Merry Christmas. I Love You

I loved your comments on my last post so this is my Christmas card to my friends, each one of you. All those groan worthy jokes you get in crackers, keep them coming they make me laugh when I want to cry.
Someone banged on our back door this morning - it was our neighbour from the barn conversion. He had 4 days growth of beard, his hair was uncombed and his eyes sunk into his head.
'Did you realise,' he said, 'that the car alarm on your white car has been going off for the last THREE days.'
Well no, honestly I didn't! Had to get someone in to fix it quick! Bernard, I found this on You tube it made me laugh. Anyway to all of you. Have a special Peaceful Christmas. Lots of love from your friend Molly xxx

Coming Soon

Today was cold. The windscreen of my car was frozen solid with ice and it was a bit 'mind as you go' on the cobbled yard outside the back door. But the winter sunshine was so nice and there was a light dusting of snow on the top of Middletown Hill so hence my header ..... I am feeling so much brighter than I did yesterday and loving those vibes you sent over. And the realisation that the day after the day after tomorrow will be the shortest day on our little part of the planet. Just think, slowly but surely, bit by bit, the days will start to lengthen again and then the spring and all the bulbs and the seed sowing. I've noticed some green daffodil shoots poking through already. Time soon to start preparing the soil in the poly tunnels for next year's crops.

The seasons have been a bit mixed up this year.

Still got a rose in the front garden, battling the elements

And a basket of pansies holding out.

And a Christmas poinsettia brightening up the window sill

My friend Becky was asking , 'What's a cracker?' 'Is it something you eat?' I never realised how hard it is to describe something to someone who's never seen one if you know what I mean. It's a bit like ....... A Christmas Cracker is a cardboard tube covered in brightly coloured foil. Inside the tube is a paper hat a small plastic (or more expensive) dinky little present and a motto written on a small piece of paper. There is also also a  thin strip of cardboard from one end of the cracker which makes a cracking sort of noise when both ends of the cracker are pulled. The person who has the biggest end wins the present.

 (Grubby fingernails not mine)

And the motto says
Q. What do you get if you cross a stereo with a refrigerator?
A. Cool music.

Well Becks - you did ask.
Happy Christmas xx

Now and Then

The past few weeks have been a bit of a roller coaster which  has hit me for six. A routine check up for my  O/H down at the Docs six  weeks ago turned out to be the not too brilliant news all of us get now and then. He's been for a couple of stays in hospital and yesterday had an all day appointment in Day Surgery.  A nurse led us into a side waiting room down the corridor. It was different than the normal  stark rows of seats. There were about a dozen or so comfortable arm chairs around the room  and little circular polished wooden tables in a sort of semi circle. A Christmas tree with ribbons and baubles  lit the one corner and a wide screen television hung on the opposite wall. A nurse in a light green uniform brought a constant supply of tea and biscuits. It's a strange feeling but there's a sort of camaraderie between the folks sitting together - an unspoken knowingness that brought us all together, almost like a family. There is a local charity in Shrewsbury which raises money for places like these. I don't know how you feel but in the past  I've tended to be a bit sceptical about whether money given for charity always reaches the destination for which it was intended. Not any more .... and I am eternally grateful to the folks who've donated.  I sat with hubs until lunch time. Shrewsbury Hospital has a large bustling restaurant where the food is quite decent so I nipped out for a while to get some lunch. Tinned Christmas music muted through the load speakers and  turkey with all the trimmings (plus a free cracker) was on the menu. The restaurant was pretty full but I found an unoccupied table in the corner. I sat down with my feast and Christmas cracker in front of me. I couldn't help think about one of  Tom's blogs of how one Christmas he had a meal with H.I. in a top hotel. He mentioned how this man was sitting alone at a table with his solitary feast, when he took his cracker in both hands, pulled and put the paper hat on. The thought made me laugh, how daft was that on a day like this. No I couldn't pull a cracker with myself ... no way, no way. The day passed and I took my cracker home and stuck it on the window next to a vase of holly. The funny thing is, it lifts my spirits every time I look at it. O/H? He's in safe hands and doing OK and we're giving it our best shot.

Simple Truth

My blogging friend Becky over at http://shakinyourtree.blogspot.com/2011/12/skywatch-friday.html has put my life right now in a nutshell with the lovely poem she's just posted ..........

I did my bit for humanity and had a flu jab at the end of October. For the past ten days, I've had flu-like symptoms, been feverish, having blinding headaches and have been a right misery to live with. And they say Man flu is bad. Yes please - I'd love a cup of tea.

For Molly

Victoria over at The Pink Bicycle recently posted a blog about my namesake 'Molly' and I said that we had a sweetshop in Welshpool named in her honour and that I would post a picture - so sweet Molly - here it is - especially for you.

It's not that often that you see the old fashioned sweet shops now - the ones with the rows and rows of those oblong screw top jars of sweets. You pick which ones you want and they get weighed out on a mini scales and then scooped into little white paper bags. You could say - almost pre Woollie's Pick and Mix. Do you remember them?  Childhood memories of the  fifities, sweets were still rationed and there used to be this little shop on the corner. You had to take your coupons in to exchange with your pennies. What a thrill and a treat just to go in. There were all these jars of toffees and liquorice, humbugs and boiled fruit sweets, sherbet in bags which you slurped  through a liquorice pipe and gob stoppers which made your cheek bulge. They changed colour as they gradually disappeared. And Love Hearts - little pepperminty things with all those corny little messages on them. You could spend forever choosing what you'd like.

Perhaps things are going full circle.

We went to 'Coed y' today as well. It's a sell everything store just on the outskirts of the town. To get to the bottom half of the store and the garden centre you have to take the road  over  the little bridge with black metal railings. I stopped for a while and leaned my elbows over on the top rail to just look at the stream beneath.

I thought it was just the copper of the beech leaves floating on down, but then as I looked closer - people had been throwing coins - lots and lots of them. Make a wish - we don't change much do we!

Broken Wings

It seems we weren't the only ones down at the Doc's this morning. The car park was pretty near full and the surgery likewise. When we came out we noticed him hobbling a bit painfully between the cars. He certainly didn't look under fed. The pheasant shooting season is practically here. Don't get me wrong I'm not vegetarian and like eating roast pheasant as much as anybody. It's just that I hate them being maimed to die a slow agonising death.

'Ow ....ouch...'
I don't know how his wing got broken - perhaps he was hit by a vehicle - perhaps a stray bullet ricocheted and caught his wing? At least you could say he was in the right place. He looked tame and folks coming and going didn't seem to bother him too much. Not many of us could eat our pet so hopefully he'll be able to live the rest of his life in relative safety. He was beautiful and I sort of hoped he didn't end up on someone's dinner table. I'm willing him to survive. I looked up and the nurse and receptionist were watching me watching him through the window. Perhaps they were thinking the same thing that I was.

The Eleventh Hour of the Eleventh Day

Today I stood silently. I wore my poppy in the rain. I remembered all that you gave.

You gave your all. And I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart.