ...

Tis the season ... for cookies!!!

Click images to enlarge.

   Tonight, will be the women's ministry Christmas cookie exchange and fellowship.

    Monday and Tuesday this past week, I made German Springerle cookies [< click the link there for recipe].  I'd found several that my mom had written, but the one I found online was the best sounding one (and best tasting!).   It was a bit of a learning experience since I hadn't made them in almost 50 years.  My brand-new hand mixer died 20 minutes into the process, so I went old school making them by hand the way my grandmother and mother taught me.  It brought back so many wonderful memories of times with both of them, and of Germany.  I wish I'd been making them for the past five decades of Christmases and will make sure they are a part of every Christmas forward.

    I was able to use my handmade French rolling pin [< click the link there to buy one for yourself!] that was gifted to me earlier this year from a couple of angels (one named Amy!), and the Springerle rolling pin that I purchased on my 2007 Rhine Holiday Markets cruise [< click the link there to book a cruise for next Christmas!].  (these are not affiliate links and I'm not paid for promoting them, I just love Amy and UniWorld cruises!)

   I also wanted to make Spritz butter cookies and use my decorative cookie press but had a hankering for adding cranberries to the batter for a little more festive flavoring.  Two of my pastry chef slash baker mentors (Nancy & Deb) wisely advised that cranberries probably would not be compatible with the cookie press, and so they became drop cookies instead.  Not as pretty as most Christmas cookies, but what they lack in looks they make up for in flavor.

    Fortunately, I have enough ingredients to make them again without the cranberries and using my cookie press, but not the upper arm strength to properly "cream" and beat them into "light and fluffy" submission.  Perhaps next week when I can exchange the mixer or (dream on) purchase a standing mixer with a dough paddle also.

Cranberry Cheesecake Butter Cookies (a Cindi creation) This recipe made about 45 cookies; however, I cannot confirm or deny that all 45 made it to the exchange on Friday.

• 2 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 cup butter
• 1 3oz package softened cream cheese
• 1 cup sugar (I used vanilla sugar that I made several months ago with vanilla beans)
• 1 egg yolk (I actually used two because the first egg open had a tiny yolk!)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon orange zest (I used fresh lemon zest)
• 1 cup chopped dried cranberries (OPTIONAL)

1. Preheat oven to 350F degrees.  
2. Sift together the first three dry ingredients (flour, salt, cinnamon). 
3. In a separate larger bowl, cream together butter and softened cream cheese (and this was when I wished I hadn't killed the hand mixer!)
4. Add sugar & egg yolk/s, beat until light and fluffy (ditto above)
5. Stir in vanilla & zest.
6. Gradually add in dry ingredients.
7. If you are not adding dried cranberries, fill the cookie press and press cookies out onto an ungreased cookie sheet (I always bake mine on parchment paper).  If you are adding dried cranberries, I would spoon drop them onto the sheet.
8. Bake 12-15 minutes or until golden (I baked mine for 15 minutes on the top rack in the oven.  I didn't want them to get scorched bottoms.)
9. Remove at once from hot sheet onto cooling racks.

A Christmas Concert

Gabriel's Message ~ harp solo

   Last night I attended a concert of music from the Middle Ages and early American history.  It was held at the local library and consisted of music from instruments of those times:  harps, concertina, organetto, French horn, and guitar.  Plus the beautiful baritone of a gentleman singing Ave Maria.  I've added short clips here from the concert, but first a little about the organetto.

   This one was made in Germany from "bogwood" ~ wood that had fallen into a bog a few thousand years ago and stayed there until it was found.  The rich dark color is from the bog.  It has baffles on one side of it which you will see in the video clip, metal pipes, and a small keyboard.

    The harps were Celtic harps with leavers to adjust the tone of the cords, and the concertina is almost like a small accordion.

    Musicians were Leah & Rodger Trent on the harp, concertina, and organetto.  [click here for a link to the website to find out about ordering CDs of their music].  They were joined by Briane Turley who sang baritone.

    I didn't get clips of the French horn, guitar, or the gentleman who sang tenor.  I was trying not to be too obvious with my camera, which is why I also didn't get very long clips.  The concert was a little over an hour, but it was heavenly.

Corde Natus Est ~ (a Gregorian chant) on organetto

Breath of Heaven ~ harp duet

Cold Frosty Morning ~ concertina & harp

Carol of the Bells ~ harp duet

Ave Maria ~ with harp

Wednesday ...

This month so far has been a busy one, and my calendar is filled with wonderful events.

Click photos to enlarge.

   Last week I was gifted this beautiful partridge in a pear tree which is now brightening up the wall above my kitchen sink.  It was made by the mother of one of my church family members, and I love it!

    We had two Christmas craft markets in town on Saturday and I indulged and purchased this juniper wreath for my living room wall.  I love the simple beauty of it.  The artist who created it was featured in the [link to click>] Greenbrier Valley Quarterly magazine.  But there were honestly so many AMAZING artists at both craft markets I wanted one of everything!

 

   Saturday evening was the Christmas parade in town, and I walked with our church floats inviting people to come to our children's Christmas plays.  We have so many kids in the church that we are having two plays!

   It was so much fun to walk in the parade, and since I also walked to the meet-up spot before it started and home at the end of the parade, I think I got all my steps in for the day (two miles in all)!

   I am in the top photo on the right, in the dinosaur Christmas sweater, my favorite for the moment.

   This Friday evening we are having a Christmas cookie exchange with the women's group at church, so I'll be posting on Saturday the cookies I made this week to bring with the recipe for one, and a link to the recipe for the other.

    The partridge art prompted me to be a little creative myself, and I have been making an "intentions" piece to hang in my office over my desk where I can see it all day.  I was just going to find images in magazines to clip out but then decided to get a little creative and experiment with watercolors and salt.

     It is so wonderful to have hope, and to be able to write about much more than my health "adventures."

Thursday ...

     My silence lately has been simply because I've been busy, with not a lot to share.

     After doing some unintentional aerobics inside and outside of the house which involved quickly putting up a temporary chicken wire fence to keep Charlie from charging visiting dogs next door, stepping in a hidden "gift" he left under leaves, realizing after I'd come back into the house that the gift was attached to the bottom of my boot, hopping on one foot back through the house to remove my boots outside... I was finally able to relax and watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade with Gracie.

     In the spring I plan to "train" the wild growing ivy to use the chicken wire fence as support so that it eventually will look like an ivy covered wall.  That is my intention at least, to make it look less rednecked and more natural.  I also recently found out that I can rake my leaves out to the road and the city will pick them up, tho it may be too late in the season for me to do that this year, I will calendar it for next year.  

 

    I put up my Christmas "tree" with some origami ornaments I made last year with cards I received, including one from my mom.  All of the ornaments have sentimental attachments to trips or people, and I think this is my favorite tree ever.

    We've had some cold and frosty days, but thankfully no snow as yet.  Still, Charlie has insisted on his little corduroy jacket for some walks. 

     On the health front, the news is good.  A last-minute appointment at the oncologist's office for blood work returned results that were as normal as the setting on a washing machine.  He has not yet commented on the latest CT images, but I'm not going to wait on his confirmation that I have no cancer.

     Four months ago I was planning on sending "good-bye/thank you for having been in my life" cards at this time.  Instead, I am praising God for his healing mercies and grace and sending Christmas cards.  God is good.  All the time.