Winter Wonderland - Finally

Alas I did not have my camera today, and my cell-phone is far from smart - rather dumb in fact! We awoke this morning to a winter wonderland, and it finally looks festive, although the temperature is dropping as I write, and will be very cold by the time I leave the office: minus 8 Celsius or 17F. Brr!
When it gets dark - it will look like this.
I just LOVE this image! Jesse Barnes of course.

Anyway, it is the last day of work - this is the view from my office which has glass walls. Every year, I put up this little tree - much admired by all who drop in I must say, but today, so far, and the day is almost over, no one has come by.
But I am keeping merry with Christmas music and Christmas goodies.
Those Baileys candies sure hit the spot! :)

And here is a festive vintage image of yours truly, very much from the long ago taken with one of those old-fangled cameras - I like that slightly fuzzy effect!
(And I thought I was fat! I wish I was fat like that now!)
Sigh.
How the years fly by.

I close with a cheerful image and with Christmas Greetings to all -
and best wishes for the new year!!
This was the featured kitty today on the lovely site:
"Cat of the Day".

Merry Christmas!!
And a Happy, Healthy New Year!!

A Silence Deep and White

The snow had begun to fall in the gloaming,

And busily all the night

Had been heaping field and highway

With a silence deep and white.

James Russell Lowell

Featured today is one of my very favourite vintage Christmas cards. I do not recall where it came from - maybe a garage sale, or a flea market. Or maybe it was tucked away in a donated book - in my line of work, that can happen often. People pass away, their stuff donated or sold - away and onward. I have no idea who the Tibbs or Johnstons were, and although I have had this card for many years, it is the first time I have noticed that Mrs. Johnston writes: "This is not just the book I wanted, but may appeal to the gardener in us all."  I wonder what book she may have been referring to? From the look of her handwriting, perhaps she was already advanced in years when she penned these few words. For me personally, the card itself is evocative of Christmases long ago - riding in the countryside with my father and sister - going to ski or snowshoe - feet aching with cold at the end of it all. Then, warming by the wood-stove at a friend's farm - the smell of wet woolen mittens - the welcoming warmth as toes unfroze. A simple sketch accompanied by a few brief lines, and yet draws out such deep and distant memories - tinged with melancholy and sadness of times gone by. Maybe one day someone else will find this card and treasure it as I have. I do hope so. In the meantime, while it lives here, may it stir another soul in need of some "memory and desire" and warmth. I am not so sure of April being the cruellest month...

Not a Christmas Tree

I took this photograph in late fall, and since then I have marvelled (yes, marvelled :) how much the tip of the plant, Amaranthus Autumn Palette, looks like a wee Christmas tree - a golden tree at that. It even seems that lights are affixed on the tips of the "branches". The plant itself grew to an amazing height of almost 7 feet and produced many such blooms, but this one was the most impressive, and most like a real contender for the festive season. Pretty isn't it?