Rabbit, Rabbit.

Imagine:  December already! 

I'm sorry for the month long delay in posting:  I've been doing some extensive house purging and dealing with some other things that have left me with little time and no energy.  But I enjoy you all so much, I shan't give up blogging just yet. 


Isn't it marvelous that December is here again. The countdown to Christmas is on.My three daughters will be home.  The gifts are purchased; the menu is planned and cupboards are being stocked; the hoarding of goodies is well underway; thrifted festive duds have been procured; and cheesy music has already rung out in the halls of my wee mansion.


My German student comes from a country where so many wonderful Christmas traditions began AND probably the best Christmas markets in the world happen. I'm sure she's curious about how Canadian Xmas differs, but she knows the drill. I'm looking forward to her teaching me how to bake some German Xmas cookies. (And to her parcel from home coming! Will there be marzipan do you suppose?)




But my Japanese student is so excited at the thought of Canadian Christmas. This, of course, makes the whole thing more fun for me because it's almost like having a child in the house.

• A tree larger than her? Oh joy!
• Turkey with stuffing and the wearing of funny paper hats round the table? Great!
• Upwards of a dozen different kinds of Xmas cookie and squares? Bring them on!
• 2 weeks vacation from school (and work)? Ahhhh, rest!
• Boxing week sales in the city with time out for sushi and meet-ups with school friends? Happiness!

And me?  Well, never mind Santa; I'VE got a list that I check twice. Scheduling for three people at this most busy time of the year and making time for baking and Xmas movies and such requires precision and a well placed calendar. 

But I'm also smart enough to not do what would over-do me. Moderation and enjoyment together. Also, in between the moments of near-madness, I'll make sure there's resting with my feet up and a cup of eggnog or mulled wine. 

Let the Christmas season begin!

Snow and Licorice Tea.

Cool boots huh! Sadly, not mine.

The weather has definitely taken a turn towards winter here on the South Shore of Nova Scotia.  The winter coat, hat, gloves AND boots have come out.  And this morning, there was snow on the ground.

The students are in a state of bliss.  So many of these kids never see snow at all. Mind you, we just had a sprinkling, not the amounts that the city saw and no where near what Buffalo NY is experiencing. Poor people! I'm praying for their safety.

Like so many people, my thoughts these days go towards Christmas. I'm in a great spot this year as I brought gifts home to my family when I visited this summer (no expensive post), I have one student's gifts purchased, something in mind for #2 student and my kids are happy with cash to spend as they like. So, other than a number of Xmas activities with the students over the next 4 weeks, I have time to think about things like baking and tree decorating TV Xmas movies and the heady anticipation of most of us being together this season .... 

.... time to focus on the most important aspects of Christmas: family, love and the Christ child.



It's quiet here at the office; just me listening to intermittent hammering downstairs from the carpenter who is himself listening to the country music radio. Quiet and warm and peaceful; just me and my Maria cracker and my licorice tea.  

Pre-Weekend Forecast

Things I want to do this weekend:

(Special note:  items in caps are shouts-out to God to "Make it so, Number One")

1. Lie in bed when I wake and just stretch, stretch, stretch "For Lord's sake", smiling in anticipation of a day of leisure.
2. Have a large cup of dark roast coffee ----- ON MY BACK DECK!
3. Make and eat about a million dark chocolate-covered apricots ... ya know, the soft juicy ones, not the nearly dessicated ones I currently have in my dried fruit jar.
4. Go for a long walk in the SUNSHINE wearing my almost new black and hot pink hiking sneakers.
   
5. Eat some good foreign food and not care one tad about the calories.  Peruse a menu (bringing a hankie to dab off the drool, of course); order & sit excitedly while waiting for my order to be filled; look ..... smell ..... taste .... slowly chew & savor every (hopefully) delicious bite; then complain about how full I am!  That's an A+ idea!
6. THRIFT a great new pair of colorful flats.
7. Laugh a great deal.

Things I will probably do this weekend:

• Drive to the city in the rain on Saturday with a most probable #5, the possibility of #6 (if the Value Village gods are kind), a #2 without the back deck (thanks to Starbucks??) and an almost definite #7 'cause I'll be with 3 chatty 'n' cheerful Asian girls.
• Start my Sunday with the first part of #1, possibly move on to #2, and then spend the majority of the day assisting in the new office move down river.  But there will most assuredly be lots of #7 during the move 'cause they're such a great bunch.  I love my new job.

Weekends!  

Ya never know what'll happen for sure.

Rabbit, Rabbit! Oct 1.2013

 

Rabbit Rabbit everyone!

The best of luck and blessings for this new month.  October happens to be one of my favorite months of the year.  It's when things really start to change:  the weather, the leaves, Sandy.  Yep, I become another year older in October.  

 
The year older is something I cannot help.  Aging ---- it's inevitable!  So, we do everything we can to help it be as good as it can be, correct.  That means celebration.  We'll see what birthday #59 will bring later this month.

October is also Canadian Thanksgiving.  Love the turkey (or perhaps crown rib of pork??), the pumpkin pie, the family round the table and the extra day off to recuperate.

Thanksgiving weekend means an end to the local Farmer's Market.  And although that means having to say goodbye to local fresh produce and The Airstream Cafe's wonderful food and coffee, on the plus side it means goodbye to my Market Manager job.  My Saturday mornings will be my own again ; so I'm beginning to dream of all the wonderful things that can be done on a Sat moring  --- sleeping later, reading the newspaper with my morning coffee, visiting other farm markets as a customer, or finally beginning work on the animal-themed baby quilt that I'm making.

I'm gonna be a grandma in January!

I also like to cook hearty, belly-warming foods on Saturdays --- stews and soups and cheese breads and apple cranberry loaves.  Yummy!

Speaking of yummy, this weekend the girls and I went to the city.  (Value Village shopping will be featured later for all you thrifters out there.)  At the end of the afternoon, just as the temperature was beginning to drop and sweaters were needed, we walked Quinpool Road, enjoying the fading sunshine and the shop windows.  We found a great Korean restaurant and dined on this:

Seafood pancake, an amazing new-to-me soup - Yuk gae jang - and wonderful Beebimbap. 

In Nova Scotia, October is a month full of treasures waiting to be found and enjoyed.  

How about in your neck of the woods?  What does October mean to you?

Thank you! Merry Christmas! OBSERVATIONS

I'm a strong believer in and supporter of The Salvation Army.  They do what few other churches would attempt to do and truly act out "Jesus" in providing for those in need.  I don't have a lot of money to give; so at Christmas, I like to volunteer once a week on the kettles.  (We aren't allowed to sing or ring a bell to draw attention to ourselves now-a-days.  So I always dress low key -- bright red and green with Santa hat and/or antlers -- and sit quietly -- hum Xmas caroles and wear my Xmas sleigh bells on my wrist -- and observe those around me.)  

And if people do put something in the kettle, I always smile and say "Thank you.  Merry Christmas".  I'm shocked by the people who are genuinely surprised and gladdened by those few words.

Besides observing those around me, I gain insight into my own self -- the good, the bad and the ugly!  Last night was my last kettle sitting evening of the season and the best observation evening yet.  Here's some of what I observed.

• There are more pyjama-clad shoppers out there than I care to see.  I mean really!  Who said it was okay to wear pyjamas outside the home?

• People buy a LOT of soda pop at Christmas!  I mean a LOTTTTT!

• I was impressed by the 30 something woman who was out in minus 4 celsius weather in her jogging shorts; but all the better to see those gorgeous toned 'n' tanned legs of hers.  Man, she had great legs!  (As she walked away, I evilly smiled to myself when I saw her celluite.  Okay, okay!  Not one of my prouder moments!)

• Gorgeous, hunky men seldom look my way.  I guess they're too busy staring at toned 'n' tanned legs in jogging shorts to notice the pudgy woman in Santa hat and sensible shoes.  But I'm not so old that I can't appreciate their beauty and remember my own beautiful youth & the handsome men who courted me ..... all 3 of them!!! (Well, there may have been more, but perhaps not all of them were that handsome!)

• I kept noticing this one young woman in the lotions and shampoo aisle; she spent about 20 minutes there -- strolling slowly back and forth in the aisle, opening bottles & smelling, reading the back.  My own 20 year old does that.  But it's been a long, long, long time since I spent 20 minutes looking at lotions and shampoos. Ya know?  I'm gonna spend more time in the cosmetics aisle from now on!  I'm gonna sniff more! 

• I love seeing the happy couples -- young couples, new parents,  seniors.  They hold hands, they share in the bagging of the groceries at the self-check out; they wait for one another (some will sit beside me and chat about "I wonder where she's got to?"); and then they smile at one another when they meet up again.  It doesn't matter that I'm divorced and don't have a mate, I love seeing happy couples.  

But my favorite observations are always the children.  They're usually the ones to tug at Mom or Dad's sleeve to let them put some money in the kettle.  

• One young man who was about 12 years old put money in the kettle on the way in.  I smiled and said "Thank you.  Merry Christmas" and he just beamed!  "Mom!  She said Merry Christmas!"  He was so impressed by those words that he put money in again on his way out.  Now I'm a mother of girls; and most of the 12-14 yr old boys I've been around are usually loud, obnoxious & quite annoying.  It's lovely to be reminded that they also have a sweet, soft side to them and a privilege to be on the receiving end of that.  

• My favorite of the night:  A young family were at the self-checkout.  The little 5-6 yr old boy put some change in the kettle, I said my usual, and he went back to Mom telling her that I'd wished him a Merry Christmas.  Then while his parents finished the groceries, he stood across the aisle from me and entertained me.  First he smiled.  Then he used his mittens to smack himself in the face, making me laugh.  Then he began to hop as he smacked.  Then he started to do a silly dance and wag his head back and forth.  Then he began to sing, dance, wag his head and occasionally smack himself with his mitttens.  I'd laugh, he'd laugh.  What a little clown he was; and what a great ending to my night.

Have you been observing lately?  It's a most educational tool!

I Wanna.....

I wanna week away from it all.


I wanna week at a lakeside cabin in the woods

...where I'd wake every morning to bird song and the sound of the water rippling on the shore and most days would be warm and full of sunshine and sweet breezes...





... where I'd take leisurely walks on long beaches squishing the sand through my toes and collecting seashells and heart rocks for the garden ... or I'd stroll down sun dappled forest paths that would end at tiny waterfalls with crystal clear, refreshingly cold water ...

 ...... where I'd eat beans on cheese toast (sometimes with a fried egg on top) or homemade lentil soup that had simmered on the back of the woodstove while I walked ... and all 3 dozen chocolate chip cookies that I baked before I left home (and I wouldn't ever wonder if there'd be any left in the jar whenever I felt like eating one)...




... where I'd have limited cell phone reception and only get text 
messages from old friends that say "Meet us in town at the pub for dinner -- our treat!" ... and I'd go and eat Bangers 'n' mash with sauerkraut and drink too many glasses of bitter and weave my way down the short path from the road to my cabin after I'd been driven home...

... where on the one day when it rained, I'd sit and knit for a while ... or put together that pretty jigsaw puzzle of the seashells ... and toast grilled cheese sandwiches and drink sweet cider ... and CBC Radio 2 would be softly playing in the background as I listened to the drip, drip, drip of the rain off the edge of the veranda ...

... there'd be lots of opportunities for long bubble baths with large fluffy towels warmed by the fire and  glasses of chablis and even a place for my paperback ...


... and the quiet evenings would be cool ... so I'd put on bed socks and spend hours curled up reading trashy love stories or murder mysteries while the wood fire crackled as it burned down low...


... and when I returned home, the house would be clean! and there'd be milk in the fridge and a still warm loaf of fresh bread on the cooling rack and everyone would be happy to see me and there'd be hugs and kisses and "How was your vacation?" and "What did you do?"  and "Did you miss us?"




... "because we sure missed you!" 


(But no one would ask me to drive them anywhere or find their other sock or lend them 20 bucks!)

It's just a dream of mine!