________________________________________________________________
in winter’s embrace
to gently unwrap cold claws
and reach for the sun
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
My sweet friend and writer Marian Allen – author of Eel’s Reverence – nominated me for participation in My 7 Links. THANKS Marian! We met online last year and have been in touch ever since.
Here are the rules, and here is list of the already nominated bloggers. At least most of them.
Are you ready? If not, I’ll continue anyway 😛 Here are my seven links:
Now enough about me! We came here through Marian Allen, and it is time to move on to other blogs. My five choices:
Thank you all for broadening my horizon. And please pass on the torch!
~Mar
Six Word Saturday:
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
It’s Christmas Eve. Christmas movies!
But watching TV isn’t about watching a movie anymore. It’s about watching bits and pieces, only to be bothered by commercials. Repeatedly.
And though I love to see George Clooney, the Nespresso ‘Swamp’ commercial turned up about six time in one evening. Too much Volluto, and not enough Decommercialato!
________________________________________________________________
Want to play along? All that’s necessary to participate is to describe your life (or something) in a phrase using just six words. For more information, read this. Feel free to explain or not explain. Add an image, a video, a song, nothing.
Click for more Six Word Saturday.
Happy Holidays 😀
Though there’s no snow on winter’s night
Still unseen stars are twinkling bright
And when the grayish days set in
You wonder how it should have been
Where is the whiteness that we need
The frosty coldness we must heed
Go sleighing, skating, taking walks
In comfort of thick cuddly socks
And curl up by the fire place
Joyously stuck at your home base
But none of this is happening here
This Christmas it is just Rain Dear
~Marion
Would you believe me if I told you today is the shortest day of the year? YES! This dark cold freezing wet day is our ticket into spring my friends. SPRING. I can’t wait for the sun to grow stronger, to warm and caress us.
From Wikipedia:
The seasonal significance of the winter solstice is in the reversal of the gradual lengthening of nights and shortening of days. Depending on the shift of the calendar, the winter solstice usually occurs on December 21 to 23 each year in the Northern Hemisphere, and June 20 to 23 in the Southern Hemisphere.
Worldwide, interpretation of the event has varied from culture to culture, but most cultures have held a recognition of rebirth, involving holidays, festivals, gatherings, rituals or other celebrations around that time.
Right, it is time for celebrations.
I would like to introduce you to Katie Johnson, who is also celebrating Winter Solstice today. She does that in a very special way. Each day Katie publishes a photo she shoots herself. And each and every photo is a beauty, whether architecture, abstract, flowers, nature or animal. Of course I prefer nature and animals 😉
Let me show you an example:
Special huh?
Today’s photo is titled Happy Winter Solstice.
Katie Johnson is a professional photographer in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Her website: Katie’s Camera Blog.
Happy Winter Solstice! Let’s celebrate this special day, made for us by nature. For free.
~Mar
Craving for liquor finally explained:
Well, would YOU want to kiss these sour-looking women? 😉
And here is additional information on the subject, provided by friend and teacher Michael:
Amanns Saloon, New Ulm, Minnesota.
Perhaps you might want to take a look at Carrie Amelia Moore Nation (November 25, 1846 – June 9, 1911). She was a member of the temperance movement, which opposed alcohol in pre-Prohibition America. She is particularly noteworthy for promoting her viewpoint through vandalism. On many occasions Nation would enter an alcohol-serving establishment and attack the bar with a hatchet. She has been the topic of numerous books, articles and even an opera. Continue in Carrie Nation.
Six Word Saturday:
________________________________________________________________
Christmas dinner: Mushroom Soup and Up
________________________________________________________________
Yesterday evening was the big event: the Harley Christmas Dinner. Each year the organization devotes a lot of time and effort to this event. And the food… mmm. Needless to say we were looking forward to it. Even my brand new dress was eager.
But my body decided otherwise. The glands in my neck were playing ball, my throat was on fire and muscles changed miraculously into jelly. And my back, oh my back and abdomen. Standing up straight was impossible.
While Vman was painting the corridor wall English red – first my bedroom, now the hallway… my whole house will end up red 😉 – I hobbled upstairs and crawled straight into bed, where I stayed the next couple of hours. Tossing was no option, turning was, very slowly with my teeth firmly locked against the pain and the shivering.
The time of our departure was getting near, but when I got up, I had to admit it was impossible for me to attend the Christmas dinner. I waved goodbye to Vman – who was ordered to join the fun and eat for two – and lay down under the blanket on the couch again. What to do. Ah yes, sleep!
Around seven it was time for Christmas Dinner. And I joined my friends – at a distance – with a cup of mushroom soup. And bread sticks! As long as I didn’t move, the pain was bearable so a movie would be nice. Up! was on,
By tying thousands of balloon to his home, 78-year-old Carl Fredricksen sets out to fulfill his lifelong dream to see the wilds of South America. Right after lifting off, however, he learns he isn’t alone on his journey, since Russell, a wilderness explorer 70 years his junior, has inadvertently become a stowaway on the trip.
But even this great animation couldn’t dull the thrumming in my back. So I went up at 9 pm. To bed. And got up again and again during the night.
What’s up oh body mine? Behave, will ya?!
________________________________________________________________
Want to play along? All that’s necessary to participate is to describe your life (or something) in a phrase using just six words. For more information, read this. Feel free to explain or not explain. Add an image, a video, a song, nothing.
If this doesn’t melt your heart straight away, nothing can. Truly beautiful!
David Attenborough’s Wonderful World
Two films I’d love to share with you all today:
The first one is about a humpback whale, caught in fishing nets. And after he has been freed, he gives his saviors an amazing show of gratitude. (Thank you Gil!)
Second, a song by The Piano Guys. I have shared their music before, but this one is for Christmas. With an endearing extra artist near the end.