Gardens Aglow at Heritage Plantation, Part 1

Despite the snow falling, we went to see the Gardens Aglow at Heritage Plantation (now called Heritage Museums & Gardens but us old fogies still call it by it's original name).  I have to say, for the admission charged ($15 per person), I thought this year was a huge disappointment.  They seemed to have so many more lights and displays when we went in 2011.  Still though, it was very pretty to see it in the snow.  Plus we got there right after they opened, so between that and the bad weather, we pretty much had the place to ourselves.  When we went in 2011, it was wall to wall people.

We started in the Shaker Round Barn, which contains antique automobiles.  This was my fave building when I was a child.  

I believe this one belonged to actor Gary Cooper.  It's my fave car of the display.

Valerie said the yellow one reminded her of 'Dick Tracy'.

Heh heh, an REO Speedwagon.  *rimshot*

After we left the Round Barn, we began checking out the paths.

I loooooved this arch.  I'm a huge fan of the multicoloured lights.

This is one of my fave shots of the evening.  I was so lucky it came out!!!!!!

 Part 2, tomorrow!

Freezing my Cookies off in Plymouth

I am in need of a new phone and since the Walmart in Wareham was all but sold out, I tried the one up in Plymouth, but they, too, were sold out.  It was a bitter cold day but I didn't want the trip to be wasted, so I swung into town to take a few pictures.  Had the wind not been slicing my face off, I would have parked and walked around but it was impossible.

First place I stopped was the National Monument to the Forefathers.  In all the years I lived here the first time, all those trips up and down Rte 3, the school field trips or just bringing out of town friends to see Plymouth Rock, I never once saw or heard of this place. Despite it's height and being on a hill, you can't see it from the highway, even in winter.  You can't see it from the main road that goes into town either.  The first time I spotted it was this past summer from down at the waterfront.  It's been there since 1889.

Then I drove down to the marina to get a shot of the lobstah trap tree.  I'm sure this looks pretty at night all lit up.

Looks like a lovely summer day, eh? Not even close.  It was in the low 20s and the wind off the water was cruel.  My fingers, toes and nose were frozen.

Plymouth's Town Tree.

I liked how Burial Hill looked with the dusting of snow.

This was the last picture I took.  I drove down Main Street and saw pretty store front decorations but by this point I couldn't feel my toes, so I went home!

Ermahgerd! Sner!

Had about 3" of snow on the 10th.  It started around 11:00 AM and took awhile to accumulate because it had been a little mild

The moon was peeking through the clouds while the snow fell.

It looks so pretty with the lights

The next day was beautiful and clear, but extremely cold and the roads were icy for awhile so I stayed home.

Frosty windshield

Old Time Crafts

I used to love Shrinky Dinks and Make It Bake It kits back in the 70s.  Some of these items are enjoying a resurgence thanks to Pinterest craft ideas.  

I found the doggie kit in Michael's Crafts and picked it up because it was just $2.99 and it's really cute.  The Shrinkies is a 1960's themed kit and I didn't realize that all the designs were precut and pre-drawn and just needed to be coloured.  I thought I would have to first trace & cut the designs.  But that was OK....it was a snowy afternoon and I was watching 'Amadeus' so I coloured all of the designs in one sitting.  

 Here's a batch in the oven, in mid shrink

The one on the left was once as big as the one on the right!

Large size designs ready to go in.

And here's the plate of all the shrinkies post-oven!

And here's my doggie suncatcher.  I actually had to bake this one twice.  The first time there were quite a few spaces that needed additional beads.

I forgot how much I like the smell of melting plastic.

Some Fave Christmas Songs

I just thought I'd share a few of my fave songs that I love to listen to this time of year.  I have many fave carols, such as 'Carol of the Bells', 'O Holy Night', anything on the Windham Hill label or by Mannheim Steamroller and just about any carol done by 1940s swing bands and Andy Williams  You'll find no 'Santa Babies' or 'Rockin Around the Christmas Trees' on my Christmas mix tapes.  There are some carols that I just cannot stand so that's why I ended up making my own mix tapes instead of listening to all the radio stations that play carols nonstop from mid-November on.  

Anywho, the ones I've chosen are lesser known, and some are not necessary Christmas songs....they just remind of me of the winter solstice.  Give 'em a listen; you won't be sorry.

Mannheim Steamroller's 'Bring a Torch Jeanette, Isabella'.  This is a beautiful melody.


The absolutely only version of 'Sleigh Ride' worth listening to, as played by the Boston Pops Orchestra and conducted by Arthur Fiedler.  It should be declared the official version.

"Still, Still, Still", which I first heard on a Fred Meyer Christmas commercial when I first moved to Washington in 1999.  I don't know how that carol escaped me all those years but it did.  

This is found on Windham Hill's 'A Winter's Solstice IV'.  It's a beautiful song and one of my favourites, but it makes me weep.  Back in Washington, it made me think of loneliness and sadness during the holidays and that made me cry.  Now when I hear it (and I've been playing it a lot), it makes me think of how much I love Russell, and it still makes me cry but they are happy tears.  The animated snow scenes in this video are awesome.

A beautiful German carol.  I need to learn the German lyrics so I can sing along!!!

This is an old Welsh hymn that I've had a hell of a time tracking down but it is finally making its way onto the internet.  I first heard it in the 1987 movie "A Child's Christmas in Wales" and it is one of the most beautiful songs I've ever heard in my life.  At the beginning of this, a narrator first reads the words before the Mormon Tabernacle Choir begins to sing.

"Welcoming" by Michael Manring.  Not a Christmas song at all, but I bought the Windham Hill Sampler 1986 album really close to Christmas of 1987 so this song forever reminds me of winter.  Funny story...I was in the record store looking for Grateful Dead albums and the song playing in the store was so incredible that I asked what we were listening to.  The clerk showed me the album cover and told me where to find it. The whole LP is great but this is my fave.

Single Serving Cupcake In A Mug

If you are anything like me, from time to time you get a hankering for a cupcake...or any cakey item.

My friend Deb Clark told me about a quick and easy recipe for a one serving cupcake.  It's so easy that I admit I was skeptical.  It calls for one box of angel food cake mix and one box of a cake mix of your choice.  This time, I used strawberry.  I combined the dry mixes in a large bowl, then poured it a large ziplock bag.  

To make a single serving, use 3 TBSP of mix to 2 TBSP of water and mix well in a mug, then microwave on high for 1 minute.

This is what was in the mug when done! A fully cooked cupcake!!!!!!!  

Add a little icing and sprinkles and voila!  One cupcake that's lighter and far less greasy than using just a cake mix, and you don't have 18 cupcakes sitting around, tempting you to eat them!

Total win!!

More Holiday Crafting

I really cranked it to get these last 2 Craft Kit of the Month Club cross stitch ornaments done. 

I made one of these out in Washington but it was much smaller than this.  I realized I bit off more than I could chew after I made 5 points and realized I needed more.  I had to back the design paper with plain coloured paper because the backs are all white and I wanted colour to show.  This is way, way bigger than I expected it to be but it looks pretty good.

This one surfaced when I was looking for something else.  I started it last year but only got as far as gluing the outside gold edging and the silver star.  I forgot all about it till it fell out of a stack of paper and I exclaimed, 'OH YEAH!'  So I dug into the goodie bag that Monica gave me and used some of those beads for this, then after all the large beads/ornaments were glued in place, I sprinkled all the background with multicoloured seed beads.  It's wicked a little bit 'busy', but kinda cool to look at too.

Christmas Lights Bokeh

I pinned this picture on Pinterest awhile back and totally forgot to try it last year.  I decided to give it a whirl. Looks easy, right?  Just cut a design in the center of a circle, tape it on your lens and shoot.  

Me being, well, me, (i.e., impatient and never one to read directions first) I cut out a circle with a design in the center, taped it to my lens and shot a couple of pictures.  They didn't come out good at all and I deleted them.  Then I went back to this original picture, HERE, and decided to read the comments under this picture.  Most people that tried this effect were not successful based upon the photograph.  In the comments I discovered a link HERE on how to do this correctly.  

To obtain these results you need a tripod and to manually focus and control the shutter speed.  You also need to build a little 'hood' for the camera lens (with cardstock taped around the outside of the lens).  The first circle design I tried was a heart and I shot directly at the tree lights, but I didn't control the shutter.  They look more like triangles than hearts!!

Upon closer inspection, the heart that I cut was not very good at all, and looked like a triangle.  So I cut a new design, a 3 tiered tree and the results were much better.  Again, I just used the 'flash off' setting.  I did try a shot using 'bulb' but it really made no difference except making it brighter.  

I think with some practice, and a better template - perhaps a small hole punch design - this would be a cool way of taking Christmas light pictures.