Merry Christmas!

For unto you is born this day

in the city of David,

a savior

who is Christ the Lord.

Luke 2:11

With the Great Conjunction happening

as an almost unimaginable

heavenly event at the end of

this horrendous year,

I thought this Star of Bethlehem

was the perfect picture

for today's blog entry.

In the waning hours of 

Christmas 2020,

with fireworks going off at

random intervals,

I thought I'd reflect on the good

stuff from this year and not the bad.

Families spent more time together

and that can be trying, but mostly

it'll be something nice to look back on.

Yes, we've experienced more than our

share of Covid deaths and issues, hurricanes,

political and civil unrest, 

but...

human ingenuity brought about

new vaccines in record time,

we masked up, social distanced and

saved many lives,

carbon emissions dropped in the largest

amount ever recorded because

people stayed home,

people banded together to fight

wildfires, flooding, earthquakes,

record breaking heat ...

all out of a need to help our fellow man.

Let us hope and pray that

we all can fix the social ills

and hopefully take on

whatever this next decade has in store for us.

**********************************

3 French Hens...

I couldn't get everybody else

on board for a 

12 Days of Christmas

picture presentation.

So, Pepper, Nugget and Ethel stepped up.

Thanks girls!

********************

Ever read this sad tale 

by Hans Christian Andersen?

I remember seeing it on TV when I

was a kid and I bought the book

to read to my Grandkids.

It's kind of a bleak story

that leaves the reader sad instead

of uplifting like a typical

Christmas season feel good story.

This story was originally published

in 1845 and it casts the

only character as a dirt poor

motherless, waif who is sent out alone on

New Years Eve to sell matches .

She is afraid of 

being beaten by her father

if she can't sell all the matches,

and she has five left.

 At some point,

after being chased by bullies,

she loses one of her ill fitting shoes.

With only a thin scarf around her,

one shoe on and one foot in 

stockings that have holes,

she takes refuge in an alley

between houses to get out of the cold.

It begins to snow and she 

is shivering so she lights a match 

for the warmth.

In the flame, she sees her grandmother,

the only person to give her

love and kindness, but the match quickly burns out.

She lights the other matches just to 

see her grandmother again.

When all the matches are gone,

the girl sees her grandmother

again who carries her to heaven.

The next morning,

passers by find her,

frozen curled in a ball

and they express pity for her,

but

they don't know of her wonderful

visions of the beloved 

grandmother and her

happiness in heaven

Yes, 

it is sad,

but its' moral is to

be charitable to those less fortunate,

because you never know what

dire circumstances

someone is going through.

**********************

also...

remember this?

Here is the church,

and here is the steeple....

***************************

And this....

Poor Santa 

had a cerebral vascular accident

and has fallen and can't get up!

***********************

Playoff bound!

Go Kamara!!

 

December 21st

 

Today is the shortest day of the year,

and the first day of winter.

The Winter Solstice.

Essentially, the northern hemisphere

experiences a shorter amount of sunlight

because of the tilt of the earth's axis

away from the sun.

So, 

from here till approximately

June 21st,

the days will get longer.

I know the hens will appreciate that.

They run to the coop by 4:30 

or so every evening 

and 

less daylight,

means less egg production.

 Also...

This phenomenon.....

the Great Conjunction 

of Saturn and Jupiter,

has not been seen in

nearly 400 years

and nearly 800 years since

those 2 gas giants came that close

in the night sky!

And it's visible for several days.

Hopefully the clouds will clear enough 

tonight to see it.

🌟

*******************************

🎅

Only 4 days till Christmas,

and the stores are filled with

toys, gifts and poinsettias.

Why poinsettias?

Dunno.

I hadda look that up.

(Thanks Wikipedia)

Poinsettias are a warmer climate

native of Mexico,

so how come they are synonymous

with Christmas?

In their wild state, 

they are a leggy green

nondescript weed-like plant

that the Aztecs used as a fabric dye

and the milky sap as a fever control medicine.

The plant we see now was the direct result

of an amateur botanist,

Joel Poinsett,

who was also a U.S. Ambassador to Mexico

back in 1828,

he fell in love with the unusual plant

and brought some back to

his home in South Carolina.

This other botanist guy in California,

who was acquainted with the work of Mr. Poinsett,

figured a way to make the plant less

weed-like and more able to cause the "flowers"

(actually colored leaves) to be more 

vibrant and flower-like.

Since traditional flowers are scarce in

winter weather,

the Poinsettia grown in hothouses,

flourished.

And,

the rest is history....

***********************

Lantana.

I didn't know that it was deciduous.

Sometimes the lack of potassium

in the colder weather soil

can cause this.

But,

I love it's beautiful mahogany color.

The flowers are still blooming

but, it's slowly shedding it's leaves.

Mother Aloe

in full bloom again.

I love her coral colored flowers.

Close up of the flowers...

Russet potatoes.

The CEO is trying something new

by starting the plants in containers.

We'll see how this compares to regular 

"in-ground" growth.

The peppers are still producing

and we harvested

3 tomatoes yesterday.

Lavender,

a cousin to rosemary,

is looking and smelling good... 

😄

*****************************

Ethel,

stalking a cricket in the grass.

She's a good hunter

so I'm sure she'll nab it soon.

Nugget,

sitting in the oregano pot

looking in the bay window.

That's her vantage

spot, but

the oregano is showing

her "sit" spots.

I shooed her outta there!

(that's a cast iron alligator in the reflection)

A frequent visitor is

this little calico girl.

She is hen pecked on a 

regular basis, bless her heart, but she keeps

hanging out with the hen bullies.

And she always talks to me.

She's not homeless.

She belongs to a neighbor

so she's well fed.

She likes the fowl company.

😂

**************************

Today is the 400th anniversary

of the Pilgrims landing

at Plymouth Rock.

This is a small piece of the original boulder

where the Pilgrims were thought to have

landed in the New World.

It's controversial if they did or didn't

land here, but it's a monument nonetheless.

This surround was built in 1880.

(Nice monument to a rather anticlimactic rock)

  

But,

the Pilgrims did give us something

else besides that famous rock,

This is the Plymouth Rock chicken.

A member of her breed was brought on board

by the Pilgrims and they were thought

to have died out by 1849 because

none had been seen.

But,

They were found flourishing

in an upstate Massachusetts 

farm by the late 1870's.

Neat!

**************************

Something to think about....

 *****************************

The high today looks to be 63,

the low...

I ate half of the cranberry orange loaf

I baked yesterday.

😖

December 12th

Wouldn't it be nice if this simple sentiment

was the norm instead of the exception?

If I can't make that happen, 

I can at least make peace 

on my little corner of this Earth.

Maybe, by turning off the news,

or just getting what I need from a daily telecast

or my paper, I can stay informed.

That way I won't stress over the global

things I can do nothing about.

I'm inherently leery of any 24/7 news channels.

After all, isn't it all about ratings for them?

Maybe, by slowing down and appreciating

the simple pleasures in life.

Want less of the material things and

cherish the things I have.

Remember that song lyric that says'

"The best things in life are free"?

So true.

We just need to make room for the real treasures.

Give more than you get,

Love more than you can,

Live with a lighter heart,

and

Have a wonderful life.

***************************

I was wondering why the custom of kissing

under a ball of mistletoe was even a thing.

It's Anglo-Saxon name was mistaltan.

Meaning "mistal" or "dung"

and "tan" or "twig".

Ewwww!

Mistletoe is essentially poisonous.

It least the little white berries are,

especially to pets and kids.

It can't kill humans, but it can cause

drowsiness, blurred vision,

vomiting and seizures.

Its' a really weird little plant.

Mistletoe is a parasite that gets into

trees from bird droppings and takes root

by spreading itself under the bark

of the tree and forming tight little balls.

This will eventually kill the host tree.

If you want to rid the tree of it, you can't

just pull it off the tree like Spanish Moss,

you have to cut the entire limb off.

(An odd side note - mistletoe has been

used in the UK and Europe for years

as an alternative cancer treatment,

by decreasing the after effects of chemo, 

it's not FDA approved in the US)

In old Norse and Druid mythology,

mistletoe was used to ward off witches.

They hung it over doorways and windows 

year round.

So here's how the kissing part started...

In Norse mythology, Balder, the son of

Odin and Frigg, was prophesied to die, his mom

Frigg (goddess of love), went to all the

plants and animals in the world to 

get their oath that they wouldn't harm him.

But...

she forgot to make that particular request 

of the lowly dung twig,

 er, 

mistletoe plant.

So, scheming god Loki,

made an arrow from a mistletoe plant

and killed Balder.

It's not clear why he did this.

I guess if you are Loki, you don't need a reason.

This is Tom Hiddleston

as Loki in the Marvel Universe movies.

(just a visual aid - 😉)

Frigg, with a broken heart,

vowed that from then on

mistletoe would be a symbol of love

and all who passed under it would plant a kiss.

Neat story.

But, fast forward to Victorian times....

some desperate marriage minded misses

(ooh, alliterations!)

who were destined to become old maids,

would trap a prospective husband under

the mistletoe, allow him to kiss her

in full view of all and then demand

he marry her to protect

her good name,

because he "took advantage"

with a freely offered kiss.

Hmmm.

(I think he might have needed a lawyer)

Now, those chivalrous times held

that a lady's reputation must be

kept pristine.

So, as you can guess...

 the guys

avoided it like a plague!

Ha!

 😂

*******************************

Chicken girls 

searching for bugs.

They slept in this morning

because of the rain.

Now it's search and destroy mode.

That's Lucy, Ethel and Nugget.

 

Pepper, eyeballing me.

I was chattering on about the poor egg

production. We are only averaging one egg a day.

They seem to understand but,

they never really listen.

Hazel taking a dust bath in the sun.

Ethel watching me pick bell

peppers.

****************************

Some of the peppers.

Mustard greens

Nugget eating the mustard greens

Tomato bushes, 

no flowers yet.

Oregano

Potatoes

The herbs are still doing well.

I harvest a bit from them

every 2 weeks or so, to give

them time to sprout again.

Then I dry it and use it in my herbal blend.

**************************

I made some small pies

with store bought pie crusts.

Way easier that way.

I rolled it out and used a large

flower shaped cookie cutter.

Placed it in a sprayed muffin tin,

and filled with low sugar preserves.

The swirl on some was leftover

pie crusts.

I did it again with left over dirty rice.

(no picture)

Spooned it in the "cup" and topped with

a square of cheddar.

My grandson loved them!

Yum!

*****************************

I understand the fun of a labyrinth,

but this screams of a hypothermic death

and being found after the first thaw!

Of course, I'd bring an ice ax along,

just in case...

No, scratch that...

I'd never enter it,

waaaay too cold!!

⛄

*************

and remember,

you are not required to set yourself

on fire to keep others warm.

💖