Happy Santa Lucia Day!
May we be the light in the darkness for others. ✨
Archives (page 6 of 185)
I hope you awoke to a small surprise in your shoe this morning left by St. Nicholas. ✨
{Image | St. Nikolaus (Print) | Elsa Schnell-Dittmann | F. A. Ackermanns Kunstverlag | Munich, Germany | 4 5/8 × 5 7/8 inches | Found HERE}
Hello, December! We’re ready for the frosty air that you bring that bites at our cheeks and the smell of woodsmoke circulating on the evening breeze. We’re ready for the streets to be lit by the glow of Christmas lights while we stroll with hot chocolates in hand to “ooooh” and “aaaah” at Christmas window displays and house bedecked for the festive period.
We’re ready for the arrival of the numerous sacred days to this most spectacular season and month. In particular Santa Lucia, for she brought light into the darkest of corners and so should we all follow her lead and ensure that we are the bearers of light wherever we may tread.
We’re ready for Christmas music to be spinning while we sit on the couch bathed in the warmth of the twinkling tree. We’re ready for our pace to slow as the sun goes to bed and to play endless games of scrabble or cards while sitting at the kitchen table where all the best conversations always happen.
We’re ready for the house to smell of gingerbread and peppermint and fresh pine. We’re ready to watch Christmas movies by the glow of candlelight and snack on buttery popcorn. We’re ready to simply drink in this season and all that it has to offer.
{Vogue, Christmas Photoshoot, 1956, photographer unknown, found HERE | Pinned HERE}
🦃🍁 Happy Thanksgiving! 🍁🦃
May your table be bountiful and may the seats around it be filled with those that you love.
(Vera Ellen, Thanksgiving Pin-up, c. 1950s | Pinned HERE}
Hello, November. We’re ready for our Indian Summer to finally give way to chillier days and nights. We’re ready for hot apple cider packed in a flask to take with us on walks in the nature reserve. We’re ready to smell woodsmoke in the air and the taste of a freshly toasted marshmallow on our lips.
We’re ready for the day to draw to a close sooner and the evenings to be filled with games of Scrabble or cards while records spin and conversation keeps us lingering at the table longer than usual.
We’re ready for bonfire night with crispy sausages and gingerbread cake with homemade toffee sauce and lashings of whipped cream. We’re ready for Thanksgiving because the next day you will be bringing us a heavenly leftover turkey sandwich and cold slice of pumpkin pie, which brings me endless amounts of joy.
We’re ready to continue to soak up this season and this year, for it is going far too quickly. Welcome, November, we’re ready for you.
{Autumn Palette by Mary Charles, 2015}
Hello, October! We’re ready for cooler days and nights. The final weeks of September have already given us a taste of what is to come. We’re ready for crunchy leaves underfoot and freshly baked apple pies with heaping scoops of homemade vanilla ice cream and our home smelling deliciously of warm cinnamon.
We’re ready for our world to be dotted with the golden mustard, rust red and burnt orange hues of autumn. We’re ready for pumpkins on the porch and mums cheerfully peaking out of pots tucked in between them.
We’re ready to start watching some of our fall and Halloween favourite movies curled up with a bowl of popcorn on late Saturday nights.
We’re ready for fall stews and cozy soups with crusty bread and salads filled with the bounty of fall, especially slices of pears, apples, raisins and roasted chunks of butternut squash.
We’re ready for broomsticks and witch’s hats and hot apple cider on chilly afternoons. We’re ready for moonbeams and starry nights and magic on the wing.
We’re ready for the smell of woodsmoke floating on crispy air while we go for an evening stroll. We’re ready for all that you bring in this bewitching month and may it be more treats than tricks.
{Ann Miller in an MGM Halloween Publicity Still, 1955. Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images | Pinned HERE}
HM Queen Elizabeth II (1926 – 2022)
She was a constant in a world that continually evolved. She led a privileged life, but with that came great personal sacrifice. She was a woman of faith and a strong sense of duty. She lived a life of service and did that with grace and dignity. She had a quick wit and a kind smile.
We have all lived through a historic moment, The Queen was the longest reigning monarch in British History. It is remarkable and something that will not likely come to pass again within our lifetimes. She was highly respected and very much beloved.
May she now know true peace and may her family find comfort in the days ahead.
Our thoughts, prayers and good wishes are with them all. For the world has lost a remarkable woman, but her children and grandchildren will lay their heads on their pillows tonight for the first time without her.
Farewell, Your Majesty. Thank you Ma’am, for everything. You are now back with your “strength and stay”
{Queen Elizabeth II | by Baron (Sterling Henry Nahum) | glossy bromide print, 1953 12 1/2 in. x 12 in. (318 mm x 305 mm) overall | National Portrait Gallery Collection | Found HERE}
Hello, September. You seem to have carried forward the cooler mornings that were August’s “goodbye”. The light is ever so subtly changing and evening is drawing in just a touch sooner than a few weeks ago. But the sweet potato vines are still spilling over our planters with their vibrant green and deep purple leaves and the ocean is still warm and there are still signs that summer is present.
You bring with you today the return to a fresh school year, one I don’t think we are altogether ready for, but onwards and upwards we shall go. This summer has not quite been the summer we planned as life continued to happen, but we rolled with it all and still managed a few hikes, breakfasts on the beach, early morning swims, sitting with friends chatting while the wind whipped at our hair and lots of ice cream.
We’re ready for that seasonal shift that you will most certainly bring, even though we will be teased with cooler than warmer days before you make the final push into a more autumnal feeling. We’re ready to still reap the last of the farmer’s market harvest of fresh corn and heirloom tomatoes before we move fully into embracing squashes.
We’re ready for those early days of school where we still might be able to slip away not too long after the bell rings to go for a quick afternoon dip and a lazy stroll home. We’re ready for our first taste of warm apple cider while a cooler evening breeze blows in. We’re not ready to wish away the summer as we like each season to have it’s due, but we are ready to see what you hold for us as we stand on the cusp of Autumn.
{Waterfall Valley by Charles Wysocki}
Hello, August. We’re ready for those lazy, hazy days of summer to come into full effect. Now that school has wound down for the year and almost all the school related jobs have been ticked off the list, we’re ready to just be, to take the days as they come.
We’re ready for early morning swims, when the world is still quiet and hopefully we’ll spot a seal or two paddling by. We’re ready to watch old episodes of “The Mary Tyler Moore Show”, while feasting on PB&J sandwiches and salty potato chips for lunch.
We’re ready for long walks that end with an ice cream cone and we’re ready for quiet nights on the beach stargazing and listening to music while the waves roll in.
We’re ready to be and live within the moment, to cherish the time together and to relish in this month, before our pace has to pick back up again in September.
{Poolside, Janet Hill Studio | Found HERE}