Pine Pitch!

So! Perhaps you will remember that day number two's word was provision! And, then, after I had decided on the word, I found out that we were in some very serious need of. Well, a major provision DID come through (THANK GOODNESS!!) and, this afternoon, I needed to take an unplanned trip up to Rutland town with Tom to sign papers and pick it up. ;) So, I've already written another post for today but got back too late to take pictures and, anyway, I need to move on and get something else done with the family and for my home today.

So!

This evening, we are decorating our trees and I think that the perfect word for today is: PINE PITCH! Don't ask me why in the world that came to mind! :P ;)

Till tomorrow! :)

xo

Falalalalaaaaa lalalaLA! :)

Hark! the Herald Angels Sing!

For the past few years, I've felt a mounting concern that I've just heard and sung Christmas Carols far too many times to take them in any more. I can remember when, back in my teens, I memorized all the verses of all of the carols. It wasn't hard. I grew up in a church that had an amazingly rich and beautiful music program and singing in, at least, 3-4 choir concerts in December was quite normal for me. We sang those carols a lot!

 

But, it wasn't just memorizing the carols that meant so much to me, they really, truly are my favorite hymns. The words get to the very heart of what life is all about for me - "Emmanuel" or...

..."God with us!"

Anyway! That's how this whole holiday got started!! (Just ask St. Nick! He'll tell you!!)

The Carols contain the most astounding and deep phrases and, today, the old familiar Carol that caught my heart afresh was, Hark! The Herald Angels Sing! The phrase that made me go get the carol to read it was

"Risen with healing in His wings!" 

Just to have someone in my life who sees and knows the depths of me - including the not so stellar moments and all of the yuck - and to have them wipe it away and be nonplussed by it - giving me an eternal fresh start! Someone who always expects and knows the best of me - just to have that One who absolutely delights in me - believes in me - thinks that I am of inestimable worth... how could a person not be healed and whole in such a safe and loved place?!

So, my word for the day is healing!

 I feel it!

But my picture is of an angel. ;) The angel is from the Coalport Nativity set that my mom so thoughtfully got us when Tom and I were first married. And, yes! She's missing her thumbs. It was a 'too much candy cane, sugar-high, ball wielding' child's accident from years ago! I've got them safe somewhere so that, someday, I can have them reattached and my angel, too, will be.... ;)

xo

      We had a lovely Easter.

The earth is greening up nicely and the trees are budding out. The warm temperatures broke the records from a hundred years back. Nieces got sunburnt swaying in rocking chairs on Grandma's porch (her house is just up the hill from ours).

The pond was shimmering and had been completely ice free for 2 days already. Daddy and our 3 sons and 1 nephew went rowing and canoeing. I think that 1 good natured nephew was stranded on the small island there. He has since become the "coolest" thing to walk the face of this good earth in the eyes of my young guys!

     This was the first celebration at Grandma's beautiful new colonial style house. It was full of subtle and fresh, very softly natural and neutral spring colors. Since Grandma now lives next door, this was the first Easter that we didn't have to pack up the car and travel 2 hrs for dinner and then drive home again. It felt like we had 5 more hours in our Easter day, which, we actually did!

All the while, my good friend, the pleasant breeze, whispered and whispered around us.

     The church service was wonderful. Pastor Tom (my husband) gave a wonderful, logical, challenging and touching sermon. Worship was joyful and true. (Yes, Madelief, that is my husband in the palm sunday photos with the children. I am always noticing and putting together little facts like that, too.)

Monday, I was tired!

     I realized, after being awake for half an hour, that this was a day that I must listen to my body and do nothing. Sometimes this can get sort of boring. I pass the time with magazines or  the computer or, if I am too tired to do either of those, I watch movies.

     Yesterday, we watched one disc of the world of Beatrix Potter stories - The Tale of Peter Rabbit and Benjamin Bunny, Two Bad Mice and Johnny Town Mouse, Mrs. Tiggy Winkle and Jeremy Fisher, one very disagreeable Mr. Tod and (for a strange Christmas twist) The Tailor of Gloucester.

     We don't receive any channels on our t.v. up here in the hills; so, we watch videos or DVDs occasionally. There are certain ones that we watch at certain times of the year. Besides the Beatrix Potter stories and a few others, I usually watch Sense and Sensibility in the spring. Yesterday was the perfect opportunity for that and, today, I thought that I would share a humorous story of when Tom and I went to see it for the first time in the movie theatre.

For the 10% of you who haven't seen it - I am sure that you will be able to catch on.

Well, the story goes like this ....

     My husband, being a very kind soul, and knowing how much I love Jane Austen (and knowing how reading Sense and Sensibility - oddly enough - was the "feather that pushed me over" in my decision to marry him), consented to take me to the movies to see Emma Thompson's adaptation of  the same title. (Are you with me so far?) Living in the country, there weren't many people at the theatre. There were maybe 20 others, sprinkled here and there in that large, dark cavern. I think that, at least, half of us were die-hard Jane Austen fans. The other half were husbands.

The scene is set.

Now ....

     Do you remember the part when the romantically minded Marianne trips and sprains her ankle whilst attempting to chase some blue sky during a tremendous rain storm? She "falls" for her dark, handsome and mysterious rescuer. The next day, he brings her a bouquet (somehow magically knowing that she would prefer wildflowers). He inadvertently sits on a book - a copy of Shakespeare's sonnets. He begins to quote his favorite, inviting Marianne to join in and recite it with him. When they come to the word "tempests" and he says "storms", there is confusion ...

... and he says,

"Isn't that funny that you are reading them, for, I always carry around a copy in my pocket,"

thereby producing said tiny book!

     Now, I know the story but my husband does not. It was at this point, (being wrapped up in the cinematic performance) that I slowly realized, out of the corner of my mind, what was happening. When the shady Willoughby pulled out his copy of the book and uttered his utterly simpering line, my husband gave a very, very loud and disdainful snort. I didn't notice this at first. What I did notice was that my husband, a few seconds later was sinking way down into his seat. I was turning, curious, towards him. It was then, that the rolling chuckling from the audience began to break into my awareness and I realized that they were laughing at him.

That's it!

That's the story!

AH! What a good memory.

I'm still laughing.

Well, I hope that I didn't bore you to tears with a "you-had-to-be-there" kind of story.

Happy fresh, new week after Easter!

Love,

Katy Noelle

P.S.

 

I should tell you that this "picture" was a wedding gift from a very thrifty and creative neighbor. She found this beautiful vintage pillow but the bulk of it was very damaged. She salvaged the lovely lady on it, added some trim and a bit of quilt stuffing behind it and framed it. Not only is it pretty and perfect, but, the thoughtfulness and effort behind this gift really touches me.  It was made with love and care! Best of all, it reminds me of one of my first friends when I moved back east. We would sit in the sunny breakfast nook and sip tea and eat the lemon tarts that were made from her great grandmother's recipe from England and we would laugh and chuckle at so many silly, simple things in life. Such a very pleasant lady and even more good memories!

Please come!

The online dictionary defines cordially essentially like this:

cordial

-adjective

      1. courteous and gracious; friendly; warm

      2. invigorating the heart; stimulating

      3. sincere, heartfelt

      4. archaic - of or pertaining to the heart

Synonyms

      1. affectionate, genial

      2. cheering

cordial

      late 14 c., original sense of the noun was "medicine, food or drink that stimulates the heart;" adj. meaning "heartfelt, from the heart" is late 15 c.

at one point in the 1500s, it took on a meaning akin to heartily.

I've been giving a mid winter tea for the ladies in our church for several years now (maybe 5 or 6). The last two years, though, circumstances intervened and I haven't been able to do it. This is the first year that I'll be hosting it in our new home here on the hill. Oh, I'm soooo excited!

The purpose of the tea is to grow relationships and to make new ones, to have a spot of light in the middle of winter (we call it a lamppost), to laugh and, I have to truthfully admit that it's a chance for me to set lots of beautiful tables and to use my china! My goal is that we will meet in a shimmering (shakaina) cocoon and take time to appreciate the light in each other's eyes and hearts. 

It's a labor of love.

I, of course, wish that everyone could come!

Then, why is it that I didn't want to let go of my beautiful pile of satiny colored, hand laced invitations?

The date is the 20th of March. Just a little under two weeks away.

I'll be keeping you posted with how it's coming along.

Affectionately (always sincerely from the heart when it's from me),

Katy Noelle  xo

P.S. I'm still tweaking the look of the "Sunny Spot" so don't get settled in.

"I am excessively fond of a cottage. If I had any money to spare, I would build one myself!"

     I used to work in a British tea room in California where I grew up. It was a lot of fun and had such a beautiful atmosphere. When we (my Mom, sister and I) discovered the little beehive cottages tucked away in a magic pocket in downtown Pasadena, we were completely enthralled but didn't realize what a huge impact it would have on our life. For one, it introduced me to, and made me fall in love with quite a bit of British style. I don't mean to be an anglophile and I don't try to know everything about the British Isles. I just cannot help being deeply attracted to British culture, style and people. It's wonderful fun to me.

If you go to this page

 http://www.rosetreecottage.com/Story.html  and scroll down, you'll see a picture of the original cottages where we went for tea every Saturday afternoon when we were finished with our house cleaning chores. Happy memories and YUMMY tea and scones!

Well, one day when we were there, my Mom bought the most adorable tea pot in the style of a thatched cottage. I've been fascinated with it for probably twenty or so years now. I've hinted for ages to Tom that I'd love to collect them and wished that I had even one to call my own. What I wound up with was the card* that you see above to sigh over. Well, we can't have everything in this life.

As I mentioned in my last post, Tom bought me a gift certificate to the local Antiques center. Just look what I found on sale, buried in one of the stalls!

I'm still in learning mode. This style of tea pot is called "cottage ware" and this one comes from the Keele St. potteries in Staffordshire, England. Cottage Ware started being produced somewhere in the 1940s. The real point is that I love it!

     One of my very favorite things in this world are fabrics and china. I love pattern and color! (Does anyone else collect paint chips? Yum!) I can't wait to share more with you on that score and wait till you see what else I got with my gift card at the Antiques Center.

By the way, Freckles, our gracious old lady bunny has accepted baby Flopsy as her own. Wee baby bun is so happy to have a "family" again.

     So, with everything light and bright here, I have to move along and put those boxes of christmas things in the attic now.


With happiness,


Katy Noelle


P.S. Here is a link to Rose Tree Cottage! I love you Edmund and Mary - you'll never know how much you've meant in my life.


*Patti's Dresser. Photography Charlie Colmer

Freshness after the storm

     It used to be that I thought it only properly festive to keep my Christmas tree up until after Valentine's day. I felt that it was a cheering presence to get us through the long, stark winter months; but, contrary to their promising name, pine trees, if we cut them down, are not evergreen. I guess I feel that I've waited so long for a holiday to arrive, it can't be over already. (Ask my husband, Tom, about the St. Patrick's day pumpkin.) My allergies, however, have helped me in the past few years to accept that once the tree gets that pungent, sickly, sweet smell, it's time to move on.

     This year, being slightly pressed for time, I had the marvelous and very dangerous idea to just take all of the ornaments off and put them away at a later date. So far they've survived and are carefully laid on a side table. I'm putting them in boxes today but felt like I have a little pile of treasure and thought that I'd share some pictures of them in an (after the storm) sunny spot.

     For Christmas this year, Tom gave me a gift certificate to the local "Stonehouse Antiques Center". It's so fun to dig through the stalls there and there are so many fun things that I want to take home with me. (Poor forlorn orphans - I love you!) I have a hard time, however, justifying those "extras" that my family doesn't really need. Gift Certificates yield so much freedom. I've picked out four things so far and have a little bit left on my account. Here's one of my finds - just look at what I got!

Vintage ornaments from Poland! I love that they're still in their first box with their original tissue paper and the old strings to hang them by. Not forlorn and abandoned anymore!

What's wonderful is that there's a very good chance that I'll forget all about them by next Christmas and when I open the box, what a happy surprise I"ll get! 

     Well, when I first started to take down the Christmas tree, I felt slightly traumatized. As I got further though, I started to feel that incredible sense of January freshness after the rich, breathless, tempestuousness and  glowing darkness of December. The fresh start doesn't come so much because it's a new year for me. (New year's day air feels the same as New Year's Eve air.) It's just that I've been so focused on what was before me (a mad rush through November to the end of December), that I've hardly had much time to think about what was coming next. Hence, I have a lovely blank slate that's full of hope.

     I had such a happy time today sitting in my sunny spot dreaming about what to do next and enjoying the peace and quiet after the storm. I'm wishing you a refreshing moment today too!

Katy Noelle