Matt Haig is an amazing writer. Over the holidays I found the audio version of The Truth Pixie from the Library. He wrote it in verse and he narrates. Such a fabulous story. It’s about a pixie who must always tell the truth, no matter what she is asked. Of course, many people get angry with her when she speaks so honestly. She feels lonely. Then comes the day that telling the truth saves the day. This story is about her journey of acceptance and loving herself.
The rhyming is so lovely, the story so powerful. I truly think you will fall in love with the book too. The audio is the best. This story puts you in a good mood. GREAT if you need a gift.
As we finish 2021 and start 2022, our life is like a sliding puzzle. Remember playing those games when we were kids? There are many unknowns as the days / months unfold. We have goals, but we’re not clear in which order they will be fulfilled.
We might think the answer to WHAT (in our lives) comes FIRST; however, maybe WHO comes FIRST and then we slide WHAT to the bottom to make room for WHERE.
Our puzzle will continue throughout the year with WHO, WHAT, WHERE, WHEN, WHY and HOW sliding around until all questions in our life are finally answered and goals fulfilled.
May your puzzle of LIFE unfold the way you would like it to!
Wishing YOU a healthy, loving, adventurous and prosperous New Year!
Look at this, a deluxe wooden version of Monopoly. It was so heavy I could barely pick it up. Right next to it, they had a HUGE wooden Scrabble game. I admit, they look beautiful. These are old games I used to play as a child. I forgot to look at the price.
I enjoyed playing Monopoly until we got to the buying houses. Then all the bartering, etc. got be bored and I would quit. One of my siblings was ALWAYS happy to combine my winnings with theirs and off I would go. As I walked away I could hear them arguing, “That’s NOT FAIR, etc.”
Ah — Good old Monopoly!
Scrabble, we didn’t play this much. Not sure why, but I know some people who were die hard fans of this game. We played a lot of Canasta. Remember that card game and UNO.
So — if you need a LAST MINUTE GIFT… I just gave you a new idea!!
Life is amusing. I was at the Home Depot for a lightbulb. I enjoy seeing their Holiday decorations. I don’t have a Christmas tree this year. FEELING LAZY, but I do miss it. So, I decided to see what “small” trees they had. I like these quirky looking ones.
I looked at their TOP branch, to see which tree had the TALLEST and STRAIGHTEST branch. Some had crooked top branches. That was an immediate – NO GO! On further inspection, I noticed two tall branches next to each other. WHAT?? Were my eyes deceiving me? Was there an actual tree with two tall branches?
By golly there was!! I immediately thought of my TWIN brother. THIS was a PERFECT tree for TWINS. I looked to see if there were any shiny gold or silver stars around. No, but one tree had these red bulbs on it. So, for fun, I put the two red bulbs on MY TWIN TREE. To make my twin brother smile, I put his bulb a little higher than mine. AT FIRST, I admit, I had the bulbs side by side, which is how it SHOULD BE. Somehow though, from a design perspective, it looked goofy. So, I lowered one of the bulbs.
Laughing — NOW, if you look at the bulbs, they look like EYES. This is a TREE MONSTER coming after me. I sent the photo to my twin, he liked it!
As I kept looking around, I saw these fantastic colored cactus. Wow, I’m not a cactus person, but I do love the bright colors. They are amazing. I should have read how long they bloom.
How about a Cactus built into an ornament. Had not seen that before!
Oh, an older lady asked me what I was doing when I was taking photos. I showed her. She said she lives alone, no children, doesn’t care about Christmas anymore.
HOWEVER, a BIG HOWEVER, when I showed her the pictures I had taken, how I was moving trees/plants around to get my photos — THIS made her SMILE.
Suddenly, she was HAPPY! She said I opened her eyes, she had not SEEN the things I had seen as she walked by. She was going to take pictures to send to her nephews/nieces.
So — I feel like I was someone’s ANGEL!
It’s a good feeling! We CAN spread JOY this holiday!
I’m always on the hunt for a good smelling candle. They are especially helpful if you’ve cooked fish, cabbage or broccoli for dinner. Light up your candle, it’s even better than opening the windows. Somehow the candles work really well.
I recently read an article in ADWEEK, “Yankee Candle Began as a Christmas Gift of Melted Crayons,” by Robert Klara. Right there, the title sold me on Yankee Candles. Melted crayons turned into a candle to make a mother happy?! We all remember having crayons as a kid. What a clever idea!
Long story, so click on the link. I think you’ll enjoy the article. They have 600 fragrances. It’s Christmas, they say their most popular candle is Balsam and Cedar, I’ll have to give it a try.
This is a special story that pulls at the heart strings! GIFT OF THE MAGI – that was quite a story too!
Today is Thanksgiving, but I have to be honest, it doesn’t feel like Thanksgiving to me. COVID has changed things. Did you notice that people started putting up their Christmas trees at the beginning of November this year? They said they wanted to enjoy the spirit of Christmas for as long as possible.
I think we all feel this way in some way or another. This year, we had three family members pass within four months. This brings a cloud over the family. Funerals make us slow down, reflect on life, and think about the past, present and future.
As the year comes to an end, we want — Love, Peace, Joy, Hope — during these challenging times.
Yesterday, I thought. It’s time for me to change my mood, bring out MY CHRISTMAS SPIRIT!
A few years ago, my daughter gave me this cute little mouse. My other daughter named her Elloise. I know today is supposed to be Thanksgiving, but I’m in the mood for Christmas too. So, I went to the closet, threw things here and there and FOUND Elloise. I fluffed her up, straitened her scarf and skirt. Volia! I SMILED AGAIN. Time to bring some joy to my house.
Moose memories. For over 30 years, every September my father went moose hunting in Canada. He’d be gone three weeks in the wilderness with either my brothers or friends. That was a highlight of his year. Two months before he left, he’d go shopping for groceries to bring on the trip. He’s start pulling out his hunting gear, etc. It was a big ordeal, all of us helping to pack up the truck.
We then would eat moose meat ALL year. The moose burgers were good, but if we heard my Dad yell to my mother, “Pull out a moose roast for tonight,” we ran to visit our friends. Moose roasts were so dry and gamey tasting, just AWFUL! My Dad wised up to this tactic of ours and would say, “EVERYONE will be home for dinner tonight!”
My Dad liked to play pranks on his buddies. Since we had a lot of moose meat, he would give some to his friends. One year he had the hoof of the moose, wrapped it in the white paper that the butcher shop uses and wrote “TENDERLOIN” on it! Gave it to his friend and waited. It took a few months, but you can imagine when his friend called. He sure was mad, his poor wife was unwrapping the “tenderloin” package and found the hoof. She was NOT amused and did not want anymore moose meat from my Dad.
When we were kids we’d have our friends over for dinner. They were excited about having hamburger and french fries. We would stare at them as they ate their burger and keep asking, “So, what do you think? Do you like the burger?”
They would say, “YES, it’s really good!”
When they were finished eating we would tell them they had just eaten a moose burger. At first they looked at us and said, “WE WHAT???” You just had a moose burger. Wasn’t it good! They had to agree, moose burgers were good.
Now my Dad is in his 80s, going moose hunting is too strenuous for him. So, of course, there is sadness to this. I know my Dad misses going. A surprise happened at the store. LOOK, what I found — A MOOSE PLATE!!
I smiled. My Dad would look great at the head of the table for Thanksgiving with his very own MOOSE PLATE!
So, he will have a BIG SURPRISE this year. I hope he likes it as much as I do.
Winter is coming. Actually, it’s almost here. I think we will get our FIRST snow in Chicago today. The first snow is always exciting and beautiful. Then the shoveling and slipping on ice starts (laughing). While I was “thinking” about this, a friend sent me this BEAUTIFUL picture of a peony.
The message was… Thought I would brighten your day. We are having summer, but your winter is starting.
So true, beautiful flowers still bloom when we have winter. I remember falling in love with the Bird of Paradise in Hawaii. What a special flower, it does look like a colorful bird.
How about the orchid. I fell in love with this too. Growing up in the Midwest, we didn’t have exotic flowers. When I moved to California that’s when I started seeing amazing flowers. They say you can see Angels inside the orchid. What do you think?
So, we end the week with a smile and gratitude.
A BIG thank you to my friend for brightening my day with the PINK PEONY.
On the way to Providence, our flight was in line to take off. I looked out the window and took this photo. So many planes in line and pretty close together. Looked beautiful. Upon landing, I saw this map that shows how close other well known cities are. So, depending on how much time you spend in Rhode Island, you can travel quickly to Boston, New York, etc.
As Rhode Island is on the water, I saw this gold ship on the top of one of the buildings.
We walked over to Brown University and saw their Mascot, the brown bear.
Along the way, saw this house. You can see the style is so different, so took a photo. Not sure of the significance…
Another interesting house. I liked the BLUE doors, but they don’t seem to fit with the style of the house.
I was reading in the Brown University newspaper that these scooters have become a big deal for Athletes. Since they have so many practices and would be walking 1-2 miles between class and practice, they were getting worn out. So, some of them started using these scooters. Then more started using them, while they can be dangerous in traffic, the athletes said it was worth the risk.
Here is an old bank, now that looked like a fortress.
Here you can see the river…
The Rhode Island trip comes to an end. Providence is small. We did walk the street where they have the Italian section. Being Italian, I would like to jump up for joy, but I was not impressed. It felt like a run down area, so that was sad. They did have my favorite cookies from Italy, but expiration date was June 2021. How fresh do cookies stay after expiration date? I passed.
I did meet a woman who had moved with her family from Southern California to Rhode Island. She said she LOVES Rhode Island. Simpler way of life, not so materialistic and she liked the change of seasons.
So, if COVID is holding you back from International travel. Take some small trips close to you, it’s worth it! We had fun!
Brilliant Viewpoint 