Happy New Year ...

   I would like to take a moment out and wish everyone a Happy New Year.

My New Years wishes for you...

May all your muses not run out of inspiration.
May you always know the best words to say.
May your computer never crash.
May spell check correct every word and your punctuation.
May your cameras take the pictures as you see them in your mind.
May always be ahead of schedule.
May you have food and shelter through out the year.
May all those you hold near and dear remain that way.
May all conflicts, be deflected before they start.

In other words...

May your new year bring you all the success and love you can imagine and more...

Now let the Time Square ball drop and the fireworks begin...

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Any one seen Dick Clark???

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And may this not be you the morning after...

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I believe...

   Today is Christmas Eve here in Texas, and I would like to take the time to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas.  As a gift to you I would like to present you with a reprint of the September 21, 1897 editorial of Francis Pharcellus Church of the New York Sun.  It is the response to a letter written by an 8 year old girl named Virginia.  I am sure you have all heard the editorial or at least part of it, but on this day it seems appropriate to print the whole editorial in honor of the season.  Like Mr. Church I still believe, do you?

   I now would like to present you with...

"Yes, Virginia There is a Santa Clause."

DEAR EDITOR: I am 8 years old.

Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus.

Papa says, 'If you see it in THE SUN it's so.'

Please tell me the truth; is there a Santa Claus?

VIRGINIA O'HANLON.

115 WEST NINETY-FIFTH STREET.

VIRGINIA, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except [what] they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men's or children's, are little. In this great universe of ours man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.

Yes, VIRGINIA, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus. It would be as dreary as if there were no VIRGINIAS. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.

Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies! You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if they did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that's no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.

You may tear apart the baby's rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived, could tear apart. Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, VIRGINIA, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.

No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives, and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.

Francis Pharcellus Church of the New York Sun

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Francis P. Church

  

         Merry Christmas to everyone everywhere. 

Thank You, Thank You, Thank You...

   I have been late getting this post up.  I am so sorry but my camera batteries died and I couldn't get the pictures out of the camera.  I tried pleading, begging, bribing, and threats.  Nothing happened.  It just sat there with its lens closed and ignored me.  And I thought a cat was the best at ignoring you.
   Finally I got the camera to hold a charge long enough to get the pictures.   So I can now post a big THANK YOU to Canadian Blogger Girl.

   Now without further ado I present all the way from Canada ...

  I got it.  I got the present I won from Canadian Blogger Girl in her first ever giveaway.  Look, Look here it is...

Ain't it purtty!!!

   I wanted to rip right into it at the post office, but I left the camera at home and I had to show you the pretty package.
  
   Then I ripped it open and look what I found...

No NO Thank YOU...

   She is so sweet she even sent me a handwritten note.  The girl has good penmanship as well as being a good blogger.

   So I started carefully unwrapping ... for once I followed directions.  She must have written using a Mommy tone.

Hey I got the Key to Canada.  Cool.

  Wait there is more ....  It is a never ending box of goodies....

    Okay I checked all the tissue over once, twice, three times, and I think I found everything.  Wait let me look again to be sure....

 

                                 WOW!!! What a haul.


    Thank You, Thank You, Thank You.

   I am speechless (almost...and Jack would like to thank you for that).

   Now while you all go check out the wonderful, magnificent Canadian Blogger Girl on her home blog here, I am going to pour myself a cup of coffee, surround myself with my loot and sign "Oh, Canada"  at the top of my lungs.

   What are you still doing here?  Believe me you really don't want to be here when I sing.

   What still here, well don't say I didn't warn you....

   " OH CANADA... OUR HOME AND NATIVE LAND..."

  Hey if your going to stay around you might as well join in...

SILENT NIGHT...A #Fridayflash

 Yes I know it has been awhile since I posted a #fridayflash, so I figured I better get on the ball.  This is one I have been thinking about for along time.  Hope you enjoy.

SILENT NIGHT...

   9 MONTHS!!! 9 DAMN months without a peaceful night's sleep.  Well that ends tonight.  From here on out there will only be Silent nights... No phone calls at through out the night, waking me up.

   I can't believe the one time I go to a club in 2 years HE has to be there.

   The night started off great.  I got to the club before the dance contest started, and got a good seat at the rail to watch it from.  I got to visit and dance with all my old friends and students.  To top it all off the couple that won was the ones I use to coach.  It would have been a perfect night to remember, if it hadn't been for him.

   I ran into him on the way to the Ladies room at the break during contest.  I recognized him as one of the customers from the video store I manage.  He was out with some people from his work.  Just my luck they decided to try out the new club that night.

   He was surprised to see me on that side of town.  He was also surprised I could dance, drink something stronger than diet coke and didn't spend all my time working.  There is a lot about me he didn't know and never will.  But he thought he knew me. He thought just because I was polite to him, I was a push over, afraid of my own shadow.  He didn't know shit.

   That first night he called my home and asked if I knew who he was, he thought I didn't remember him just because I didn't know his name.  I knew who he was alright.  I never forget a face or a voice.

   The only thing I didn't know was how he got my phone number.  I never give out my last name at the store.  Then I found out that Jason told him my name, when he stopped into the store.  It just never occurred to Jason I might not want everyone knowing my name.  We live in a small town and I am the only M. Lane listed.  Thank goodness I don't list my address in the phone book.

   He thought he was safe.  It never occurred to him that I knew who he was when he would call at 12:30...2...3...5:30 in the morning.  That damn ringing jarring me out of a dead sleep, night after night.

   Then last Friday he comes into the store while I was there to rent some movies.  I guess he figured because of the after Thanksgiving crowd, I wouldn't notice him.   Wrong again.  I saw him when he came through the door.  There isn't much I don't notice. 

   He was so careful not to look at me, and to stand in the check out line the furthest away from mine.  But as busy as we were I kept an eye on him.  The minute he walked out the door I ran a copy of his rental receipt.   Gotcha!!!

   I wish I could have seen his face when he called at 4:30 in the morning and said “Do you know how I am...”  I said “ Of course I do...By the way how did you like the movies 'Disturbia' and 'Nuts' “  Perfect choices for that creep.

   For once he was speechless.  What no obscene words, no in depth description of body parts .... just blissed silence as he hung up quickly on me.  But he was too late.

   YOU HEAR THAT YOU CREEP.  TOO LATE.  9 MONTHS too late Mr. Stephen Crumb of 1239 Hawthorn Street.  Tonight I have one last surprise for you.

   You know it is amazing what you can learn from the movies....

Siiilent night, unhoooly night,   Alllll is calm....


©2010 Pamela Jo

from wikimedia

Just needed something wild and crazy...

   We had a rough couple of days out here in the woods.  The temps dropped to the mid twenties at night.  No big deal except we don't have central heat or any heat beside a little ceramic room heater.  So we stayed in bed under the covers and watched DVD's and drank lots of hot coffee and hot cocoa and hot whatever.  The days warmed up to the 60s so that's not bad.

Image via Wikipedia

   Then yesterday the weather warmed up a lot, but  Jack started having chest pains so off to the ER we go. Not only were we in there for 6 hours, the staff didn't look at all like they do on TV.

Image via Wikipedia

   They kept him overnight for observation, but sent me home.  They said it was because he had a roommate.  But I think they were getting annoyed because I kept asking the people in ICU to let me know when Death and Chronos show up because I want to meet them.
   Anyway they released him today with more prescriptions.  I do believe all Doctor's own of stock in the drug companies and are trying to increase their dividends.





   So after the wild and crazy week we have been having I decided I really needed this today...






   You just can't be upset with Steve Martin playing.  Wait I have got to see this again...

   Yep, all better now.  Thank you so much Steve Martin.

Welcome to the Season of Manic Depression...

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   Is it just me are do find yourself loving and dreading this time of year?

   I go from laughing and singing along with the radio or the muzak in the stores, to crying at the drop of a hat (or the airing of the Christmas commercials ).   I feel like I am on a roller coaster of highs and lows from mid November until January 3rd, when the post holiday blues set in.

   When I was a child the excitement just kept building right up to Christmas.  The only tears were when the misfit toys thought they were going to be left out of Christmas again, or when Frosty melted.  Oh and the tantrums we threw when we were finally made to go to sleep.  What child sleeps during Christmas, there is just too much to enjoy.

   When we were young, Christmas dragged getting here and all the gifts just appeared under the tree.  Mom, Dad, Grandparents and all the Aunts and Uncles loved the crayon pictures you drew and the hand prints in plaster .  Try getting by giving those as gifts now.

   As adults we know that the gifts have to be put under the tree, oh and the tree has to be bought as well.  The list of things to do gets longer and longer and time goes quicker and quicker.  The pressure seems to build because we want to provide our children with the Christmases we had or as we remember them.


   How on earth did my Mom get all the cards sent out, the house decorated, gifts bought and wrapped, the cookies made, plus get all of us to the Christmas shows at school and church.  I get tired just thinking about it.

   But mostly, when we were children the whole extended family on both sides got together during December to celebrate together.  Now a days everyone lives to far away and are too busy to get together.  There are also too many who no longer here.

  As adults we find ourselves yearning for the childlike wonder and magic of the season, but having the reasonable adult mind that keeps pulling back the damn curtain to revel the mechanical workings.  We find ourselves caught in the turbulent waters between magic and reality. 

  So do I still love Christmas ... you bet I do.  The magic is still there, just look in the eyes of a child or an elderly man or woman when they see a simple gift given with love.  I have lots of great memories to visit with this time of year, and more to make.  But I will always take time for the tears, it's just part of the season, and my way of saying I miss you and love you always to all those who can't be here.


Now get the tissue ready.... This is one of my all time favorite tearjerkers.

Christmas Carols...

   At this time of year, no matter where you go you hear the songs of the season.  So what type of Christmas Carols do you like?

Jazzy ...





Country ...





Traditional ...





Or do you like a more religious carol...






Or are you like me and love them all.

Christmas Time is Here...

   Christmas isn't Christmas with out seeing your favorite specials and movies.
One of my all time favorite cartoons is "A Charlie Brown Christmas".  The reason is Linus's explanation of what Christmas is.  Here it is.  Put on you warm holiday PJs fix yourself a cup of hot cocoa or eggnog and enjoy...





   What are your favorite Christmas special?  The antimated specials that remind you of Christmas as a child, the movies your family gathered around to watch, or the musical and varity specials. 
   What makes Christmas complete for you?

Veiled in Shadows by Allan Russell

   This is the first and hopefully not the last book by new author Allan Russell.  "Veiled in Shadows" takes place in Germany and England in the years before and during WWII.  The book centers around the half German, half English Princess and all the lives she touches.  This book tells the story of the beautiful Bavarian Princess known as Victoria Chesterfield to her English friends and family, and the Princess Katharina von Brunnenstadt to all those who know her mother's family in Germany.

   The book is a fast paced narrative from the view of  the two men who love her, the young handsome German SS officer, and the English RAF pilot.  Her faithful servants the gamekeeper at her Bavarian Estate, his wife and a young Jewish girl, all who would not hesitate to give their lives to help their beloved Katharina.  Her English Cousin and others. 
 
 This multiple point of view narrative is very hard to pull off, but Allan Russell does it.  He all allows us to see all sides of the war and how it affected the people caught up in it.

   If you are looking for a good fast pace adventure, I highly recommend this book for yourself or as a gift for someone on you gift list.


   This book was given to me by the Author for review, with no obligations.



This book is availabe for purchase at Amazon in print 
and in the Kindel format.

It can also be purchased from the Book Depository
with free worldwide shipping.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone...

The year has turned its circle,
The seasons come and go.
The harvest all is gathered in
And chilly north winds blow.


Orchards have shared their treasures,
The fields, their yellow grain,
So open wide the doorway ---
Thanksgiving comes again!

Author Unknown

Image via Wikipedia

It's coming....

Art work by Pamela Jo

©2010 Pamela Jo

Christmas Countdown...

   I know, I know it isn't even Thanksgiving yet.  How can I be thinking of Christmas.  Well you see,  I have decided to add more stress to my life.  How?  Well if you look over to the right, you will see a Christmas countdown.

Image via Wikipedia

   How will this add stress to my life?  Well since we are on such a fixed budget, we make all our Christmas gifts... or rather I crochet all our Christmas gifts.  I haven't taught Jack how yet.  But he does help me design and figure out colors.

by Mary Cassatt

   This countdown reminds me exactly how soon I have to have all the gloves, scarfs, hats, afghans, house shoes, washcloths, potholder and Christmas ornaments done.  Oh and design and draw a Christmas greeting to email to everyone.
   I am hoping the countdown will also remind me to pick up the hook and get busy.  Then I wont be crocheting 20 hours a day the last week before Christmas.

   Hey I can dream can't I....

  Okay, I have at 3 people down and only 12 or so more to go.  Now where did I put that pattern for the Santa Potholder...

Thank you is not enough...

Image by Axel Bührmann via Flickr

                      Today is November 11th.


It is Veterans Day in the United States.

Image via Wikipedia

Remembrance Day in Canada, Bermuda, and England.

Image via Wikipedia

In France and Belgium it is Armistice Day.

In Flanders fields it is known as the day of peace.

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   In many parts of the world a full 2 minute silence is observed at 11 o'clock on the 11th day of the 11th month.  All of these observances are to honor and pay tribute to our fellow men and women, past and present, who had the courage to give themselves for us.

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  Some gave their time, and some gave their lives to the service of their countries.  Their love and courage for family and country was given to provide us all with our continued freedoms and way of life.


   So everyone please take a moment today to honor and say Thank You to all the veterans' in all the uniforms of all the wars.  They sacrificed themselves to keep us safe.
   Sometimes even though Thank You is just not enough... it is the only thing we have to give.

The Meaning of Awesome...

   What does the word awesome mean to you.

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines it like this...

awe·some  adj \ˈȯ-səm\

Definition of AWESOME
1 : expressive of awe
2 a : inspiring awe
   b : terrific, extraordinary

  — awe·some·ly adverb
  — awe·some·ness noun

The word origin and history of the word is listed as this...

awesome
c.1600, "profoundly reverential," from awe + -some. Meaning "inspiring awe" is from 1670s; weakened colloquial sense of "impressive, very good" is recorded by 1961 and was in vogue from after c.1980.

   Let me tell you one of my meanings of awesome... Rick Wakeman.  Rick is a rock keyboardist.  He was in the band YES.   Check out this video and see if you agree with me.




   Whether you like classical, rock, new age, what ever type of music, you will like this.  Talent like this has no label.