It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like....well you know

I don't know why it's taking longer each year for me to decorate but it does.  The first day the house looked like it exploded.  I could have opened a gift shop with the amount of knick knacks that were in the livingroom. You see, I'm one of 'those people' who has to lovingly wrap and store the every day decorations while the holiday ones are out.  That means the time consuming task of transferred the every day stuff from the Halloween box to the Thanksgiving/Fall box to the Christmas boxes.  The other reason it's so time consuming is that this house is pretty small, and therefore cannot accommodate every single decoration and tree that I own.  So I have to go through four or five boxes/totes full of tree ornaments and knick knacks to decide what I want to put out.  

Started with the outside lights and added a second strand.

This is the first year I decided to put stuff in the kitchen window.  I realize it's pointless because you can only see if you are outside and it's daylight.  This is not a street-facing window, and with the curtains always shut, we can't even see it inside the house.  I put my 3 homemade snowglobes in it, plus some fake greens, white lights and a bunch of vintage glass balls that I got for a steal at a junk shop a couple years ago.

One little tree, on top of the stereo speaker

Two more little trees and a bejeweled bottle.

Putting these out each year gets more and more bittersweet as time slips by.  Each piece has a special memory or two associated with it, from my childhood to my last few years in Washington. We are making new memories too, of course, but this is only our 4th Christmas together.  So when I put stuff out I have a tendency to linger over it.  

Like the little free silver Santa bell that came unexpectedly with a catalog order in California.  I remember my delight when I saw it in the bottom of the box.  The Peace on Earth pom pom lion & lamb that my dad picked out on his own for my stocking when I was a kid cause he thought I'd think it was cute.  And the time I had a Christmas bonus burning a hole in my pocket in 2007 and I splurged on a large set of Rudolph figures.

And all the cross stitch projects I've done.  The gold tinsel tree that was in my dollhouse when I was little.

How I worked on this Santa day and night for months to get it done in time to show in the 2002 Puyallup Fair, destroying my eyesight in the process.

Fans of South Park will recognize Mr. Hankey the Christmas Poo on the left.

I was digging around in the bottom of one of the boxes and pulled out that ceramic Seahawks ball! I forgot I had it and I also thought I left it behind.  

That's our first ornament hanging on the brass hanger, from 2011.  Behind it is a musical trio of mice that winds up and spins slowly to 'Santa Claus is Comin to Town'.  My Aunt Glady & Uncle Yimmy gave that to me when I was so little that it seems that I've always had it.  The 2 stained glass candle holders were bought at a cool shop in Orinda, CA called McWhorter's. I bought them in 1997, when I was working for Gillin Jacobson.  And that ceramic crescent Santa was bought on rainy Friday night, day after Thanksgiving, in San Rafael, CA in either 96 or 97 when we went downtown for the annual tree lighting and Christmas market. Someone on the street was selling it for like $4.00.  It's one of my fave decorations.

The Putz houses I got off ebay 2 years ago, to replace the ones my parents had and either lost, gave away or were stolen (I made the pink trees).

In the archway and w/o flash to show the lights in the garland.

Another angle.

Next to my chair.

Some of my friends decorated before Thanksgiving but that's a little too early for me.  I will probably leave these up till New Years, or whenever we are able to have Christmas with the kids.  Have you all decorated?  How long do you leave them up?

Happy 4th of July!!!

 I hope everyone has a Happy and safe 4th of July!! 

No plans in these parts.  There's the parade downtown but it depends on how hot/humid it is before I decide whether or not I'll go.  It was kinda disappointing last year.  One thing's for sure, I'm staying on this side of the Bridge!!!  I remember 2 years ago when we arrived from Seattle on 7/2, although we started from Albany, NY very early, we hit bumper to bumper traffic about 10 miles before the Canal, at 11:00 AM.  The next day we had to move stuff out of the storage unit in Sandwich to the BBay house and that was a looooooong day of sitting in traffic, both ways.  I'd totally forgotten that's how it is here on summer weekends!

Here's a picture I got off Pinterest for a seemingly easy-looking strawberry project....

And here's my version...this was my first attempt.  The Canada Day strawberries were my second attempt.  Everyone told me to carefully melt the white chox chips in the microwave, but despite my best efforts, the chox seized and I had to throw it out.  Then I tried melting them in a bowl that was placed in a small pot of heated water and that worked better.  However, I had a hard time dipping the berries in the chox and sugar, and as they cooled, they stuck to the plate!  Still tasted great though.

I'm sure it's going to be bad fireworks-wise and it's going to be a stressful night for the pups...I expect it will continue on throughout July as many towns continue to have weekly fireworks.  Keep your pets safe and inside, especially if you are planning to be gone all day!!!

Beautiful Sandwich

This is at Marsha's house.

I love shooting this place during the holidays.  It's so beautiful.

It was not only freezing cold but windy, after a very mild day.

I think I was in my teens when I finally realized that Water Street and Rte. 130 were the same thing.

The tree in Shawme Pond.  I didn't get to see Jay & Sean put it in this year.

See how windy?  The flag was really flapping!

I went back to town another day to shoot some of the 'giants' as they are known, and which are springing up all over town.  They are the creation of Glassblower Michael Magyar of The Sandwich Glass Studio of Cape Cod.  This one is at the Black Crow Gallery in E. Sandwich.  There are quite a few and I was pulling over and shooting quickly, sans tripod, so I missed a lot of them or the pics didn't come out good enough to post.

At Riverview School

Card shop.

Here is the Glass Studio's original Giant.

Sand Dollar Realty.  This is one of my favourites.

Beehive Restaurant.

Scenic Roots garden center. (it will always be Agway to me).

Sandwich Blue Knight at the high school.  New this year.

St. John's Episcopal Church

Old Man Winter at the Weather Shop.

Dolphin candlestick at the Glass Museum

This swan is new this year and on private property.  The light in the center is out on Rte. 6A and couldn't be eliminated.  Shooting it from the other side would have been worse due to additional lighting issues.  It's very striking on this dark part of the road.

Merry Christmas!

Holiday Weekend Round Up

What a fab Thanksgiving weekend!  I was somewhat under the weather earlier in the week but luckily it never got full blown.  

We went to see my mom on Thanksgiving around noon for about an hour, before heading over to my future sister-in-law's for dinner with their immediate family.  It was a great afternoon and I am really happy to be a part of his family.  His niece brought their dog down from Maine.  His name is Captain and he really took a liking to Russell.  He jumped around, wanting to play as soon as we walked in. As you can see, he's huge.   I was sitting on this loveseat when Captain came over, pushed himself between us and climbed on us both, then hip checked me so hard I had no choice but to get up, where he then took my space with a look of satisfaction.  lol  

We ate early - around 2 - and we hung out for a bit afterwards, getting home at 3:30.  On Friday, we did our errands in Sandwich in mid-morning, then came home and cooked up a turkey breast and all the fixin's because we didn't have any of course, having eaten at Grace's (except for the ham she sent us home with).  It was a perfect day together.  ;-)  The weather was gorgeous too - cool, clear and crisp with a waxing moon.

Saturday was a bit colder.  I walked downtown to check out a couple junk shops because I needed something for a craft I am hoping to do soon, found what I needed, then walked home and made a few more sparkly shells....

...and then I knocked together these styrofoam balls using sequins, beads and ribbon from some Christmas ball kits I made in the late 90s.

Here are all the shells with hangers attached, in the presentation I plan to have at the 12/1 craft fair in Hyannis.  I'm still on the fence about using the dried beans. 

More fun with paint chips & sequins.  I've seen the candy canes used as a garland, by punching holes in the top and threading ribbon through them.

I guess it's time for me to break out the Christmas decorations and see what I can come up with now that we have 'Destructo Dawg' and the furniture has been rearranged a bit since last year. Sunday was really cold and I had to go into Sandwich in the morning, so when I got home I wasn't much in the mood for hauling all that stuff out, so I'll work on it this week.  My neighbours have already decorated, as has downtown BBay and Sandwich.  Still not sure about doing cards.  I haven't made any because the list of 'Handmade Cardworthy People' got way, way too long.  It takes a lot of time to make 30+ cards.  It was more manageable a few years ago at 15'ish.  I usually buy cards on sale after the holidays, but I really don't recall having done so last January which means paying ridiculous prices for poor quality cards that get thrown out.  Not to mention the cost of postage.  I guess I should make up my mind about that soon.  

My b-day is today, actually.  Hard to believe I'm 'twenty-twenty eight'.  Won't be celebrating it till the weekend when my squeeze is home, and I haven't decided what I want to do yet other than lunch or early dinner at 99.  I'd like for us to get our ornament somewhere, and the Glass Museum is having their annual Glassblower's Christmas event.  Heritage Plantation is doing their annual 'Gardens Aglow' and then there's Edaville Railroad in Carver with their lights display, although that could be a mob scene of families.  LaSallette Shrine in Attleboro does a colourful display but it's all Catholic-themed, so light on the Santa-thing and heavy on the Nativity-thing.  Then there's the lit lobster trap up in Provincetown which would be nice to see, but I'm just not enthused about the drive back in the dark, on suicide alley.  It's dangerous enough during the day.  It's supposed to be wicked cold so I'll have to see if I feel like being outside in it.  Whatever we do, I'm sure it'll be special and memorable.  In any event I'll have to be home early because I have to be in Hyannis by 7:00 a.m. on Saturday for the craft fair!

Wish me luck!