SURREAL - part one

When you win a giveaway you feel pretty lucky. But what do you call yourself when you win two giveaways? Double lucky? Dreaming? Blue? Yes, blue - from pinching myself; I could not believe it.

Jill of Untie the Ribbons, and Teresa of The Altered Paper and Creations by Tee were both having giveaways about the same time, and I, yours truly, won both. What are the odds?


For her giveaway Jill created this wonderfully whimsical, intricate wool box.






















The interior is constructed with spot dyed wool and the cheerful heart seems to spring up when you open the lid.
























Each side is a different little work of art and is decorated with pretty flowers, and little wool worms, rolled, shirred and couched.






















You can enlarge the pictures to see the details in the various stitches. Jill used mostly wool for the layered appliques but also used ribbon for a few of the leaves.

Many, many beads are sewn on the side panels of the box. This particular flower has over a hundred beads sewn onto its center.


















Here's the sweetest thing - Jill's little logo bird. He has beaded, ruffled paper wings and crown, and he has caught himself a woolly worm. His little legs are made of wire - look how Jill bent the wire to make his little feet. Too cute, too cute.




















I first put the little box on a table beside the bed, and now I move it around from place to place just because it makes me happy, and I smile every time I see it. Jill, just saying "Thank you," seems so inadequate but I sincerely mean it.

If Jill thinks about it, she will create it. If you scroll through her blog you will see various items that she has made: dolls, different kinds of boxes, and floor cloths to name a few. She has a huge assortment of dolls. Recently she introduced us to Euella and Flat Betty. Each doll (there are several Flat Bettys) has her own story.

In a few days I will continue with part two about Teresa's giveaway.

Catching Up With a Belated Thank You

While I do not participate in many swaps, I occasionally swap ATC's. Recently I did join in the fun with a swap that had an open theme. The ATC that I received in December was from Lori of Out of the Mouth of Your Heart Speaks.
























This is a lovely and delicate card of soft hues. On the vintage background Lori has placed several items: little tags spelling out 'love', an opened fan, a picture in sepia of a lady smiling (maybe she has just received a letter from someone very special to her), a beautiful butterfly, swirls, star bursts and a geometrical pattern of a flower, and then she added a light touch of sparkly glitter.

I look forward to seeing other ATC's that Lori will create for swaps.

Lori, I thank you for mine.

Whew!

I want to thank you all for the concern and well wishes. So far, so good, and I think we are in the clear. The roads are a mess, but there have been very few power outages. What makes the main difference is the amount of ice.

Ordinarily we get a dusting of snow but lots of freezing rain. When the power lines get too heavy with the ice they come down, or the tree limbs snap under the weight of the ice and they fall on the lines. But this snow fall was actually snow, and the predicted freezing rain and sleet did not appear in our area except for a very slight freezing drizzle. You will notice that most of the snow was so light that it fell out of the trees.

We have been able to bundle up and take walks, look at the snow clad neighborhood,

























































































go sledding,


















and come back to a WARM home.


















There were many birds at the feeders, but plenty of seed had fallen to the ground.




















I feel for those who have not been so lucky. And look at all the flooding still going on in Australia. I know there is often bad weather occurring somewhere at most any given time, and there have been earthquakes, landslides, fires and threatening volcanoes making people evacuate their homes, so I try to remember to be grateful for dry, warm toes, a comfortable place to sleep, and enough to eat.
























I am linking to Outdoor Wednesday where you will find many outdoor scenes.

It's Almost Here

If you live in any of these pink to white areas you are probably going to experience some inconvenience during the next day or two. No power, no heat, closed roads and schools (did I hear a yeah from kids?)

I live in the Atlanta area, where we are never sure of the weather until it happens; however, the meteorologists seem pretty certain that we are going to get IT this time. I am hoping that they are wrong and we dodge the bullet once more.

Naturally there has been the usual crisis-clearing-of-the-stores. Yesterday, it was necessary to travel to three stores in order to find

chicken,













bread,













and milk.













I am glad I did not need water - I think they were going to flip for the last one.














We do have a gas range so fortunately I can still cook.

The neighborhood behind us has underground utilities so they usually miss out on the fun of trying to keep the body from freezing. The last time we went through this, I was staring out my kitchen window at the neighbors behind us. Though I was wearing a hat, gloves and several layers of clothes I believed I was turning into an icicle, and there up on the hill, they had their lights on, which meant that they were warm, and could listen to the radio and watch tv. Yes, I did consider sneaking up the hill with a long extension cord and plugging it into an outlet on their deck.
We do have a fireplace, but it is gas logs and in extremely cold weather it is useless.

If there are no posts on this blog next week please send help!





















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Update:

It is a few hours later and I am getting ready to post this. The IT has arrived and it is as bad as they said it would be. Everything was covered in less than 30 minutes and it is expected to snow all night and turn to freezing rain tomorrow. Freezing rain, just what we do not need. Oh well. Have you ever had any luck with a sun dance?

I think many of us across tha nation are in the same fix - STUCK. Guess there will be photos galore on the blogs later.

A friend of mine just called. She and her husband arrived at the Atlanta airport a little while ago to find that the interstates are closed. They will more than likely be sleeping on the airport floor tonight. At least I have my own bed and pillow.

In Jimmy Durante's words, "Good night Mrs. Calabash, where ever you are."




map source:
weather.com

Happy Hogmanay

Fireworks over Atlanta, Georgia



Hogmanay is the Scots word for the last day of the year. It is, however, normally only the start of a celebration which lasts through the night until the morning of New Year's Day or, in some cases, 2 January which is a Scottish Bank Holiday.

Though each area of Scotland developed its own particular Hogmanay rituals,
there are many national customs associated with Hogmanay. The most widespread national custom is the practice of 'first-footing' which starts immediately after midnight. This involves being the first person to cross the threshold of a friend or neighbour and often involves the giving of symbolic gifts such as salt (less common today), coal, shortbread, whisky, and black bun (a rich fruit cake) intended to bring different kinds of luck to the householder. Food and drink are then given to the guests. This may go on throughout the early hours of the morning and well into the next day (although modern days see people visiting houses well into January). The first-foot is supposed to set the luck for the rest of the year. Traditionally, tall dark men are preferred as the first-foot. wikipedia;associatedcontent.com






Robert Burns, the great Scottish poet, wrote the lyrics of Auld Lang Syne in the 19th century. The title translates to old long since, and is appropriately sung to remember old friends, and the events of the passing year. The tune is from an old Scottish folk song.



Auld Lang Syne

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
and never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
and days of auld lang syne?

For auld lang syne, my jo,
for auld lang syne,
we’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.

And surely ye’ll be your pint-stowp!
and surely I’ll be mine!
And we’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.

We twa hae run about the braes,
and pu’d the gowans fine;
But we’ve wander’d mony a weary fit,
sin auld lang syne.

We twa hae paidl’d i' the burn,
frae morning sun till dine;
But seas between us braid hae roar’d
sin auld lang syne.

And there’s a hand, my trusty fiere!
and gie's a hand o’ thine!
And we’ll tak a right gude-willy waught,
for auld lang syne.




Happy New Year to you all!