Looking for some green

Christmas is over for yet another year. Now we get into the dark part of the year. Days are short, the wind is cold, and it can be just a little depressing. Not for me though, I can find a little bit of green to cheer me up anytime.Trivial Pursuit's game board has green squares. There are several versions of the game, what the green squares stand for depends on which version you are playing. My Sweet Hubby won this one by the way.
You can find green outside year round too.
See, this cute little Toyota is a lovely shade if green.

If all else fails, see if you can talk someone into making you a Guacamole Omelet.

My Sweet Hubby makes the best!

This is Mitsy Mewable Monkey Face. She lives with my Sister in Law.

Doesn't she have the sweetest green eyes?

Then there is always "the Green Man" You see a lot more of this fellow over in the UK.

This one is the sign for "Jack of the Woods" a British style pub in Ashville N.C., full of atmosphere.

What? You say you want to see some thing that is green and growing?

How about this moss. Lovely, but, yes, that is snow in the bottom right corner. Brr.

How about this guy? Are we getting a little warmer?

Or, maybe his friend, the Katy Did who visited our corolla earlier this year.
Still not quite what you were looking for?

How about this one? This is the view from the back steps in the summer time.

Maybe this will do the trick. Hope it warms you.

Work is still in progress on the house so no "after" photos yet.

Christmas might be over, but not the Holidays.

See you soon, I have some goofing off to do.

Kat

Merry Christmas, Spontaneous Joy!

Christmas 2009The day is almost over, paper is everywhere.

Here is hoping that you and yours

had a Happy Christmas

and wishing you all,

A Merry New Year!

Kat,

and Spontaneous,

Sunset

We just went out for a walk. My camera was in my pocket.

Isn't there an old saying about "Red sky at night"?

Have a beautiful evening.
Kat

Last Minute Shopping, Downtown Charleston SC

I had hoped to show you why we did not put up exterior decorations this year with this post, but the work is still in progress. I will post as soon as it is done so hang in there.

I have been so busy with school and work, that up until this weekend, I did not have any Christmas shopping done. Where do you go when you are out of time? I head for downtown Charleston SC. We love to visit and visiting this time of year is great. Charleston is enough of a city to offer great selection (see the Yves Saint Laurent store window above). Everything from Gucci to Loose Lucy's is open for business and within walking distance.
This is the entrance to the covered market one of my favorite places to shop. I don't know if it is the biggest, but it is the biggest one I have ever been in. There is one building full of permanent boutique type shops, then two long buildings full of open booths. The booths hold photographers selling prints, doll makers selling Mammy dolls and Santas, Jewelry, charms, blown glass, leather, clothes, t-shirts, more jewelry, more charms, pralines (Charleston has the best in the south, we know we have tasted them all over), Scarves, confederate coins, sea shells, Christmas ornaments, painted bricks, and even butterflies. If you like hand crafted things, this is the place to go and it is open year round. There are however, signs up all over, most of the artists do not want photos taken of their wares.

Display window for one of the shops in the boutique section.

This is a toy train set!

One of the treats of the season can be found at the Charleston Hotel. Every year they put up this train set between the landings for the grand stair case. It is very elaborate and can be viewed from all angles by way of the stairs even if it is crowded. Another treat is the fact that unless you are going to the mall, the crowds are not bad at all (why would you want to go to the same old stores in the mall, when all this is available?).
I should have had my Sweet Hubby stand next to this garland so you could get some idea of the scale. This is the grand staircase that curves around either side of the train set. It is illuminated by an amazing Venetian Chandelier. What I wanted to show you here, is the garland.

After a full Saturday of shopping. Sunday morning we attended our old church, The U.U. in downtown Charleston. The tree was decorated in true southern style with Spanish moss and Magnolia blossoms!

Greenery in the sanctuary.

The climate is just a bit milder on the coast than it is at home. The churchyard still has roses in bloom (they look a lot like camellias, but camellias don't usually have any scent). This is an old fashioned rose with a lovely scent.

A little bit of sunshine for Protege. These are blooming all over the church yard.

Now I have some wrapping to do. Looks like I have a helper. She is testing the box for sturdiness. Good luck with your shopping!

Kat

Deck the halls

I am attempting to join my first Blogging block party. It is "Deck the Halls" hosted by Dianne from http://www.thoughtsfromovertherainbow.blogspot.com/

She has several lovely ideas and links to bloggers with lots more. I attempted to do this last night, it didn't work, wish me luck.

I talked about how much my Mother and Mother in law influenced our Christmas decorations and traditions in the last post. Here are a few more examples. This lovely angel belonged to my Mother in Law.

These figurines go with my Mom's Christmas Village. I painted most of them for her when I was a teenager. She loved this set!

Here are some of the buildings that go with the same set. I painted all of these. Mom had a set up where the buildings fit on top of little lights so the houses twinkled. If you look closely you can see the windows are all cut out to allow light through. I light the lanterns, but not the houses.

Mother nature has been decking her halls too. We don't have any snow, but aren't these little red birds lovely?

This video is a little shaky, I was trying to get closer to the birds. They are very hard to photograph. If you have kitties, play this video for them. Spontaneous appreciates the bird song.

Instead of putting ornaments in a glass bowel, my Sweet Hubby decorates with home made caramels. MMM!

Each year, when we take down the tree, we cut part of the trunk off and save it for the next year. On Christmas morning, we will start a fire in the fireplace with this one.

Another one of Mother Nature's Southern traditions, Camellia's blooming for Christmas time. I have two big lovely bushes in my yard.

This picture with exterior decorations is from last year. In one of the next posts I will show you why we don't have them up yet this year. In the mean time, I love this picture so I decided to share it again. Yes, that is me up on the balcony.

Last of all, a tired little sweetheart. You can't decorate properly without the help of the cat.

Thanks to Cass, from http://cass-thatoldhouse.blogspot.com/2009/12/holiday-touches-old-and-new.html for giving me the idea to join the block party.

Hand Made - December 10, 2009.

When I walked down to the mailbox this morning, the sun was shining through the leaves, it looked a little like frost, but it was only sunshine. No frost yet, that is fine with me. Yesterday, I was driving through town and I was thinking that even with the snowflake lights on the lamp posts, it just didn't seem very much like Christmas. Then, I noticed the car in front of me was a pretty little green corvette. He hit his brakes, and the red brake lights and Chevy flash came on. I smiled, that's the spirit.

This is why we have not decorated the outside of the house yet this year. This time of year the bees won't mind.

Many of our Christmas decorations are hand made. This little beauty was sent to us from Alaska years ago. Our friend Brad gifted us with it.

This is the first bear I ever made. The pattern was in a Family Circle Magazine. I made him for my Mom and when she passed, he came back to me. Christmas at our house is full of reminders of our Moms.

This star was made for us when we first got married by my Sweet Hubby's Mom. Some of her family in Germany sent her the paper. She showed me how to make them that first year too so we have two generations of stars on our tree. She loved Christmas!

This bear is the first from my own pattern. His name is patches. All of his younger brothers and sisters, the ones I made after him, were smaller and more graceful. They found new homes. Him I kept, now I have grown quite fond of him. Maybe when school is over for the semester I can make some more bears. He is just under five inches tall.

This is another of my creations. This lovely little fish is made from ribbons that were on a couple of our wedding presents. The wedding was twenty six years ago this week and I am STILL the luckiest girl around. He is my love, my best friend, my companion in life. He is my cheering section and has always believed in me, even if I was not sure of myself. Having him in my life has been a wonderful gift. I could not wish for more. I hope we have many more years to travel through life together.

This is a ballerina's dress for a tiny dancer. I made it too.

This bit of Christmas cake, well, it's Stohlen. My dear Mother in Law insisted that I should learn how to make these from her before I got married. We spent the day in her kitchen. We made it smell wonderful and taste even better. We made a huge mess, and we laughed. We cleaned up and she told me about growing up first in Germany, then in Utah. Her family moved here when she was a child. I got to know her a little bit better that day. She told me stories about her son as a little boy. Apparently he was born with that charm. I am oh so glad she insisted, even though I have never made another one since. You see, my Sweet Hubby has perfected the art, he is a much better cook than me. I would not trade the memories from that day with her for anything. He made this one for us the other day.

Last but not least, a little bit of silliness. My little tree is about a foot high. My Mom had one in the house that was nearly three feet high. When I was a teenager, I hand painted a set of ceramic ornaments for it. I had to use a paintbrush with only a few hairs to do it. These are tiny. Each year I manage to fit a few more on to my tree. Someday it will grow into the whole set. This year, I found a flashing necklace that looks like tree lights, so, my tree is lit.

Stay warm and cozy!

Kat
December 10, 2009

100th post! Christmas in Abbeville SC

As the title says, this is my 100Th post. Thank you to everyone who comes back for more. The semester is almost over and I have had to do a lot of school work in this last week. Do you know anyone who isn't busy this time of year? We took a break yesterday and spent the afternoon in Abbeville SC. This is one of the many beautiful homes that line the streets of this little town.

Every year on the first Saturday in December, Abbeville steps back in time to the Civil war era. Abbeville claims to be where the Civil war began and where it ended. Reenactors dress the part and can be seen all over. There are carriage rides.

The day was mild with temperatures in the 40's (4 to 9 degrees Celsius). I have a friend in Denmark who is missing the sunshine, this picture is for her.

Another of the amazing homes in Abbeville. This is one of my favorites.

Decorations are everywhere and everyone is in a good mood. Six houses were open for tours. No photos inside please. Most of the houses posted here were not open this year, but this one has been in the past.

Big front porches or wrap around are almost a requirement in this lovely little town.

Santa was here early.

The sky threatened from time to time and the wind was chilly, but it was still a lovely day.

I found a bush full of these blooms.

A preview, our decorations are not up yet. This little sweetie posed for me last year.