almost the end of a year

Everyone is gone. 
Christmas company and family gatherings.

Honoring Turner with the blog headliner painting.
New movie out: Mr. Turner
and hope to see it this weekend.

Today we saw a coyote in our backyard.
Quite weird when my oldest brother asked what was in the backyard
and then we all said , "A wolf?" " Coyote?"
Good thing our cat was inside.

It has been a good holiday. 
Another brother got out of the hospital yesterday after 
a severe fall about a month ago. He has broken ribs, shoulder,
and sternum to heal. We visited him on Sunday for 3 hours.
So good for my soul. 

My kids came over on Christmas morning in Onesies.
Yes, 6'5" guys in onesies. It was Christmas cheer.
They made us breakfast even with mimosas! 
It was  one of those Proverbs 31 days when your children
rise up and bless you! 

Needing sleep. How about you?
Are you sleeping in?

Christmas Eve and a baby

It was a cold Christmas Eve three decades ago . My oldest son 
came earlier in the morning. High for the day was 7 degrees.
Happy Birthday Bryan!

Just reading from PRAYER by Tim Keller: 

''One of the greatest descriptions of prayer outside of the Bible 
was written by the poet George Herbert in his Prayer (I). The poem
is remarkable for tackling the immense subject of prayer in just 
100 words and without a single verb or prose construction. Instead,
Herbert gives a dozen word pictures. 

.... a defintion seeks to reduce things to the essence . George Herbert
wants to go in the opposite direction. He wants us to explore the richness
of prayer with all its infinites and immensities. He does so by overwhelming
both our analytical and imaginative facilities."

Prayer (I)

BY GEORGE HERBERT

Prayer the church's banquet, angel's age,

         God's breath in man returning to his birth,

         The soul in paraphrase, heart in pilgrimage,

The Christian plummet sounding heav'n and earth

Engine against th' Almighty, sinner's tow'r,

         Reversed thunder, Christ-side-piercing spear,

         The six-days world transposing in an hour,

A kind of tune, which all things hear and fear;

Softness, and peace, and joy, and love, and bliss,

         Exalted manna, gladness of the best,

         Heaven in ordinary, man well drest,

The milky way, the bird of Paradise,

         Church-bells beyond the stars heard, the soul's blood,

         The land of spices; something understood.

Happy Birthday Jesus !

My blog painting is featured today on Biola's Univ. Advent. 

joy & love

What is joy if it goes unrecorded?
What is love if is not shared?


These are the very last words of the very last
 last CALL THE MIDWIFE last season. 
I just finished watching it ... again.

I cried.
Chummy's mother died.
The doctor and Sister Bernadette got a baby girl.
Jennie leaves and has met her husband to come
in days ahead.

I think about my mom. She passed away 11 years
ago tomorrow ( December 23) and the last months of her life were filled with 
such words. Miss her.

                                   2003 : my oldest brother, mom, sister, and youngest brother

Watching this movie ,wrapping presents, 
 and I may cry again:

Still Mine

in the stack

This may be my favorite read into the New Year. I may have to buy it because
it makes me read slowly, grab my journal and my bible. Keller wrote it because
he didn't have a book on Prayer to recommend to this new generation. He does
go back to the greats: Jonathan Edwards, John Owen, etc... He gives personal
testimonies. Makes me think of Father Tim in Mitford.

This is a present to me for Advent. I always grow my collection each year. I love
the poems and bits from literature Sarah has chosen. Her blog is God-Hungry Imagination. 

                                                      Grandma Moses' son:

                                                 
                                                  very pretty cookbook to read

                  Finished this MISS READ and always rereading her Christmas stories:

                                                

I don't think I have read this one:

inspired by the post below:

to do this at my back door:

Not sure why I never thought of this before!

Off to the library for a stack of books waiting for me. 

so pretty

Found a new tumblr: With Grace & Guts

Christmas at Downton Abbey

  

and of course this coming for a fund raiser commercial:

being read to

Malcolm Guite reading Chesterton and Belloc on Christmas and it is
delightful to hear his British accent with these lovely stories.



I should make this:



and finished this while on the road to Georgia this past weekend:

Read some of the chapters in this book and it is quite good:

Advent week 3

Advent doors

Click on the doors at Folt Bolt

tree being decorated tonight

Moving between the legs of tables and of chairs, rising or falling, grasping at kisses and toys, advancing boldly, sudden to take alarm, retreating to the corner of arm and knee, eager to be reassured, taking pleasure in the fragrant brilliance of the Christmas tree.

— T.S. Eliot 

Tree decorated tonight so it is beginning to feel like Christmas. We saw the Rockefeller Plaza tree last Weds. before it was lit , when the lines were starting to grow and the misty air made us yearn to be inside. We came to the lit tree on Sunday night. Here is Emma's photo: 

A Kitchen in France by Mimi Thorisson

 Isn't this a beautiful book! I was transported to  Mimi Thorisson's life with 5 children, 
2 older step-children , 14 dogs and a photographer husband in a farmhouse in Medoc, 
France  The cookbook is stunning ! Food recipes  are divided into the four seasons. 
Simple, delicious recipes which make my mouth water and are easy to make.
Mimi's style is elegant: cooking in heels and a dress.  She is very much akin to Julia Child in her cooking  style. Or maybe Downton Abbey style.  This means "YUM." 

I just ordered another copy as a Christmas gift. If you know anyone who loves
to cook or bake or eat, this is an excellent choice. Visit Mimi's blog Manger to get 
a taste. 

Thank you for this free book and my friend Melissa who shared about this 
beautiful book too. 

You can friend Mimi on Facebook too!



 "I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review."

today's word: Scandent

Today's word from A.Word.A.Day which comes into my emails daily :


Scandent: adjective: Climbing or ascending.

I chuckle at all I learn about words and other things like this fun 
artwork. 

USAGE:

"They come and vegetate -- early-goers and scandent socialites -- loitering about and small-talking on the pavement; gradually they edge indoors to the crawl of ivy and creeping plants, spreading like gossip through rooms and around corners."
Kol; Fools; Xlibris; 2012. 

ETYMOLOGY:

From Latin scandere (to climb). Ultimately from the Indo-European root skand- (to leap or climb), which also gave us ascend, descend, condescend, transcend, echelon, and scale. Earliest documented use: 1682.

The artist, Leah Palmer Priess,  illuminates WORDS. 

Here is another example for the word : oneric

Awake my soul

I am catching up on Biola Univ. Advent Project this morning and 
December 5th has captured my heart. Awake my soul awake my tongue
is the song you can hear and a thoughtful painting of the morning. 

I am thinking about time. Doing the next best thing. 
I need to lean into this line: Christ came to redeem for all times and seasons. 

and this :  
I try to awake to the truth that every day is as sacred as the next, and that God’s invitation to salvation, holiness, and hope shimmers just as brightly as the magis’ star if I manage to open my eyes and wake up. 

                                       Patty Wickman, “Passion Painting”. 1999, oil on canvas.



I “feel” Christmas most on the actual day—“feel” the most determined to live a life that honors the phenomenon of the Incarnation.  But what about July?  What about those “common” days seemingly removed from the symbolism and communal celebration?  In her book, For the Time Being, Annie Dillard reminds us, “There is no less holiness at this time—as you are reading this—than there was on the day the Red Sea parted, or that day in the 30th year, in the 4th month, on the 5th day of the month as Ezekiel was a captive by the river Cheban, when the heavens opened and he saw visions of God.”

Christ came to redeem for all times and seasons.  


 Awake my Soul, Awake my Tongue Lyrics

Awake, my soul, awake, my tongue,
My glory wake and sing,
To celebrate the holy birth,
Of Israel’s King!

Oh awake, oh awake my soul
Oh awake, oh awake my soul
Oh awake, oh awake my soul

Awake my soul, my tongue, awake me
O happy this night that brought forth the light,
Which makes the blind to see,
The Dayspring from on high came down to thee

In Bethlehem the Christ child he lies,
Within a place obscure,
Your Savior’s come,

back in town

and looking towards Christmas....


( The Murmuring Cottage )

How about you?

St. Patrick's is almost cleaned but still has scaffolding 
near the front. Here is the back looking up:

and here is Emma and another student/ friend right outside 
Macy's spectacular Christmas windows :

quick view at the windows of Alex and Bella , his dog, who go out into the universe
with Santa in his sleigh. 

wish I was a kid seeing this...

and added these today for the THOMAS COLE PAINTING

From BEHOLD THE LAMB



The Holly and the Ivy which goes right into the song below:

While Shepherds Watched Their Sheep by Night

Tomorrow

 It is December.
My class will be doing a Picture Study of the new painting in  the headliner
by Thomas Cole which I saw years ago in Norfolk . I remember turning
into the room and this painting is huge. It covered the wall and felt
like being in the field with the shepherds. 

And we  listen to this by Sally Lloyd-Jones 

and then write a first person narrative as one of the shepherds.

Then off to NY on Weds. Doesn't this look yummy!

Sweet Fine Day has a food calendar and they own a Brooklyn Confectioners
called Whimsey & Spice.   Recipes online on the blog.