important message

i came across this yesterday. it made me cry - the blog is beautifully written, but contains a message too important not to share. you can read about it here.

how Christmas looks at our house...

i couldn't resist a second post tonight... it mentions Santa and frost, (things that don't feature in our Christmas') but some crooning Sinatra and a bit of Vivienne and Lawrence was to gorgeous to pass by. ;-)

i just had to add this photograph, sent by a friend of himself and his daughter. can you tell they are French? very chic! ;-)

this week so far in my eyes

out together on Saturday afternoon - the best way to ride a bike!

for three days each week this is where i am....

i make it my own space. pictures, drawings and quotes.

but the best thing is that literally a walk down the stairs and out the door (approximately 90 seconds!!) and i am here....

and friends. at our bible study Christmas break-up last night.

odds and ends - mainly about books, libraries & reading..

i finished reading Paula a couple of weeks ago. very moving - i couldn't imagine having to write about the death of my child - at any age. here Isabel Allende cares for her 29 year old daughter for almost a year before her passing. she writes:

"How simple life is, when all is said and done... In this year of torment, I had gradually been letting go: first I said goodbye to Paula's intelligence, then to her vitality and her company, now, finally I had to part with her body. I had lost everything, and my daughter was leaving me, but the one essential thing remained: love. In the end, all I have left is the love I give her."

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when you are a parent, you realise you would do anything for your child.

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my dad surprised me a few weeks ago with a book he picked up at a second hand bookstore. it is called 'Miss Bobbie' by Ethel Turner (Seven Little Australians). this is the inscription on the inside cover: 2nd Prize (Girls) essay on "Patriotism"...

i'd love to have the essay as well! at the bottom of the page is written the date: 23 June 1915. given it was during the "Great War" i can just imagine what the essay was about. it makes me think of all those socks, faithfully knitted for the men at war.

oh, and if i am not careful, i will become addicted to goodreads.com!

...and so it begins

christmas cards are made...

the tree is up...

but my favourite thing is playing christmas carols... all the time. i think they are some of the most beautiful hymns written.

my favourite is Hark the Herald Angels Sing:

“Light and life to all He brings

Ris'n with healing in His wings

Mild He lays His glory by

Born that man no more may die

Born to raise the sons of earth

Born to give them second birth”