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Showing posts from December, 2017

Happy New Year!

As 2017 fizzles away, I found something in the garden today which holds the promise of good and lovely things for 2018.  The first flowers on my witch hazel tree!   Happy New Year everyone, from the running wave!

Happy Christmas

All the preparations for Christmas are complete now - hooray!  A bit of a marathon but I love it all!  Christmas Eve is my favourite day of the year (apart from the winter solstice) because it's the day I cook our family's special meal for Christmas.  We don't do turkey.  We have beef wellington, on Christmas Eve, to leave Christmas Day clear for everyone to relax and enjoy - including me!  Today I spend the day in my kitchen, listening to the carols on Radio 4 from Kings College, Cambridge at 3pm this afternoon, and getting everything ready for our Christmas feast tonight.  Oh happy day! I hope that wherever you are reading this, you and your family have a peaceful and Happy Christmas.  

The longest, darkest night

Despite today having the shortest number of daylight hours, and being the longest and darkest night of the year, it is one of the best days of the year for me.  For those of us in the northern hemisphere, today is the shortest day, which means we can now start the long gradual climb to lengthening days and spring!  Hooray! I was awake in the night, as always, and relishing the absolute peace and quiet, when the words of Desiderata popped up in my mind.  I thought that with all the rush and bustle leading up to Christmas, and at the end of a long and generally confusing year for the world, the words of Desiderata might be a good thing to post here, just for a little reflection as we lurch towards the festivities and a new year. Go placidly amid the noise and haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible, without surrender, be on good terms with all persons. Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even to the dull and ignorant; th