Christmas Again and Reading On

Municipal Christmas lights have been hung, stars in one town, giant candles in another and snowflakes in yet another.  I find the sight of them cheering as I drive through and I suppose that has something to do with the excitement as a child I felt when seeing anything to do with Christmas preparations.  These reactions to childhood experiences  linger so long even into older age, apparently.  A friend works in a home for elderly women suffering dementia.  She said when some of the ladies hear it is Christmas coming they become agitated and upset that they don't have their baking done or presents bought and wrapped.  How deep in the female psyche it must reach that even in senility some women feel the need (and burden) to be making Christmas preparations.  No doubt like stories can be told about women around the world in other cultures feeling similarly about religious or family traditions. It reminds me of an old saying..."men may work from sun to sun, but women's work is never done."

 
 What is on my night table this week...The One I Left Behind by Jennifer McMahon.
I am enjoying reading this book...good characters and parts of the novel are very suspenseful; however some sections seem a little overlong to me so I get a bit bored and skip over them.  Perhaps there could have been more editing to keep the story a little tighter. Maybe that is just me and the feeling I always have about my reading....too many books, not enough time! 

Embroidered Felt Birds and BLack Friday Bargains

Here are embroidered felt birds I made for last Christmas.  It was the first time I had used felt and was very surprised by how easy it was to embroider . Overall this was a good project; each one worked up quickly and I could use my own creativity to use whatever embroidery stitches I felt like.  My inspiration for the patterns came from the site Badbirds which is a great one to check out as they offer lots of free patterns.  I like the rather whimsical aspect their birds seem to have too.  Of course, it is always fun to work on something for Christmas whatever it may be.
I have plans to work on similar decorations this month.  Besides my embroidered mitten which is being worked on cotton, I would like to use felt again and this time make stars and another motif.  Still thinking....
Did you get out to the stores today?  My grandson asked me this morning if Black Friday meant it was a bad thing and it wasn't easy explaining the financial concept that sums up a day that can take a business from being in the red to being safely in the black all the while selling their merchandise at deep discounts. 
There is something very satisfying about buying what you want at a bargain though (for those of us on the other side of the counter). 
Hope your day was a bargain.   

Mindfully Thankful and Cranberry Sauce Recipe

What was on my bedside table this week....

Just finished this novel and it is the first I have read by this author, Kristina Ohlsson. It is a mystery and set in Sweden and is an excellent 'read', especially if you like the new Nordic 'Noir' genre that seems to be very popular these days.  In this particular novel, apparently the first in a series, it is the wonderful portrayal of various characters that do the job of pulling you in, so to speak.  I will be seeking out Kristina's future work that's for sure.

Meanwhile, I must say a big Happy Thanksgiving to my American friends.  I have enjoyed so many wonderful American movies, both funny and touching, revolving around the  thanksgiving tradition of family and friends coming together to celebrate over good food and fun.  We have our Thanksgiving in October and turkey dinners are the usual fare, too.  I am including my recipe for cranberry sauce as I do like it better than the tinned version.  It always reminds me of that very funny Thanksgiving episode of Mad About You where the father-in-law is disappointed that the cranberry sauce is not from a can-he says he likes the sound the hunk of sauce makes when it comes out of the can in one lump. Thunk!!

 

Here is the one I use, but you do not have to use port, substitute more juice and water instead.

half a cup of port (I use Taylor Fladgate), a third a cup of orange juice, 12 ounces of fresh cranberries, half to three quarters cup sugar (I use Truvia), orange zest.  Combine port and orange juice and bring to a boil, add cranberries, zest and sugar; simmer till the cranberries pop and it all softens into a jammy kind of mixture, about 15 to 20 minutes.  This keeps very well in the fridge and is delicious with all sorts of dinners. 

Our storm is past; today is one of those picture postcard days...brilliant sunshine and blue sky highlighting all the pure white snow now covering everything.  Just gorgeous.  Feeling thankful and I hope there are things to be thankful for in your life too. 

 



Snow, Sewing and Simmering Oatmeal

What is in my hoop this week.
This is a closeup of a Christmas tree decoration I am making for my grandson.  It is a mitten shape and I am embroidering several small pictures in it...a boy rolling a snowball, a snowman, the deer, a pair of mittens in the corner with his initials, and some holly.  The other side has a large primitive style tree with a sign reading "Feed the Birds."  I coloured it with coloured pencils and I will use backstitch for most of the outlining.

 We woke to our world completely winter white...it seems suddenly.  We usually get our snow in slow increments a cm or two at a time.  However we got 20 cm overnight with a forecast for 15 - 20 more today.  I just took this photo from the front door and the best thing I can say is it sure looks Christmasy. 
It was the kind of morning that called for oatmeal for breakfast.  I make my own version using large flake oats.  Here is my recipe...1 cup oats, 2 cups water, a pinch of salt, half tsp. sugar, a handful raisins or craisins, a handful almonds.  Sometimes I cut up an apple and include it too so it is a posher kind of oatmeal.  Of course, you don't have to add any of this if you like your oatmeal plainer.  I usually simmer it for 10-15 minutes ( as long as it takes Hubby to walk with the dogs down the lane to get the paper), stirring often and serve it with a little milk and brown sugar. 
Hope you have lots to smile about in your day today.

Here Rex, Come Murphy

I wanted you to see how good our two dogs have life here in the country.  They have the prime seat right in front of the wood stove in the kitchen, which you might think...mistakenly, would be too warm for them, but nooo.  These dogs are special.  The German Shepherd, Rex, was a rescue dog from the humane society.  He had originally been trained as a guard dog and didn't work out, was not adopted because he had some aggression towards men (probably to do with his training).  He has worked out so well for us, and we have been able to give him the kind of home he needed.  Lots of land, a 4 acre enclosed area amid 100 acres and just the two of us, no children living here. He used to pace a lot at night when we first got him but now is quite settled and only barks when he hears an unusual noise.  We feel quite secure knowing he is with us and he has gradually come to accept and seek our pats and praise.
Murphy, the black Labrador, was gotten from Kijiji and unlike Rex, was in a loving home.  However, the family were in a tiny townhouse with two toddlers and two small dogs already.  Murphy was proving very quickly to be too much dog for even two ardent dog lovers.  They were so pleased when they realized the home we could give her and we have sent them follow-up photos to reassure them about her care.  She is rather bossy around the house, loves playing ball, and soaks up all the petting we are willing to give her.  She also shares our bed at night with both of us twisted like pretzels trying to accommodate her poses...usually across the bed instead of up and down.
I think our story goes to show that there is a home out there for every dog, it is a matter of connecting the two. 
We watched with great interest the recent episode of The Nature of Things on CBC called A Dog's Life.  I was surprised to learn how little dogs have been studied; many creatures...pigeons, apes, elephants, etc. have all been studied much more than the animal that actually lives with so many of us. Another interesting fact is that dogs are not colour blind like I had always heard.  They see things with about the same tints as a person with red-green colour blindness would see.
While our dogs are not treated to pedicures, wear costumes or have jeweled collars, I think they lead a pretty good life.

Cancer and Christmas

"If you think we are winning the war on cancer, think again."  This is what a fellow stitcher in one of my classes said the other day.  She had been diagnosed with breast cancer and had started radiation treatments.  What  made her make that statement was the shock she was feeling upon seeing the sheer numbers of women lined up for the treatments.  So many, in fact, that she felt she was not at all singled out to have cancer and certainly couldn't expect  any special sympathy as a result.  It gives you pause, doesn't it?  Here was a woman, a retired physical education teacher, very slim, non-smoker, ate sensibly all her life; she might well have thought it was unfair that she got cancer. I thought it was unfair.  But I guess, fairness doesn't enter into the equation, now does it? 
I just can't believe for all the money we throw at cancer research, we still haven't cracked the code.  The headway made seems to be more to do with drugs and therapies rather than finding whatever it is at the molecular level that sets it all spinning.
 I guess, on a brighter note, any of those therapies my friend might want is at her disposal all at no cost to her thanks to our Canadian healthcare system. So far, fingers crossed she is doing very well.
Sorry to be talking about something dire on a Sunday morning.  Just wanted to get it off my chest.
I wore my scarf on Friday, the one on needles at the start of my blog.  It is very warm and I really do like the cheery red and pink.
Yes, we have our snow and today it is very cold and suddenly winter.  The weeks are passing with lightning speed.  The countdown to Christmas has begun here and already everything is Christmasy in the stores.  They don't waste any time, do they, changing the seasons. 

  I wanted to show you my lone male cardinal looking for seeds in the back garden; he is a welcome sight amid all the grayness at this time of year.

Afghans for She and He

I guess it is a function of both aging and cold weather but the afghans are now out and in use in the living room in the evenings when we are watching television.  So there we sit, hubby and I, on either end of the sofa with our feet elevated, wrapped in wool.  Mine is the pinkish one.  I saw the pattern in a Mary Maxim catalogue and copied it.  I found the wool in a local wool shop in Kanata called Yarn Forward, a most scary store for those of us who only have to see wool and our fingers start to twitch.  It is James C. Brett Marble wool and knits up beautifully with gorgeous heathery colour tones.  I chose the pinks and gray/greens and it is machine washable, an important feature with snacking and dogs around.
I put a lot more work and effort into hubby's.  I knit it in squares, each with 40 or 41 stitches depending on the pattern.  I tried to use as many patterns as I could work out with just k and p and manage to knit while watch t.v. at the same time.  I guess that is rather lazy of me and I do feel a little bit guilty about not sitting down and trying to work out really challenging patterns that would give a more varied and beautiful look.  That being said, I used Lion Brand Irish wool for his  and it is a heather brown colour which he likes very much and he has commented on how warming that particular wool is.   I also stitched a small message for him in one of the squares just to personalize it a little. 
Yesterday I dug through my Christmas craft box just to see what I had on hand.  I was very tempted to head straight to Michaels with my 40% off coupon and just browse, but I'm proud of myself for resisting and checking out what I needed first.  Last year, I made some tree ornaments out of felt...mostly owls and birds that I embellished with embroidery.  It was a wonderful project that I enjoyed working on very much and I look forward to doing something similar this year.  The internet has proven to be an awesome resource for ideas and inspiration when it comes to hand made Christmas decorations. 
We are bracing for our first real snowfall of the season...just 2 cm to begin around noon.  I don't mind the white stuff at all, in fact, love the  winter season but there is one thing I dislike intensely and that is having to drive in it.  That is only time I wish I could take taxis or hire a driver to get me about.