My aim on Sunday is to use only the one word, letting my photo speak for itself. But I think this photo of the reproduction of a photo of my great-great-grandfather who was born in Derburg, Bavaria, Germany in 1841 deserves a bit of explanation.
His family moved to the U.S. in 1851 or 1852 to farm in Indiana. In March of 1863, he enrolled in Co. F-8 regiment Indiana Volunteer Cavalry, which was with General Sherman during the march through the South. Maybe that’s where I get my love of horses. At the end of the war, he returned to farming, eventually moving to Nebraska. He and his wife had ten children. He lived to age 73 and his wife to 74.
The tidings are still full of great joy to all people. May your Christmas be filled with happiness, love, and the blessing of the Savior!
Luke 2
1 And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed.
2 (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.)
3 And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city.
4 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:)
5 To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child.
6 And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.
7 And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.
8 And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.
9 And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.
10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.
11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.
12 And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.
13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,
14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
15 And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.
16 And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger.
17 And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child.
18 And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds.
19 But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart.
20 And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them.
Thanks for being part of my online flock. 🙂 Some of you might already be into Christmas Day when you read this, some are still enjoying Christmas Eve Day. But wherever you are in the world or your celebration, I pray that you have a merry, happy blessed Christmas (or holiday) and the same sort of 2022.
I added a bit of sparkly editing today just for fun, but I enjoy having actual sparkles during Christmas. The blue tinsel garland has silver stars in it while the cluster of colorful stars on the right look as if they’re erupting from the base. The two white angels were purchased years ago at a church Christmas sale and are taking a ride in the horseless sleigh. 🙂 In the background in the mirror you get just a peek of our French Christmas table cloth.
This is our Noah tree, gifted to us by my sister-in-law many years ago. The base is the ark, Noah and his wife, and duos of animals while there are two sets of similar small ornaments on the tree supplemented by tiny gardening-themed ornaments from who-remembers-where-or-when. Candle St. Nick/Santa stands ready to deliver gifts over on the left. On the right is one of my latest additions, our Swedish gnome with whom I fell instantly in love at an IKEA visit in southern California. Still deciding on a name. Lars? Sven? Ragnar (more of a Viking sound)? No matter, he’s adorable.
I love Christmas and although we don’t have outdoor decorations, we have lots of indoor ones. Outside we rely on our neighbors on either side who have enough decorations for all three of our houses. In fact our entire neighborhood shines brightly at night.
But I digress. When we moved, I had to find new places for some of our decorations. Since Jude wants us to close out the year with bright, colorful, let me start with two shelves in our living room. The stockings hang below this first shelf on the holders with the stars and the reindeer. The sculptured Indian serenely oversees everything while rocking his sparkly boa. Is that culturally inappropriate? He doesn’t seem to mind.
The next shelf up hosts a small town and miscellaneous decorations. The blue lights add color and brightness. Most of these used to go on our mantel but although we have a gas fireplace here, the wide shelf above it holds our TV and PlayStation, so no room for decorations.
I used to put all my decorations in one large plastic bin. Each year I’d have to take them all out and try to remember where they all went, taking up a great deal of space and time in the interim. One day I realized I could put all the decorations for each area (piano top, mantel, various shelves) in one box per area, label it, and each year it would be simple to decorate one small bit at a time. It works a treat!
Jo’s walking again and so are we after much too long! I posted about Mr. Lemmon before, a mountain near Tucson where you can pass through five or six climate regions, starting with low desert and ending near the top with a ski area and lots of trees. You drive the designated scenic byway up and take it back down and there are plenty of pullouts where you can stop to take in the scenery. The intrepid cycle rather than drive and there are more than you’d think as Mt. Lemmon is the most popular biking climb in the US and one that can be done pretty much year-round.
A mile and a half from the top most people stop to take in the view or eat at the restaurant and this is where you catch the ski lift in winter. But although the road continues to the top, my husband suggested we walk. Now a mile and a half doesn’t sounds like much, but it’s a bit steep and at about 9,000′, provides a lot less oxygen than where we live at 1237’/377m! Fortunately, the walk doesn’t lack views, the perfect excuse to stop for a moment, although they’re worth stopping for whatever the reason.
There were lots of these fuzzy guys still looking nice and green even while catching downed leaves. Up this high there are deciduous trees, including aspen, to give up their leaves so I could feel as though it really was fall. 🙂
It made me happy to find this vintage, beautifully restored 1971 VW Beetle at a pullout as I had a bright yellow ’75 Super Beetle for a number of years. It was a sad when we had to sell it because we couldn’t get a child’s car seat in the back. There are quite a few older Beetles here because there’s no snow or salt to attack them.
The most exciting think for me was finding beautiful frost near the top in areas where the sun didn’t reach. 🙂
The view from the top was rather special. We’d hoped to be able to see the observatory but the road to it was closed and we weren’t sure if we were allowed to hike up. Besides, we still had to go back down and although it does take a lot less time, it works your quads hard, just in different spots than climbing up. We felt rather good about completing the hike, especially since my husband has been working almost non-stop and when he does get a chance to exercise, he cycles, again using leg muscles very differently from walking. It put us in the mood to enjoy our first in-restaurant meal together since moving here in early 2020, at a Greek restaurant that garnered lots and lots of great online reviews.
I think nature’s gold is the very best and I offer you two examples of why I think so. This will be my last post for September as I’m on the way to southern California for another visit with our older daughter, husband, and grandchild-in-the-making. I’ll even be attending my first gender-reveal party but no, there will be no fireworks to start forest fires or anything happening that might kill someone or destroy property! Just family and friends and a cake that when cut, will have frosting colored to reveal boy or girl. Whatever happened to the element of surprise that we looked for? 🙂
In the second week, the smoke cleared, allowing us the usual views with the usual clarity. Although riding is for me one of the main draws, I also love the mountains and time to relax without house chores hanging over my head. Let’s face it. When you’re at home, if you take time off, you almost always could be doing something more “worthwhile.” But when I’m at the cabin, even though there are things to do, there’s still plenty of time to sit on the porch, reading, sipping tea, thinking, a/o just relaxing and looking. “Just looking” is well worth it, as you can see.
My husband had a red metal Coleman cooler before we met that’s still going strong. You’ve heard of some men being called “babe magnets?” That cooler is a hummingbird magnet, also functioning perfectly as the perfect place to set my mug of tea (although it’s impossible to grab a photo when a hummingbird is 8″ from your nose, something that’s happened to me more than once! It’s quite a noisy and cool experience.
Reminder to self: don’t forget to take the Nikon with telephoto outside and set it on the cooler table because you never know what sort of animals or birds might come into view. Out here, these little guys are cute; in my garden, when I had one in the Midwest, they fell into the category of pest! It’s hilarious to see them racing around the front “yard” on these logs that serve as basic fences to keep the horses out or to see several of the small squirrels in this area chasing each other at lightning speed on the same logs while chittering loudly.
Late every afternoon the horses are taken out to pasture to spend the night and if it’s Thursday, their day off, the entire day. But at some point they’re let out in and around the cabins. Eventually they tend to drift toward the area in front of our cabin. It can also be disconcerting during the night to wake to horse noise right on the other side of your cabin wall!
I arrived back home yesterday about noon after having a perfect time (with the exception of coming down with a bit of a cold the last couple of days.) I managed to avoid both the rain and Tulsa on the way back, the rain through none of my own doing and Tulsa because President Biden was visiting on Tuesday when I would have arrived to spend the night and when the President comes to town, major roads close down. So I made like an Okie from Muskogee (lyrics follow), heading there and then to Oklahoma City for the night without ever going near Tulsa. Worked like a charm. The next night Albuquerque and tonight home and I got to watch Stanley Cup hockey playoff games in the motels. 🙂 Tomorrow it’s back to the real work and blogs as well. Happy Friday.
Merle Haggard
We don’t smoke marijuana in Muskogee; We don’t take no trips on LSD We don’t burn no draft cards down on Main Street; We like livin’ right, and bein’ free.
We don’t make no party out of lovin’; We like holdin’ hands and pitchin’ wool; We don’t let our hair grow long and shaggy, Like the hippies out in San Francisco do.
And I’m proud to be an Okie from Muskogee, A place where even squares can have a ball. We still wave Old Glory down at the courthouse, And white lightnin’s still the biggest thrill of all.
Leather boots are still in style for manly footwear; Beads and Roman sandals won’t be seen. Football’s still the roughest thing on campus, And the kids here still respect the college dean.
And I’m proud to be an Okie from Muskogee, A place where even squares can have a ball. We still wave Old Glory down at the courthouse, And white lightnin’s still the biggest thrill of all. In Muskogee, Oklahoma, USA.
This, that and the other thing 
