A Tiny Moment

Tonight Mary sat for an age just inches away from the log burner
Watching the flames through sleepy eyes
It moved me.

Village Bound

We are effectively snowed in.
The lane clogs up easily with ice and snow at the drop of a hat so this does happen a lot in bad weather, but we have food, fuel and thanks to the new thermal store wonderful wood fired central heating, so all is toasty in Bwthyn y llan.
I've done my neighbourly jobs this morning and after feeding up Irenevand the batchelors with corn I have salted and cleared the pavements in old Trevor's bungalow which lies behind us. Trendy Carol ( in  multicoloured ski jacket and matching accessories)  tottered past and informed me that the village carol service was cancelled due to the bad weather.
This is a shame as Cameron the teenage boffin, was to solo a big moment in the proceedings on his harp!
I was never good at anything, apart from sulking and keeping tropical fish when I was a teen.

Mary and I this morning

Snow

*photo by villager Jean Smith ....it's the awful Trelawnyd village sign

Gifts At Christmas

I've just wrapped a few Christmas gifts to be sent in the post
My " decorations" gifts were posted a while ago now , I've had a tradition for many years now of sending certain friends a large padded envelope full of assorted Christmas decorations.
It's just something I like doing.

The Prof knows one of the gifts I bought him as I have had to ensure that he booked the time off from work. It's a ticket to see Giselle at the Royal Opera House and unlike so many places now that insist that you print your ticket conformation on line, the official  tickets look plush, decorative and reassuringly expensive.
Having said thus..... one year I made him a desk tidy out of a decorated kitty Kat tin!

I always joke with the Prof by saying every gift I buy him is very very expensive, even when it isn't !

Years ago, I realised that a relationship that I was in wasn't going anywhere when I received a microwave oven as a Christmas gift. It was the equivalent of being given a petrol station bunch of carnations .
An ill thought out gift is worse than no gift at all in my book.
I bet that sounds ungrateful to some.
But I don't care.
It's the truth.

Plugs

Although it has been blizzard conditions at times, the main roads have remained clear though difficult  to negotiate. The village school closed at lunchtime and I only left Trelawnyd once to buy parsnips to make soup.
When I was at Sainsbury's I bought  this

Bugger alone knows why, but it amused me !
I referred to it as a buttplug instead of a pugplug at the checkout.
Thank goodness the cashier didn't appear to hear me

Dawn

I was due to meet an old friend in Chester today but the weather has closed in and he has been forced to cancel as British Railways will probably be sent into whirling confusion.

I'm disappointed as I was looking forward to the catch up.

The Prof is still working away and with the snow on the ground Winnie gave me one of those " you've got to be fucking kidding!" looks when I opened the back door for our dawn walk.

Only I wanted to go out today. 

It looks like I'll light the fire early and download some old black and white movies from iTunes Store 

The cottage always looks at it's best when it's snowing.

Sad Sack

I am such a sad sack.
The Prof is working away so I was going to the cinema tonight.
The weather is closing in, so Mary and I went around the village at 8pm to judge the Christmas lights instead.
The old police house on a London Road won

Little Things

" You're easily pleased"
This is one of The Prof's regular phrases
I was wrapping a gift for his mother when he last said it.
The gift was a tiny milk crate complete with milk bottles.
My mother in law has resurrected her childhood dolls house and I've been helping her find furniture for it. It's a simple little pleasure for both of us.
Yesterday I watched Mandy from the village down at the field gate. Daily she calls down to feed Irene a crust of bread, and daily after " tut tut tutting" her presence, Irene gallops down bleating loudly her own hello.
This simple little moment of gift giving providing Ewe and woman with a daily sweetness.

I think most of us are easily pleased if we think about it , whether we are happy, or sad, or depressed or busy.
Many of us just don't stop to realise it
The Prof has an advent calendar of a cathedral is year and enjoys opening each stained glass window every morning to see what lies underneath.
A nameless neighbour sneaks out of their house for a crafty cigarette in the pull in to the stables field.
Mrs Trellis practicing her piano in the window of her neat bungalow.
Trendy Carol switching on her new Christmas lights

Perhaps is the time of year that helps us realise the importance of these little things.
When I helped out at the village Christmas fair, I had to talk to one character who I fell out with a while ago. The spat then seemed all rather silly and yesterday I wrote them a Christmas card which I will deliver this weekend.....it felt the right thing to do.

What's your little thing?