Have you heard the news....its almost year's ending - Monday, 30th December, 2013.

Another year almost gone by.  Can't quite believe it really, can you?  A whole year, gone by, in a flash hey, well that's how it seems to me.  But, of course, not really.  I mean, really, not really!

Things have happened each day, each day has happened, and each day has been part of a week, just like each week has been part of each  month, and each month part of each quarter.  Two quarters make one half and....two halves make one whole.  Thus, we have one whole year made up of small, tiny, almost insignificant parts by themselves yet, as an insignificant raindrop doesn't amount to a thunderous rain storm; and it is, of course, perfectly beautiful just by itself, so, as one tiny, insignificant minute, hour, week, month, quarter perhaps, also doesn't amount to a lot (think about that for a moment)...yet the combination of each of those tiny, seemingly insignificant separate portions do, and can, actually, amount to a very great deal indeed, without any doubt at all.

So there we have it. A year is a whole huge part of our individual lives and we must view each year as a valuable, wonderful section of our lives, and treasure and remember it for each and every single moment of our own particular year.  Cherish it, burnish it and keep its highs and lows safe and secure. Whatever has occurred to us through each year is ours and ours alone.  We may never tread its way again .  We may never get to the end of a particular train of thought or action or happening which we instigated thru' that year.  We may never have an answer to a problem sought or have any answers really worth holding on to, or working on for a better explanation.  It doesn't really matter in the long run.  What's important is that we tried to work things out for ourselves, by ourselves, or even with friends or co-workers.  The thing is we tried,  Failure doesn't really matter, in the long run.  Failure leads to further trials and explorations and that's the important thing to hold on to.  Failure is only a problem if it leads you to give up and go away without an answer or solution, or even a good workable answer.

So this year, this one that's almost gone, how's it been for you.  Really, I mean?  Good.  Bad. Indifferent???

It's up to you to decide and, I must say, I really hope you do know how you feel about your year, hey!

My year, this one that's almost gone by, and is vanishing fast,  well.......my year has been absolutely BRILLIANT - from start to finish, and it's not finished yet, thank goodness.

Not perfect or without its problems.  Not straightforward but twisting and turning, this way, then that way, 'til sometimes, I hardly knew which way I was going, or going to end up.  And I still don't know.  But, my goodness, it's been fun, and productive, exciting, challenging, hard work plus a few lows thrown in for good measure.  You have to, really, don't you?

It doesn't matter because its been my year, my way, my decisions and my highs and lows and I wouldn't have missed it for anything.  In fact, its been great, a great ride and, please, may I have another go, at another year, next year, please...just to see  if I can do it all over again.

Now, wouldn't that be good, hey????

Daisy

PS should love to hear about your year....any time !!!

Hi there it's ME.....wasn't Christmas wonderful, hey? Friday, 27th December, 2013.

Three days of glorious Christmas madness and now it's the end of Christmas week.  Next week, we'll be celebrating New Year, so exciting, beginning a new year with fireworks, parties and champagne. New Year resolutions will be made and promised, some lasting, some not, but they are well-meant and we do strive to keep them, which is brilliant.

Christmas builds up slowly, comes to us, suddenly, in a great rush, and is gone, while we teeter on the brink of ecstasy or, are cast down by missing loved ones, their presence not guaranteed for the festive season.  It's a bitter-sweet season. We take the highs with the lows. regain lost balance, celebrate the coming year with both tears and smiles, for that which has gone, all that which is to come.

Christmas is such a wonderful time.  Thank goodness for Christmas.  I hope you, like me, have enjoyed every single moment and are, already, looking forward to Christmas 2014.

Presence and presents, food and festivity, love, joy and happy kith and kin - just brilliant...


Happy days

Christmas plants

Christmas greenery

Christmas wreath

Daisy

IMG 4076 Hi this is ME.....on Christmas, 26th December 2013

Here we are again - Christmas Eve - Tuesday, 24th December 2013

Everyone's been agreeing with me, how quickly this time has come round again.

It's the same each year yet, this year, it seems even more relevant to the times, ah well.

I'm quite sure we all will manage to be ready for Christmas Day, have all our parcels wrapped up, all decorations in place, and the turkey ready for roasting.

Did you get the goose fat, did you remember to buy a present for all your loved ones....I'm sure you did and, equally sure, everyone will have a Very Merry Christmas!

So - this is ME wishing you a Very Merry Christmas......


Happy Christmasing!


Daisy

Hi here we are....on the shortest day of the year - Saturday, 21st December, 2013.

And this is me talking to you.....

Well, I really wish things were otherwise, not as they are, you understand.  As usual, I've given myself so much to do, a lot of which I've not done or completed, and the unfinished chores are ganging up on me.  I really want to get all these unfinished things done, organised and neatly filed away.  There's a sense of chaos about my desk and, no matter how hard I try to keep things in check, and make progress, I'm not able to.  At times it feels as if I'm trudging thru' thick fudge and matters are just too sticky for words!

Ah well, it's Christmas time very soon now and things and chores can, and should, stop for a while and then, when I return, these plaguey things getting at me, won't seem so worrisome, phew, thank goodness for Christmas, don't you agree?

Skyping with my son this evening, I mentioned the Christingle, and the Christingle church services for children, which we attended, thru' their church school of St. Mary's, when they were at junior school in West Sussex.  The Christingle, is used as a symbolic representation of the world, with the orange as the world, and a small white candle inserted into the middle to represent Christ as the light of the world; a red ribbon, tied around the middle, as a representation of the blood of Christ.  A later addition to the Christingle, was the ribbon tied from top to bottom, thus dividing the fruit into four sections, denoting the four seasons of the year and cocktail sticks speared with dried fruit to represent the fruits of the world.

The idea of the Christingle came about from a perceived need for a simple method of explaining Christ's love for the world to children of the Moravian Church in 1747, when Bishop Johannes de Watteville, thought up his idea of using an orange as a representation of the world.

So, from my lovely Skype with my son, I have rediscovered our family memories, re-introduced them to both of us, and opened up a whole world of discovery and research, and given me a fascinating subject to share via my blog post, which to my way of thinking is just so cool, so Christmas and thus eternal.

I wonder what fond family memories and traditions you have which you might like to share with me....I should really love to hear from you.

I must acknowledge my thanks to Wikipedia for the useful information on the history and background to the Christingle and....to the pomander, made using a clove studded orange, tied with a ribbon, giving four sections to decorate or fill with whole cloves, for a fragrant and delicious Christmas decoration.  We also made these at home when....ah but that's another story and and another blog post.....

Happy days, happy memories of family days and activities.

Daisy

PS do you like my new post image?

Still missing my computer....! Wednesday, 18th December, 2013.

My computer's still ailing, thus still using the dear SO's computer - very carefully and cautiously...can't afford to mess about with his working model!

Only a week to go to Christmas Day and I've still not made up my own gluten-free mince pies but I have the ingredients and will make them soon - promise!

I just adore eating mince pies.  They symbolise Christmas for me and have done so, since my two children were tiny babies.  Short of money, as you often are when the kids are small, I found I could still afford to eat and make these delicious Christmas delights.  And still very much intrigued by the very process of making mince meat.  Always fascinated by the very idea of mincemeat, made first of all with meat, "ox (beef) tongue, chicken, eggs, sugar, raisins, lemon peel and spices" and used to fill "a large covered tart"  - this from my copy of the Concise Larousse Gastronomique Page 810.

Then gradually, the large tart gave way to small, individual tarts, with the mixture bereft of its meat content, yet still containing beef suet, apple, dried fruit, spices and brandy or rum!  So yummy!

So we have always eaten mince pies.  Eventually, I devised the idea of really tiny, tiny mince pies, enabling me to pop one whole pie into my mouth, in one delicious munch, for which I used a soft French sugared pastry for, with a minute piece of pastry for the pie's lid.  Utterly delicious, very more-ish and entirely want-able!!!

Well, I'm determined now to get baking just as soon as possible and make us a batch of yummy mince pies for the Christmas festivities!

Have you got yours ready yet?

Daisy

MY computer's down - Monday, 16th December 2013

Hi there,  just before going out to my eats evening "do" my computer showed a most unusual message which prompted the dear SO to surmise that my machine needed urgent medical attention and that it might be out of action for a little while!!

So, I'm off to seek a new computer expert to get said computer mended.  So wish me good luck and I'll keep you posted!

Bye for now,

Daisy

IMG 3975 Hi this is ME...how to make perfect Potato Mash on Sunday, 15th...

Ah....Christmas - A Reflection - Saturday, 14th December, 2013.

Christmas - the very word conjures a whole host of thoughts, memories, excitements and meanings, delicately  nuanced and personal.

From the very first mince pie to that last delicious slice of Christmas cake, the roasting of bird and beast, the gathering of sauces and chutneys, the oranges for their Christmas stockings, the walnuts and Brazil nuts, the chocolates and Turkish Delight....and the Christmas Pudding with silver charms or small coins wrapped in silver foil, to be found by excited children and adult alike, of yesterday's memory and custom.  Even with today's enticing array of commercial and artisan puddings readily available, it is still a custom to make your own favoured family recipe, to dig deep into family archives for Aunt Margaret's old Christmas book, to view the creations of yesterday, possibly adapting an ancient recipe, a contemporary creation to evoke new memories for tomorrow, linking past to present to future generations for their memories, still to crystallise and ferment.

We personally keep a very simple Christmas season, joining in with other family celebrations for the big day, while kith and kin reach out to other connections, other gatherings we are not privy too.  This is not the sadness it appears to be, for we have hosted our own family gatherations and parties, slaved away in our own kitchens, produced annual repasts of splendid proportions and enjoyed the ritual of remembered activities such as mince pies and carrots for Rudolf and his reindeer friends, a glass of liquid refreshment for Father Christmas......  Putting up the Christmas stockings, piling up the parcels beneath a brightly decorated tree, with the family fairy on its highest bough.

It's perfectly pleasant to return to ones own fireside, to read, watch an old TV movie, a DVD and luxuriate in the peace and serenity of "loved ones far away" and family duty done.  There are so many quiet things to do, walking Alice, family history research on your computer, visiting or Skyping with family far away and, n o matter how simple your own seasonal feasting, there's always more than enough food available to nibble on, knowingly rueful of the after-feasting pitfall.  Ah well, we all say, its Christmas time,  that once-a-year festival of over-indulgence, jollity and feasting - which we all love, every single  minute!!!

So there it is - Christmas - that wonderful season for family, feasting, presents and world-wide goodwill....

Enjoy!

Daisy

IMG 3932 Hi th is is ME on Wattpad....Mid-Winter from A Christmas Stocki...

Skyping Australia, for family conversations - Sunday, 8th December, 2013.

We talk of many things, news and detail, Christmas things, of course, and progress with work and play....then we get on to gardening.

My family have recently taken on a lovely new home for their increasing family and, what more besides, a lovely large garden, just longing to be trimmed and cleared, cultivated, possessed and given a whole new sense of direction...!

Lavenders and rosemary, culinary herbs, potatoes, plants and trees.  Apple trees to be precise. Lemon and lime trees were gathered in first.  A quince is to be added, a gooseberry too, if the right seedling bush can be found and added, next year.

There's a new garden shed.  Leaf-mould's in the making, a composter is planned and the neighbours are helpful for historical notes.

Their part of Victoria was known for its orchards and still, one local of long standing, of Petty's remains, where the family have delighted to purchase their trees, discussing their needs with its new owner's staff, Parks Victoria, who purchased the orchard back when in 1981.  Now the Heritage Fruits Society care for the 200 or so old and rare apples of Petty's Orchard, along the Yarra River in Templestowe.  Its organic orchard a green oasis of lush hills, happily adjacent to farmers' markets and chic food stores, beloved of townsfolk.

The Petty family farm came in to existence in 1853, with the arrival of Mr. Thomas Petty from England, who acquired land in Doncaster and Templestowe.  His grandson, Thomas Henry, purchased the site in Homestead Road, which became the home of the Homestead Road Orchard, Thomas Henry, being the first of three generations to work the land, until Parks Victoria, took over its control and running.

My family promise a visit to Petty's whenever I reach them next year.  Visits to gardens, home-gardening delights, volunteering at Petty's and so much more....I can hardly wait!!!

Thank goodness for family, for Skyping, for gardens and gardening.  I don't wish time to fly away with me, but goodness how much I'm longing to view this new garden and home of my young family, Down Under, in Victoria, visit once more that far away place, where my son celebrates Christmas in July, in the sunshine in amazing Australia.

Cheerio,

Daisy x

Hi there, long time no see!!!

And now it's December....and I've been distracted by various matters!

However, silliness apart....I wanted to begin on a sad note, as an act of remembrance, for the sad death of Mr. Nelson Mandela last night.....

I've talked recently about remembrance - how it affects all of us, in one way or another, at various times of our lives.   And, also, of the one big question we've been asked by the media....."where were you when......!

And where was I when the news came through about Nelson Mandela's?  I was at my local W.I. Christmas Party at The Institute at a small village in Oxfordshire.  We were all having rather a good time, enjoying a last get-together before the Christmas festivities begin.

I arrived home to hear the dear SO telling me of the death of Nelson Mandela which, of course, took the edge off the evening.

Of course, it must have been anticipated by his family and people and we, in the world, had certainly followed all the media coverage of his last illness, but death always takes you unaware, catches you off-guard.

Nelson Mandela was a great man, nationally and internationally, and I'm quite perfectly sure, he will be remembered as an amazing human being, everywhere and by all human beings, throughout the world.

Setting aside politicking, religion, beliefs and creeds - I think we may all agree about Nelson Mandela, don't you?

So, where we you when you heard of the death of Nelson Mandela?

Daisy