Special Time Before Christmas Decorations

I think there are beautiful days every season, but this time right now, the first few days after the leaves fall, are the days that I treasure.  It's still relatively warm, 68 degrees today, and plenty of sunshine along with a little cold wind that blows ever so often. Many of my neighbors take advantage of this warm spot right after Thanksgiving to decorate their homes for the Christmas season.  I just can't!  This wonderful time just before winter is too beautiful to not enjoy.  I'll decorate in a couple of weeks after a few good cold rains.  But for today, lets take a walk!  It will do you good to get outside and enjoy the beauty of nature! Look up!  We can see the sky!

All the leaves have been falling like snowflakes.  Now they are  all down and we can look up into the trees.  What a beautiful blue sky!

I know...I know, that means there are leaves to gather, but that is good exercise, too!

Walk with me and lets see if we can name the flowers blooming today.

Camellia

Camellia Sasanqua

Pansey

Dune Sea Iris

 

Nandina 

Ha! Ha!  Sorry, I included a picture of our wood pile. I think it is beautiful! 

DH has cleaned, filled the bird feeders and hung them with care.  He has them all ready for our winter guests.

Come swing awhile and enjoy the sunshine.  It won't last long.

In fact, this special time won't last long either.  For when I was raking leaves, I found something underneath!

"If winter comes, can spring be far behind?"

Percy Bysshe Shelley  Ode the West Wind

Thank you for coming along with me today on my walk.  The day was beautiful! Always treasure today!

Love,

Lottie

I'm sharing this post with 

Outdoor Wednesday

Happy Thanksgiving 2012 and Decorated Mantel

Wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving this year!  I want to share with you my favorite place in our home, the fireplace in the kitchen.

This is truly my happy place.  DH keeps the fire going and the kitchen is always warm and toasty.

These are my only Thanksgiving decorations this year.  I retired and donated ALL my decorations to the school library where I worked.  I was a little sad this year without decorations in my home, so when I told DH about a really neat ceramic turkey at KMart, he immediately took me shopping and bought it for me!  It made me feel better instantly! (I don't know why I didn't do that for myself.)

Next to the turkey is a pot made by John Meaders, a famous folk potter in Georgia that we had the honor of meeting while he was still alive.  The burgundy basket I have had forever and fill with cinnamon scented pine cones.  I know these are simple decorations, but they make me happy.  More would be too much.

I called this my happy place.  The day we bought this clock at Walmart about fifteen years ago was a happy day.  Nothing special happened that day.  DH and I were shopping for other items on our list when we walked by this clock and we both thought it would look nice until we could afford something better.  We were happy bringing it home and putting it on the wall.  It was like a gift of happiness we gave to each other.

You can almost see the other pot on the left side of the picture.  DH made that one.  (He is the famous folk potter I know in SC.)

This is the warmest wood stove!  We have had it over thirty-four years, in two houses.  It was fashionable in 1978 to use wood stoves to heat homes.  We have a gas heat pump for when we don't use wood, but DH is stubborn about saving money and using wood.  This is a CRAFT stove.  We researched what kind of stove we wanted back in 1978 and decided on CRAFT.  The factory where these stoves were being made was in Gastonia, NC.  You could order one from the factory and save a little money, especially if you picked it up yourself.  We were newlyweds back in 1978, but we saved and saved and put together the $500 it took to buy the stove.  Then the day we were supposed to pick it up, DH had to work. That meant I had to drive his truck by myself 150 miles with $500 in my pocketbook to a machine shop and pick up the stove.  I was young and I was afraid, but I did it!  I didn't know then that this stove would warm our family for the next thirty-four years.

One more story.  I love my sons who love the outdoors and have hiked the US and Spain.  Sixteen years ago my son hung his lantern by the stove and said it looked good there. I can't bring myself to move it. I guess I have enough decorations for Thanksgiving.  Thank you for visiting.  Hope you have a wonderful day!

Love,
Lottie

  

Thanksgiving Thoughts

"Every leaf speaks bliss to me, 

fluttering from the autumn tree."

                                                                                  ...Emily Bronte

It's hard to go for a walk these days without being struck by the beauty of all the trees around us!  And it's hard not to think about Thanksgiving as it approaches next week.  I love reading all the blogs with descriptions of table settings, recipes, and family gatherings.  But the truth is that everyone has a different Thanksgiving and that is ok.  For some people, November is a sad month, with the time change and the darkness.  I can't seem to decorate because I think of all the people who lost their homes or are without power because of Hurricane Sandy. This year, it seems a countdown to when all the leaves will finally fall.

It's like work-waiting, a package of pansies waiting to be planted.  My grown men sons will be here for Thanksgiving and the four of us will go to a local restaurant for Thanksgiving dinner.  They can pick and choose from their favorites and we will see the usual crowd.  Then we will all come home for dessert, pie.  My son's don't care about decorations, just plenty of pumpkin pie.  I'll save my decorations for when I someday have daughter-in-laws and grandchildren who will appreciate them!  For now, we will just have plenty of pie!  Everyone's Thanksgiving is different.

 After we come home from dinner, the men folk will go out and try to out do each other chopping wood.  Good for them!  I can sit in the swing all bungled up holding my striped cat, Elizabeth, and be their cheerleader.  Sure beats cleaning up the kitchen a couple of hours!

When I was a young wife and mother, I tried my hardest to create a Norman Rockwell type Thanksgiving.  I was always disappointed and just beat!  I always ended up crying when it was all over. I read years ago that people had conflict when they had different expectations.  I expected a wonderful, warm, family feeling sharing Thanksgiving dinner.  My men expected good food to eat!  

Hope you have that special Thanksgiving meal with your loved ones no matter how you do it!  Do what works!  Take a break during Thanksgiving and don't work so hard.  Enjoy the people you love.!

Love to you all!

Lottie