Wishing you all a very happy and peaceful holiday. If you are travelling do take care, and keep safe.

 

To you all💙

Christmas Whirligig

Memories were rekindled for me by a lovely post from Gina showing some traditionally hand carved wooden figures from the Ore Mountains, an area that spans south-eastern Germany (Saxony) and north-western Czechia. 

It reminded me that we too had some similar carved figures. I am not 100% sure that ours were made in the Ore Moutains. They were purchased by us at an outdoor Christmas market in Hamburg many moons ago. But where are they now? The hunt was on. Eventually I managed to located the box in which I had hidden them away. It was a delight to rediscover and see them again, especially as I uwrapped each item carefully from the many layers of protective tissue paper.

When the candles are lit the sails twirl around which then revolves the navity tableaux inside the stable which is being visited by the three kings whilst shepherds stand guard around the outside with their sheep.

The choir sings

The sheep wait patiently

Mary & Joseph watch over the crib, 

and then the three kings arrive bearing gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.

🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄Festive Greetings🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄

The Lady is Unpredictable

Paphiopedilum insigne
I was immediately attracted to this Lady's Slipper Orchid when I spotted her at Funchal's exotic Christmas fruit and flower market on the beautiful island of Madeira. It was over 20 years ago that I carried her home on the plane with great care just before Christmas.

Years past by and no more flowers appeared. Periodically I would peer into her foliage, and wonder whether she should be kept or discarded. Her 8th year without flowering was on the horizon when suddenly I noticed a small bud poking out through the leaves. It was late summer, but as the weeks rolled by I came to realise just how long it takes for her to develop and reach her full flowering glory. She tends to be at her best in time for Christmas.

Is she beautiful? I am not sure that she is! Her appearance, if I am honest, is rather anatomical, but she fascinates and intrigues.
This is a special moment for me as she has only flowered four times in all of those years, but happily this time she has deigned to bring a friend along too. 

Happy Christmas to you All

The holly and the ivy,
When they are both full grown,
Of all the trees that are in the wood,
The holly bears the crown.
The rising of the sun.

And the running of the deer,
The playing of the merry organ,
Sweet singing in the choir. 

Asian Objet d'arts

Set deep in the countryside are a cluster of old barns that we enjoy visiting especially when searching out interesting gifts.

They are filled with eclectic artifacts that the owners have sourced from several Asian countries - some old, some early to mid 20th century and some reproductions. 

 A painting of the Empress Dowager Cixi - circa 1890

Old teak cow bells from Rajasthan - they make a delightful, mellow, throaty sound

The elegant 1930s Japanese lacquered pot with spout was for pouring sake

Calligraphy brush stands used for jewellery

Silver Miao Tribal necklace from Guizhou in SW China

along with a silver Miao Tribal headdress 

It was an invited Open Day; Visitors were plied with tasty, freshly made Asian snacks that kept magically appearing from the tiny kitchen.

Wooden ghee pots, ladles, and more cow bells hanging from an old peg rack, but do we really need an old ghee pot or a cow bell? interesting to see but I think not.

Chinese rice jar

There were lots of things to tempt us, but we resisted.

We particularly admired these Rajasthani lacquered dhubbi boxes also from the 1930 period.

However, we did successfully fulfill our quest, and returned home with some pretty Indian bangles for all the girls.

 which we hope that they will enjoy finding in their Christmas stockings. 

Boxing Day

Hope that you have all had a happy seasonal holiday whether you celebrated or not

A gift of a pen and ink drawing by one of our granddaughters

and hanging hooks made for us by our grandson

A brisk walk in the winter sunshine followed by an easy meal of leftovers from Christmas Day. Tomorrow we shall be on our own again, but lots of clearing up to keep us busy - take care♡

Christmas Greetings

Christmas window - La Fayette, Paris

Cornwall

We have just been away for a few days escaping the hurly burly that is Christmas

to a hotel that holds a special affection for us, and is just a short coastal headland walk to St. Ives 
Alternatively you can take a little train that trundles along below the footpath every hour to

St. Ives

Silvanus Trevail was the architect of The Carbis Bay Hotel built in 1894. He was a prominent Cornish architect who rose to become Mayor of Truro and nationally, President of the architects' professional body, the Society of Architects.
The hotel was immortalised by the author Rosamunde Pilcher when it was featured as The Sands Hotel in her novels 'The Shell Seekers' and 'Winter Solstice'.
Although the hotel has changed over the years it still retains much of its character and houses a wonderful very large original oil painting by Sir Claude Francis Barry - as a young painter he studied first with the Newlyn School of realist painters and then under Alfred Bast with the St. Ives group of painters 

St. Ives - painted in 1910 - Claude Francis Barry
He was known for his great love of colour and for developing his style continuously during his lifetime

We left home in typically December weather only to discover warmer, sunnier climes had blown in to Cornwall from the continent. It is this special light that attracted the colonies of famous painters to Newlyn and St.Ives at the end of the c19th.

The late afternoon sun is slipping away rapidly - time to hasten back over the headland for our eagerly anticipated evening meal

 This is not an advert or recommendation for the hotel, it is simply a place that we know and love

 A Christmas thought

Why have we allowed ourselves to be manipulated into thinking that Christmas needs weeks of preparation and shopping?

When I was small Christmas arrived hardly more than a week before the event. On the morning of Christmas Eve our turkey would be delivered from the farm along with a box of fruit and vegetables, and father would go out into the garden with his spade and dig up our Christmas tree. Myself and siblings would spend the afternoon decorating the tree, and then just before we climbed the stairs to bed, the lights would be ceremoniously switched on, filling us all with great excitement and anticipation.

Happy Christmas

The cases are packed

The gifts are wrapped

The cards have all been posted and

a holly wreath decks the front door.

My sincere hope to you all is that you enjoy

a wonderful Christmas,

wherever you may be.

Thank you for your warm friendship,

 and the thoughtful exchanges we have shared over the past year

linocut Robin courtesy youngest son

Christmas Past

I was amused reading writer Cosmo Landesman's recent account in the Sunday Times of Christmas Day spent at his hippie parents home. His mother would invite strange people to join them all for Christmas dinner - people who had no family, no children and no friends.

It rang bells with me remembering Christmas Day when our sons were young and we would be joined by Miss Lambert-Lambert. She had tutored Latin and French to our eldest son in preparation for his entry exam to a new school. 

I discovered that this rather elderly lady would be completely alone at Christmas and invited her to join us. It wasn't a 'one off' - it became a regular date until she was too frail to join us anymore.

As H and I carried the Christmas dinner to the table Miss L-L regaled us with news that she had a tiny birdlike appetite and a very delicate constitution. During the meal youngest son's eyes grew wider and wider as he watched her eat a hearty meal and then proceed to fill up her plate yet again.

I would place silver Victorian three penny pieces in the Christmas pudding, which finders could then use to make a wish. These were carefully packed away for reuse at the next Christmas season. For some reason Miss L-L kept finding them in her portion and exclaimed "Oh! see what I have found" make a wish and pop them in her pocket. Tactfully, eldest son informed her "they are not keepers Miss Lambert-Lambert." 

Unbeknown to her the day would sometimes become strained as she would decide now was a good time to test the boys on their Latin conjugations and French conversational skills, not an ideal pursuit for young boys on Christmas Day.
She would make us all laugh telling us odd and strange stories about her life which were difficult to believe, but on investigation often had an element of truth.

One Christmas I recall showing her some photos of our walking adventures in the Austrian and Swiss Alps, she quickly remarked "did Kodak compliment you on your photos?" and assured me that they did on hers!!!  Much to our amusement, and in all seriousness, she asked if we had guides and ponies to assist us in the mountains. Much later, however, she would show me a photo of herself as a young women standing in the Alps. She was wearing jodhpurs, a couple of guides were in attendance armed with ropes slung across their chests together with ponies carrying her luggage.

When I was younger I had a habit of picking up and collecting waifs and strays big time, this would lead me into countless often strange situations. Sometimes they were highly amusing but at other times would put me in an uncomfortable place.

When we moved home and location 20 years ago I decided enough was enough, and consciously made a decision that my pick up days were at an end. There would be no more Miss L-L's, Mrs P's or for that matter anymore lost and lonely old men.

Thank you very much for your very kind comments left for me over the Christmas period. I appreciated them all and enjoyed reading them on my return