Image by Pixabay.com
Christmas greetings, old friends and new
Baubles, tinsel, bells that ring, lights aglow.
Christmas angel on top of trees
Children’s noses pressed on glass
For snow they wait, then off they go
With hats and gloves, the snowman’s built
From falling snow, a carrot nose, a button vest
Time for bed, with Christmas prayer.
Above the roof of a star burns bright
To grant each wish made this night.
Outside, snow angels whisper good night…
Image by Pixabay.com
Has anyone seen my enthusiasm?
I started the week full of good intentions. It was a new week – new mood – new energy.
There was none of that – ‘It’s a beautiful day, watch someone ruin it.’
But someone did.
BT did. I think someone had tried to mess with my e-mail account over the weekend and I had promptly been frozen out. To make matters worse, I had temporarily forgotten the answer to my security question, so couldn’t change the blessed password either.
Thoroughly frustrated, I finally managed to speak to someone in an Indian call centre who said she would e-mail me a new password. Words cannot sufficiently explain what happened to my temper after trying several times to get her to see why this would not work, and I was passed on to someone else. This young woman was so helpful and immediately understood my problem, that my temper had no choice but to high-tail it out of the back door!
So, not a good start, you might say. But this was only Monday, surely the week could only get better?
I should be thinking about what I want to do next. Anita has a book almost ready for proofing, and my latest crime mystery is nearly finished, but something doesn’t feel right. I ought to be re-editing some of our earlier work, as some of the covers need replacing and the descriptions are just not good enough. The trouble is, I’m a bit short of enthusiasm at the moment, my ‘get up and go’ has done a runner!
Christmas is literally just around the corner and the newsletter I wanted to write is still just a vague idea floating around somewhere. What I cannot understand is why some days are good and optimistic, and then you get that other kind. The ‘what the hell do you think you are doing’ days. Closely followed by (give it up, you know you are too old to bother with it) ones.
I am basing my understanding of this writing business on what I have observed with my sister Anita. She has six good books to her credit and just seems to get on with it (and enjoys the process!) She does have bad days of course, but they never seem to be writing related.
I know we are all different, and that is how it should be, it’s just not very helpful.
I think it is my age that seems to be the problem. I forget far more than I remember and find myself wondering where all the time has gone and know that I have wasted most of it. Why didn’t I want to do this when my brain was younger?
Don’t get me wrong, on a good day I quite like my brain and how it works. It’s just that my good days are getting pretty thin on the ground these days. Today, for example, I’m not even sure I have a brain!
Earlier this year, I was surfing the web and saw something that literally grabbed my imagination from a company called Snow Windows. They use spray snow to create these amazing Christmas designs on shop windows.
I secretly wondered if I could do something like this myself for Christmas. I mean, I could push a paintbrush around, so having fun with a can of snow should be a doddle.
As Christmas approached, I didn’t tell anyone what I planned to do with our windows. The family probably assumed it would be more of the sparkly snowflakes that I normally used; I just hoped I could produce something equal to my imagination!
I spent hours studying the experts on YouTube, desperately trying to learn the basics. The best one was infuriatingly fast, deliberately speeded up to look more impressive, but as far as I could tell, these lovely pictures were created with just a can of spray snow and a paintbrush.
As Christmas day approached, I knew I had to plan what day would be best. I wanted to be alone, to succeed or fail in private, no helpful family members with all their well-meaning opinions and suggestions.
The appointed day arrived, and I had butterflies the size of a house all jumping around in my stomach as I cleaned the windows in preparation.
I had a lovely screensaver on my computer of a snow scene to go by, complete with pine trees and snow banks, a lovely sky with a full moon in the corner. This was just the kind of image I wanted to do.
The moon was no problem. I cut a circle on one side of a cornflake packet and used it like a stencil.
The sky was pretty easy too, you can really have fun with a spray can!
But this was when everything went pear-shaped as I discovered to my horror, that I cannot draw/spray a pine tree to save my life!
Now, what on earth could I do about that?
I had a moon, sailing in a lovely cloudy sky… and precious little else.
A sneaky idea crept into my head, something I had also seen on YouTube. I could try to paint some trees with white paint. But try as I might, the tree that was in my mind refused to appear on the glass. My trees all looked like Chinese calligraphy.
I managed to create a snow scene on two windows, but I was bitterly disappointed. You may judge for yourselves, but please be kind?
I have already decided to practice painting trees in 2018, as I know I will do better next year!
(The rest of the Christmas decorations went well, and we just adore the feather boa on the tree!)
The wind was howling and although it was early evening, it promised to be a wild night. It was very cold, with spots of rain/sleet in the wind.
I was determined to go out anyway. My hometown had finished putting up the Christmas tree and decorations, and I had been told they were particularly good this year.
Not sure how good my photographic skills would be, muffled up like an Eskimo, but my week thus far had been pretty dismal and I was in the mood for a bit of festive cheer.
The cold wind took my breath away the minute I stepped outside, and my eyes refused to stop watering, but it was truly magical. The only thing missing was snow. But considering our town’s history regarding snow, I didn’t really miss it. One year, it snowed so much and so quickly, we were cut off from the outside world for several days. Cars were abandoned everywhere, as conditions became treacherous and no one could get in or out by car.
A lot of snow fell that night, where usually we only get a few flakes, if anything at all. Some members of our family had to walk home from Portsmouth, some twenty miles, which took them over seven hours.
My walkabout last night was wonderful. I managed to take several photos with my new camera, using the night setting, something I had never done before. Some were a bit blurred, as I was probably shaking with the cold.
The best of all was the huge tree. Most years it has been a bit of a let down, looking more as if someone had thrown the lights and tinsel at it and missed, but this year someone with some artistic talent must have been in charge.
It was gratifying to feel that, at least in my town, everything was right with our world, even if the rest of the world was in turmoil.
And like a Victorian Christmas, all we need now are some carol singers!
