And it's on to Christmas!

Thanks for all the nice messages about my health scare. Yes, I admit it did scare me and make me very grateful for a lot of things and it was a great relief that it turned out OK. And now I am on to other things. Christmas, for one.

I don't go as "all out" as a lot of folks with Christmas decorating and stuff. As I said a few days ago, "sweet and simple" is usually my goal, but it is fun to pull out the old decorations and remember Christmases past. Never did like those coordinated designer Christmas trees. Ours is always the old collection of ornaments gathered over the years. I always put my collection of terra cotta ornaments on the fireplace mantel. There is nothing particularly special about them, except that they are all unglazed terra cotta, which I've always liked.

Back in the '80s I was working as the manager/buyer for the gift shop at the Oregon Shakespearean Festival and used to go to the big gift shows in San Francisco every year. One year at the end of the show all the vendors were selling their samples and I was taken with some inexpensive little terra cotta ornaments and I bought them.

We hung them on our tree that year. Then I saw some at a local store and I bought those and soon I was looking for those terra cotta figures. They were never very popular and it was always by chance that I would find them, but pretty soon I had a fairly good collection and they moved from the tree to the mantel. And no, they don't match. They are all sizes and subjects and even different shades of terra cotta. Then I didn't see them again. I haven't found another in many years.

I thought I was finished with collecting them. Then, several years ago in a wonderful gallery of Latin American art, which sadly no longer exists, I found this terra cotta angel from Guatamala. I had to have her.

My last and best Christmas terra cotta.

Angels and other things

Again, Christmas justs pops up out of nowhere! One day it is late summer and then before you know it Christmas is upon us. Why the surprise every year? You would think I could have figured this all out by now. Suffice it to say, I am not a plan-ahead kind of person. My friend Jeri usually has her Christmas shopping done by Halloween, when I am just about to give up on summer and bring the hammock into the house. December comes and it is the wake-up call.

Our STASH group gathered for our annual Christmas lunch this week. It was especially joyful because Gale, who just had surgery on her hip, was able to join us. We, including Gale, had all been sure she would still be laid up for awhile. Beth was missing, but will soon be back from her time in the sun. We had Thai Food and exchanged little gifts and had a lot of stories and laughs. Afterward, a couple of us decided to check out the big Thrift store across the street and I made an amazing, if not slightly miraculous, find there.

To back up, a number of years ago I bought a terra cotta angel at a local gallery, to go with my collection of terra cotta Christmas ornaments. The angel was made in Guatamala and I loved her on sight. I have shown photos of her, over the years, on this blog. Here are some examples. In the thrift shop on Thursday I found another one. She looks like her little sister.

My original angel is on the right, holding a dove. The "new" one is on the left, holding a small harp. Their faces and hair are nearly identical and each has a bare foot peeking out from under her robe. Perhaps there are thousands of these angels out there, but these are not cast from a mold and I have never seen another. Each is handcrafted from clay and so similar I truly believe they were made by the same hand in Guatamala. Perhaps the smaller one was purchased from the same Portland gallery as mine and just recently was sent off to the thrift store. I'll never know, but I am happy that I found her. Now, I am beginning to feel a little Christmas spirit!

Between shopping trips I have been working on my quilt for the neutral color show with the theme Making Our Mark. Here is a little detail. I am using elements of a kind of stitching that keeps showing up in my work. It is a pattern that sort of grew out of the ether. I don't know if I dreamed it or invented it or unwittingly copied the idea from something, but it feels like my mark.

I am off to a holiday gathering this afternoon and will see friends old and new. Unexpected as Christmas seems to be every year, I find my way, eventually, into the heart of it, which is, of course, cherished friends and family. I hope you are finding the season too. Cheers!

Christmas stuff

I have done all the Christmas decorating I am going to do, except for digging around to see if I can find my reindeer to go on the dining room table. The Thanksgiving Mum is starting to look a little past its prime! The photo above is a small part of my collection of terra cotta Christmas ornaments. They are usually on the mantle with greenery, rather than on the tree. It is a collection that started sort of unwittingly about 20 years ago. I found several small terra cotta ornaments at a gift show and bought them, then I started looking for more and just kept buying. I am particularly fond of the Guatamalan angel, holding the dove. Reminiscent of my Christmas card from many years earlier, isn't it?

Here's another dove from the old Christmas card collection. Still one of my favorites. Probably around 1979.

And now, a special treat! This video is Bob Dylan singing "Must Be Santa." It is one of the wierdest things ever, but mighty catchy! I discovered this video thanks to Sue Reno, who posted it on Facebook with the comment that it reinforces her belief that "everything is better with an accordian!"

Winter's Night

I have been offline for about a day due to a big storm here in the Northwest. Yesterday afternoon my daughter and I went to have a pedicure and as we were waiting for polish to dry the power failed and everything went dark—street lights, traffic signals, the entire area. The nail place is, normally, about 5 minutes from my house, but it took me nearly 45 minutes to get home. There was a fierce wind, many people leaving work and power lines and large trees down in places. Traffic crept through the signal-less intersections. My usual "shortcut" was blocked by a large, downed tree whose roots had literally popped out of the ground. It has been raining steadily for nearly a week and the ground is saturated. When strong winds come, the trees can't hold onto the muddy earth. This is a combination we dread here.

I rounded up candles and an oil lamp and flashlight when I got home and fixed myself a hearty dinner of olives, cheese and crackers and Irish whiskey. (That encompasses all the food groups—right?) After puttering around uselessly for several hours I finally went to bed, using my little battery booklight to read for awhile. I woke up much later when the power came back on. It is still out in many parts of the city. I am lucky. No internet this morning, but it is finally back and the wind has died, the sun is shining and city crews are out sawing up fallen trees and cleaning up the debris. Life returns to normal. There are still 3 climbers missing on Mt. Hood and I thought of them last night as the storm raged.

I had our small quilt group, STASH, for our annual Christmas party Tuesday night and we had such a great time we forgot to take any pictures. You can read more about it on Gerrie's blog, plus her trip to the emergency room the next day. (No, it wasn't my cooking that sent her!) I finally got some Christmas decorating done in time for our party. I added the picture, above, of the Christmas tree especially for Ray, who is off working in the Virgin Islands for several weeks. See the nice tree Andy and I picked out? Looks good, eh? And I know you all will want to see a closeup of the angel. No, I didn't make this angel, but I just adore her. I found her years ago in a shop in Ashland, where we lived at the time. I have not seen as colorful or "folk-y" an angel before or since.

I always hang my red and gold feathered star quilt over the fireplace at Christmas and put out my collection of terra cotta ornaments on the mantel. I've never been one for color-coordinated, designer Christmas decor. I like the old, well-loved stuff.

And speaking of old and well-loved. I came across one of my favorite Gordon Lightfoot songs on Youtube. It speaks to the season. Sarah McLachlin recorded a lovely version of this song, but I still prefer Gordon Lightfoot's version. Enjoy