Monday Musings - Eye Spy

Eye Spy

Eye spy with my little eye,
a branch upon a tree,
and on this branch the multi colored lights
burning brightly for me.

Eye spy with my little eye,
a star up on a tree,
a special star to signal all,
so everyone can see.

Eye spy with my pale blue eyes,
an excitement all around,
from stores to homes with smiles and hugs
and special holiday sounds.

Eye spy with my grown up eyes
a hope for the next generation,
with freedom and hope and liberty galore
to bolster our fragile nation.

Christmas is green

Christmas Is Green

Cold, damp, dreary. Why did she love these types of days so much? Everyone else hated these days, but she relished them. Maybe it’s because they reminded her of the holidays.

The holiday season was fast approaching. Just today a Christmas commercial came across the television screen. It’s amazing how those types of commercials could make her tear p. She wanted her girls to have the same kind of feeling for the holidays that she had. Sure things were different now. Kids were different, environments were different, and demands were different.

When she was younger, she simply lived for the holidays. She would start drawing pictures of Christmas trees way before Halloween. She loved to read any books that dealt with the holidays. She loved to pretend she was Snowbound with Betsy, or fantasize of a Christmas in the Big Woods. Reading only served as the fuel source for her imagination.

Christmas music; beautiful gospels, traditional tunes, and children’s classics - you could hear them everywhere during this season. Her favorite song used to be “March of the Wooden Soldiers.” Even though it was an instrumental song, she would always make up dances to match the movements of the music. Even today, at the age of 35, this song makes her well up with tears.

Christmas lights – oh, how she loved Christmas lights. Sparkling red, yellow, blue, and green … especially green. She would dig in the basement until she found the worn box of Christmas decorations. Then she would plug the lights in just to watch them glow.

At Christmas time, she used to lie under the tree just to look at the lights. Beautiful, dancing. She would always sneak out of the bed at night, turn on the tree lights and fall asleep on the couch, dreaming of sugarplums and the anticipation of the season.

Green was always her favorite color. Back when she was a child, Christmas tree lights were the large, screw-in types. She and her two siblings each had a particular side of the Christmas tree that they called their own. Mother was always complaining because the children would change the colors on the tree. One side would be all red, another blue and yellow, and of course, the green side.

It gave her great pleasure to have one side of the family Christmas tree to call her own. She would place her handmade ornaments upon the branches, as well as the traditional ones. Santa always left her presents beneath her side of the tree. Always …

Snowflakes, the Christ child, Granny Devine’s home cooking, and the color green ...these always reminded her of the Christmas season. She now wants the same for her children. Christmas Eve Church services, a birthday cake for Baby Jesus, supper at Nana’s and MaMaw’s, and the color green … no, not green. Her three girls are all passionate about the color blue. Blue for Christmas? Oh well, times are changing.

Poinsettia

The Poinsettia is the one flower that always signals the beginning of the holiday season, especially in the Bluegrass Region. Right after Thanksgiving, these beautiful flowers beginning showing up in nurseries and florists, grocery stores and discount stores. Here are a few tips to help you pick a healthy plant:

First, choose Poinsettias with stiff stems, good bract retention (the flowering parts) and no signs of wilting, breaking or drooping. Try to avoid Poinsettias that are displayed in plastic or mesh sleeves, or plants that are crowded together on a display shelf. Poinsettias need space and air circulation, so the longer a plant is in a contained sleeve, the faster the quality will deteriorate.
Make sure the plant's soil is not waterlogged because this could mean the plant has irreversible root rot.

When taking a Poinsettia home from the store, protect it was chilling winds and temperatures below 50° F. Cover the plant with a shopping bag to help give added protection.
Once you have your Poinsettia home, here are a few tips to keep it blooming all through the holiday season:

Keep the Poinsettia in indirect sunlight for at least 6 hours daily. Direct sun can not only "burn the leaves" but will also lead to wilting. Try to keep the room temperature constant at about 70° F. Remember, temperatures below 50° F can mean disaster to the plant. One rule of thumb, if you are comfortable in the room, then your Poinsettia will be comfortable.

Do not place Poinsettias near doors or heating systems because they cannot tolerate cold drafts or excessive heat. Water your plant when the soil feels dry to the touch. Don't overwater or allow to sit in standing water. Do not fertilize your Poinsettia when it is in bloom. However, immediately after blooming season, fertilize with an all-purpose fertilizer.

After the New Year, I will give you some tips on keeping your Poinsettia for re-blooming next year.

Monday Musings - Mary and the Manger

Mary and the Manger
By Bobbi Rightmyer


The day’s been long and I’m so very tired,
but there is nowhere for us to sleep.
My burden is heavy with the blessed one,
so I’ll carry on the best I can.

I’m sorry, little mother, vessel of the Holy one,
but my comfort is crudely made of wood and hay;
And although I nourish the lowly beasts,
I promise to provide warmth to the child.

An inn should be the proper place
for the birth of this precious son;
But with no room to find, no place to spare,
I’ll settle for your cozy little shelter.

O Holy night, O precious night,
my hay is clean and dry.
O blessed one, O special child,
lay down your head, don’t cry.
O God above, O Father and Spirit,
I will cradle and protect this babe.

Now I lay me down to sleep,
the prophesized child is born;
But God above took away my fears, my pain
and guided me through the night.
Now my precious child is here
and the world has one last hope.

O, what a beautiful boy, this glorious child of God;
And thou my accommodations are not grand or spacious,
they hold all the love and hope of kings.
I’ll keep him safe, I’ll keep him warm
in this stable in Bethlehem.

Paying attention to detail

I like to think of myself as detail oriented, especially in my writing. I love to read about the rich sounds of the big city, the alluring smells of the corner bakery, the magical sights of a lone country road, the touch of a tiny baby animal or the taste of an apple picked fresh from the tree. These details enrich my reading experience and make me strive to be a better writer.

All too often, we get caught in the trap of writing for the sake of writing - trying to hurry through the days word count or page count without stopping to make sure the words are the best that they can be. Many, many times, this is what happens with my first drafts - boring words with no attention to the details.

However, once I have the "bones" of a story on paper, then I can jump into the fun part of writing. Adding the color of my hero's eyes: are they sparkling blue like a midsummer's day, or swirling green like the changing forest? Adding the sounds of the current environment: is the town old and dying, or is it fresh, new and growing? Adding the taste and texture of the heroine's evening meal: is it spicy and hot with a flair for the exotic, or is it the comfort food of a lip smacking hot dog? Adding the smell of the current surroundings: is it salty from the spray of the sea foam, or is it dusty from the mountaintop coal mine? Adding the sensation of touch is sometimes hard: does the heroine's dress feel thread-bare and worn, or is it starchy and stiff?

With the onset of autumn - my favorite time of year - my attention to detail is heightened. The blazing rainbow of colors as the sugar maple trees start to turn, the deepening yellow color of the goldenrod as it ages, and the white snowflake blooms of the frost asters as they dance above the meadows.

Overhead I hear the loud honking of the geese as they make their way to winter parts unknown, the crackling and popping of a backyard bonfire, and the crisp, wet crunch as I bite into a freshly picked pear or apple. I love to touch the dew drops as they glisten and cling to all the garden foliage, feel the rough texture of the corn shocks as I make arrangements in my front yard, or the smooth feel of the pumpkins fresh off the vine. Autumn brings the taste of sweet and gooey carmel apples, the spicy hot flavor of a huge pot of chili, and the warm aromatic tastes of hot cocoa or apple cider. The smells of autumn are probably the best from the damp, wet leaves littering the sidewalk to the clear, fresh breeze after a rain shower to earthy fragrance of the late blooming herbs.

Paying attention to details and describing to your audience the five senses are the best way to draw the reader into your story. Being able to picture yourself in the situation be described is the hallmark of a good author.