First Re-post of: A Tiny Story from My Mantle

A Tiny Story from My Mantle

The great white owl flew silently from dry rustling grasslands barely covered with thin and worn blankets of snow all the way to the edge of a deep forest to the little evergreen tree decorated with lights and with toys. Snow filled wild wind whistled and danced around hills and rocks, through trees stripped bare of summer leaves. The old owl was always certain that gifts would be under the little tree. Gifts for the old couple that lived over the hill and down the road just past an old town that twinkled with candle light in windows trimmed with snow and icicles.

There is no reality as bright and magical as a starry moonlit night over snow covered fields. The magic of these nights and the little tree that sparkled and shone at the edge of the forest drew field mice and rabbits to discover the little tree. No one ever knew who decorated the tree each year, and no one knew who cleared the snow and placed the presents there. Children from the tiny town made forbidden forays to the edge of the Great Evergreen Forest each year just before Christmas when the moon rode full in the starry-dark night sky. Elven shadows danced and elven music drifted in the cold night air. The children were certain there were elves in the forest. They shared marvellous stories of these nights in the glittering snow. The wise old owl watched over the children on these nights filled with moonlit excitement. He spread his wings, gliding off to his nest in grasslands only when the children were all back in their homes and tucked safely in their beds.

“That’s the thing about magic; you’ve got to know it’s still here, 

all around us, or it just stays invisible for you.”

~ Charles de Lint

Book Review - Nutshell by Ian McEwen

We are each bound by our own limitations, whether broad or constricted. The narrator of this murder mystery is foetus two weeks from birth and escape from the womb. I hesitate to call it a mystery as from almost the outset of the novel, there is no mystery about who will be murdered, by whom and in what manner. Motive, as with most murders, is money and involves sex - fairly lurid sex scenes. The plotting of the murder also is accompanied by pretty excessive intake of wine. This last disturbed me as knowledge of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome has been ever present in my career. While my personal concerns are unchanged, I was not put off from completing this fascinating read that is full of foetal commentary, dark humour and irony due to the my own constraints of a book club recommendation. I would like to suggest that giving a foetus a voice beyond that of an unknowing unborn child may be a bit of unintended philosophy about our relationship with the child within the womb.

The narrator, is a foetus whose knowledge has been gleaned from hearing conversations between his mother, Trudy and her lover, Claude. Their conversations are usually about the murder of John, Trudy’s husband and the father of the foetus, leaving poor foetus in a limbo of a future outside of the womb. The foetus, mostly ignored, has become very wise, if not a bit grumpy, to the ways of the world in a quite convoluted fashion, listening to podcasts about wine, music and world affairs in the bits and pieces of Trudy’s choice, giving him an educated but fractured view of the world.

As always, book group discussion yesterday added nuances about this story as we each come from different backgrounds of education and experience. I, for one, had not recognized the parallels to William Shakespeares Hamlet. Regardless I enjoyed Nutshell and Ian McEwen’s ability to have me laughing out loud in a story that I easily could have set aside but am glad that I did not. This will not be everyone’s cup of tea - or glass of wine. For me, Nutshell by Ian McEwen will be on my list of books to re-read.

“Oh God, I could be bounded in a nutshell and count myself 

a King of infinite space—were it not for bad dreams.”

~ William Shakespeare, Hamlet

Title: Nutshell

Author: Ian McEwen

Copyright: 2016

Format:  Print and electronic

Hardcover - ISBN-978-0-345-81240-7

eBook -  ISBN-978-0-345-81242-1

Type: Novel

Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf Canada

Gingerbread Showcase 2018 - Victoria, BC

Victorian Noel
created by Karen Peachey

Today, it is blustery and pouring buckets of cold rain from skies gray and foreboding. Saturday, the day I attended two Christmas season fundraisers, was a bit cloudy. A shade warmer but no rain. A good day for a stroll through downtown Victoria. I had already seen the Tuba Christmas, which I posted yesterday morning. I stopped for delicious lunch of gruyere quiche, chocolate dipped oatmeal shortbread and coffee at *Fol Epi about half-way along to see this year’s Gingerbread Showcase. After being warmed and fed, I set out to the annual Gingerbread Showcase held this year at the Parkside Hotel & Spa at 810 Humbolt Street. The Gingerbread Showcase is a fund raiser for Habitat for Humanity.

A West Coast Island Christmas
created by Cari Miller

The Gingerbread Showcase is their ‘premier’  fundraiser and brings together professional and amateur bakers from Vancouver Island. This year there were 25 entries ~ each with their own detail and creativity in edible art. Unfortunately I only have room to show three of them as each of them deserved attention. This year’s theme is ‘There’s No Place Like Home.’ These creations, from humble to grand, whimsical to playful, must meet specific criteria as these are judged by a select group of judges and later on by the public. In a space of 24” x 24”, all components ~ rocks, people, trees, anything included in the setting for the Gingerbread House ~ must be edible to be judged formally.

I have attended other Gingerbread Showcases in the past few years and have always been impressed by the design and execution if these homes. One house (not shown here) was inspired by a family home that had burned down. The bakers created a charming replica of the house, yard and a couple of the family members. Wizard of Oz and Harry Potter inspired Gingerbread homes held the attention of many in the crowd. Sadly, I missed the Harry Potter home due to the interested crowd and the small space accommodating the number of entries. However, this event is held until January 2, 2019 so I must get back to see what I have missed. Choosing my favourite was a task that was very difficult as they were all my favourites until I saw the next one. I don’t remember which one I voted for ~ it may have been the West Coast Island Christmas. But as I said, I missed a couple so I may have missed my ‘favourite’.

The Pawer of RUV created by The Team from
Love of Dogs and Cats Organic Treats

There really is no place like home - a home where there is a real life with laughter, understanding  and tears, home cooked food and music ~ and maybe even the wisdom of a dog or cat. The house doesn’t need to be grand or filled with things. Seeing all these gingerbread homes, is a walk through of all the potential of a home. My wish is for such a home for each of us wherever we have landed in this life.

“Winter is a time for comfort, for good food and warmth, for the touch 

of a friendly hand and for a talk beside the fire: it is the time for home.”

~ Edith Stillwell

A Tuba Christmas in Victoria, B.C. 2018

The date: Saturday, December 8, 2018. The streets were thronged with Christmas shoppers and sightseers. Children freed from the bonds of school. Nine to fivers with family weekends off. Teenagers laughing and flashing photos with their cellphones. Then I entered Market Square in downtown Victoria. The last time I was at Market Square was at a summer Jazz festival - hot and full of energy. I did not expect the same and definitely not the heat, but there it was - the energy of a community crowd. It seems as though the crowd was much more crowded though. Strollers with bundled up toddlers, dogs on festive leashes, grandparents and parents dressed warmly against the cold. (Cold in Victoria means not quite freezing, but there was no wind and no rain. Only a light cloud layer made it not too bad.) But the tubas! My curiosity was struck by how brass musical instruments

could be played outdoors in even Victoria cold. The orchestra and their instruments were wisely sheltered under a tented roof along with several fireplaces placed intermittently within the tent. The Christmas tuba orchestra is composed of *amateur and professional musicians from area schools, UVic, the Armed Forces and local groups. I learned that the youngest musicians participating were three 11 year olds. Scattered among the shining brass tubas, musicians were dressed in winter jackets, Santa Claus hats, red and green scarves and gloves, all led by a conductor also suitably garbed against the weather. 

It wasn’t just teenagers taking photos with cell phones. Men and women held their phones up for video footage of this most interesting orchestra. Other audience members with incredibly expensive looking cameras moved purposefully through the crowd snapping photos as they went. The concert was also being live streamed and there are many Tuba Christmas concerts to be found on Youtube.

This was my first, and very enjoyable, Tuba Christmas concert, a fund raiser for the Times Colonist Christmas Fund which assists families and individuals in need. I popped my donation in the decorated donation tuba at the front of the orchestra before finding a relatively convenient space to stand on the floor of Market Square. Audience members decorated the two balconies and the staircases that led to the main floor. Other of these festive Tuba Christmas events are held in many other cities throughout North America. An extensive list is being compiled at www.tubachristmas.com/

“Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn’t before! 

What if Christmas, he thought, doesn’t come from a store. 

What if Christmas…perhaps….means a little bit more!”

~ Dr. Seuss, How the Grinch Stole Christmas

*see the photo indicating the orchestra members.

A Long Overdue Letter to Santa Claus

Dear Santa,

I’m not sure I should be writing you this letter. It’s been over 60 years since the last time I wrote, but I’ve been thinking a lot about you lately. Partly because it’s Christmas and your namesakes are all over the place. But partly because I miss Christmas morning and the brown stockings filled with nuts, candy and an orange in the toe. Did you really eat all the cookies and milk at everyone’s house? 

But that’s not what I wanted to ask about. I have everything I need and most things I want. But there is one thing that I have always wanted. It’s been a secret. I want a kitchen - a big kitchen. My own kitchen with all the gadgets I want. If I told you the truth, besides gadgets, I would like it to be a really big kitchen ~ did I mention that already? Two refrigerators - or one really big one. Two ovens, one at eye level and one an ordinary one. And a gas range. I want room for a table in the middle of my big kitchen and a pantry. With big windows facing west on one side and east on the other side.

Well that’s all I want and really I don’t expect it. Not because I don’t think you couldn’t get it here in time, but I really don’t know what I’d do with all that space. I guess I just wanted to write  one more letter to you.

Your friend, Susan

P.s. Of course, there would need to be a corner designed with a window seat with book shelves lined with cookbooks.

P.P.S. And if it’s not too much to ask, my kitchen would have to be in a little cottage complete with a writing room with a roll top desk.

P.P.P.S. Would it be lacking wisdom if I asked for a weekly maid service as well …..and a garden for vegetables and flowers? (Complete with gardener.)

Susan

“Only now have you lived long enough 

to know the child that you shall always remain.”

~ Martin I. Green, Santa: My Life and Times