Wordless Wednesday.... Bleak November

                   GRANNY MARIGOLD

Chilly Days

It has been a cold week with frost every night. Any flowers or/plants that still were looking nice are now drooping  and dead. Time to make the indoors look bright and cheerful.
  
The white tree in the living room is up and I'm glad we got this slim tree because that's all the room there is. It's very tall and the angel on top almost touches the ceiling.

I hung the Christmas garland that I made last year using some of my favourite cards that we received.  I found the beaded string garland and it drapes perfectly in front of the cards.
 The six-footers in the family will have to be careful when walking under this or the whole thing will come down!!

Here's the arrangement I made with the greens and holly I gathered. I hope I remember to keep it watered!

I hope your week is going along smoothly.  

               Granny Marigold

Thinking of Christmas?

Our chilly, wintery weather has me thinking ahead to Christmas. I think looking forward to and getting ready for the Christmas season is a big part of the enjoyment we feel. Of course it's very different from the days when our children were small. Those days were so filled with their anticipation!   Everything was magical when seen through their eyes.

We've quit exchanging gifts between the adults ( except maybe small, token things). I think garage sales really opened my eyes to all the unwanted gifts that people receive and end up selling come next summer.  All those carefully chosen presents that were not needed nor wanted.
Of course the younger ones still get lots of gifts and are thoroughly spoiled ( in a good way).

I do love to decorate my house for the seasons and I have put away all reminders of Autumn and begun the Christmas/ winter theme. Our across-the-street neighbour is having a big old Holly tree cut down and my DH went over and salvaged a number of lovely ( and prickly) branches.  I brought back some greens while on my walk, I think they may be Juniper. Smells so wonderful! So those plus a few bits of another kind of pine have made a fairly nice arrangement in an shiny oval tin that has what I think are pine cones on the sides.   I have hung a Christmas banner in the dining room ( picture will appear one of these days).  So....are you getting in the mood to start decorating for Christmas?

I'm always happy to see that comments have been left.

                                 Granny Marigold

This and That

We've had a few days of very gusty and cold North East wind. I decided to walk in spite of it this morning but I'd forgotten how the wind makes one's eyes water and nose run!!  I gathered a few evergreen branchlets in the park and will make an arrangement of them once I have enough. I have the perfect oval tin container that I picked up this past year ( at a garage sale, of course).

My Thanksgiving and my Christmas Cactus have decided
to bloom at the same time this year.  You can just barely
 see the Christmas one nearer to the  window.

      This Pothos plant is reaching for the ceiling. I love how the new leaves are variegated!

Nancy has asked me to feature tea cups again and I'm always happy to do just that. These two are by Paragon  and have a lovely pink rose inside the cup and also on the saucer. When I took this first cup down I noticed that it has a chip on the saucer.  I wonder how that happened.
   I had to include my pink roses crocheted pot holders and a sprig of those greens I gathered this morning.

This cup and saucer is such a strange ( but pretty) shade of brown. The cup has a little pedestal and of course there's that rose and blue daisies (?) inside . Sorry about the weird reflection on the cup.

I hope you are having a great week....a shorter work week for many what with Remembrance Day yesterday. I watched the ceremonies on TV and kept the silence at 11. It's a good thing to keep
remembering the sacrifices made by so many.

                          Granny Marigold

This past week

This week I...made three pots of Plum jam

...bought an Amaryllis bulb at the thrift store for .50.  I hope I can get it to bloom in time for Christmas. Anyone have advice?

...attended a craft fair ( I did take a few pics)

...managed to lock myself out of my house and on to the porch. I'm too old to climb over the railing and lower myself 5 feet down.

I would have gladly sat outside on the porch swing since it was quite a nice day and I have a stack of reading material out there but that plum jam was simmering on the stove and I had to keep it from scorching!  I beat loudly on the glass door until finally DH heard and came to rescue me. What was I  doing when I locked myself out? Cleaning the glass sliding door. I guess the latch was half way down and when I pushed it shut the latch engaged and I was stuck!

...I have begun going through the stacks of books on my floor, books I bought at  various garage sales this summer. So far I've read one, found another three that are not interesting and put those in the 'donation box'. Only another 25 to go.

                                                            Plum Jam

                              My SIL at her table at the craft fair surrounded by her lovely quilts!!

This table had honey for sale as well as Hazelnuts ( filberts)... which I bought.

I like the craft fairs that are now starting in time for the Christmas season. I don't buy much but it's fun to look.
               Hope you've had a good week,

                                       GRANNY MARIGOLD

A windy Day

It has been a very windy day and the wind shows no sign of abating!  So far we've been lucky and had no power outage. When I walked this morning I found the wind exhilarating and was able to walk farther than my usual walk in less time. That surprised me.  Leaves were flying around and the flocks of geese taking off from the lake were having a bit of difficulty.  A few raindrops fell during the day but mostly the wind blew clouds by so fast they didn't have time to drop their load. Incidentally, I looked up just how much rain our area gets in a year and it is just under five feet!!   And November is our wettest month.  Happy November!!! 

                                  Granny Marigold

Gladys Taber

Many of you will be familiar with the author Gladys Taber. She remains one of my go-to authors when I feel in the mood for a little nostalgia. Her down-to-earth way of looking at her world is calming and her love for homemaking makes her books so pleasant to read. She loved her dogs and her cats too. They were so dear to her and that love comes through in the stories she tells of their antics.  She was a great believer in taking time to enjoy each day !

Gladys Taber lived in her 1690 Connecticut home ( shown below)  with her good friend Eleanor who she calls "Jill" in her books.  After Jill's death Gladys moved to Cape Cod where she spent her last days.  

I treasure the books I have by this wise woman and I'm always on the look-out for any that I don't yet have.  She has also written a cook book that has, besides the obvious recipes, little stories to go along with them. I wonder if you love Gladys Taber's lovely ramblings too?


                 GRANNY MARIGOLD