Notes of Life

The robin finally came close enough for me to capture a photo. It’s perched on the hat of a gnome. Apparently, we’re due more snow tomorrow. We’ve had so much since November that it’ll be funny if we don’t have a white Christmas now!

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This is one of the starlings that was looking for food in our garden. We’ve put some out for them, but I still feel sorry for the poor birds in this weather. The robin was about, but he didn’t come close enough to get any photos (unfortunately).

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The latest Thematic Photographic theme is Favourite Photos of the Year and this time the theme lasts for 3 weeks! So, over the next 3 weeks (or possibly a shorter time period) I thought I would share with you my favourite photographs (month-by-month) of 2010. However, so as not to be repetitive, I will try to pick photos that I’ve not shown here before. So to start off, here’s one of my favourite photos from January…

This is the main road through the village, after the snow-plough had been through several times on 6th January. It went through just before I took this picture and I had to jump back to avoid the snow it threw up! It’s not the best of photos, but it’s where I live and I quite like the place!

Why not join in with Thematic Photographic and show us some of your favourite photos?

* If you came here within 10 minutes of the original post time, you’ll have seen a different photo. It was only after I’d posted it that I’d realised I’d posted that photo a month after I’d taken it!

Author: Debbie Macomber
Publisher: Mira
ISBN: 978-0-7783-0394-7

In a bid to read at least one Christmas-themed book during this festive season, I went in search of new books. I found a few, but it was Falling for Christmas by Debbie Macomber that really caught my eye.

Falling for Christmas contains not one, but two Christmas stories by Debbie Macomber.

A Cedar Cove Christmas

Mary Jo Wyse is a young mother-to-be who travels to Cedar Grove on Christmas Eve to find the father (or at least his family) of her unborn baby. Unfortunately for Mary Jo, the baby’s father is no-where to be found and his family is out of town. With it being Christmas Eve, there’s no room at the inn… there’s no room at any inn, they’re all fully booked. What will Mary Jo do?

A Cedar Cove Christmas is a story of love, faith and hope as the people of Cedar Cove show just how friendly and helpful a community can be.

Call Me Mrs Miracle

Finley’s department store is in need of a Christmas miracle when Emily Merkle comes to the rescue in the toy department. Not only does she help sell the toys, but she also does a bit of matchmaking along the way!

This story had a familiar feeling about it, almost as if I’d read the story before or seen a movie, but I still enjoyed reading it.

A lovely touch to ‘Call Me Mrs Miracle’ are the recipes included in the story. There are 3 recipes included – Holiday Sugar Cookies, Fried Chicken and Baby Arugula Salad with Goat Cheese, Pecans and Pomegranate Seeds – and all can be found in Debbie Macomber’s Cedar Cove Cookbook. I’m hoping to make the Holiday Sugar Cookies sometime before Christmas!

Debbie Macomber’s Falling for Christmas was a real joy to read and both stories left me with a warm feeling inside.

So, if you’re looking for some feel-good Christmas stories, look no further than Debbie Macomber. I’d hadn’t heard of Debbie before Falling for Christmas, but I’ve already bought some more of her Christmas books to read over the next couple of weeks!

I’ve just realised it’s been over a week since my last post. Somehow I just haven’t had the time to post. Not only am I behind on blogging, but so far I’ve only written 3 Christmas cards (all to be mailed overseas) and I’ve only bought 3 Christmas presents so far… I really need to get a move on!

The green, green grass of Mid Wales is still very much white! While it hasn’t snowed here for about a week now, the frost, ice and consistant low temperatures are keeping us (and the rest of the country) in a winter wonderland… Although, it isn’t quite as wonderful when you have to drive to & from work in icy conditions every day.

While I may be behind with my Christmas cards and shopping, I am in the middle of reading a Christmas-themed book. I’m currently reading Falling for Christmas by Debbie Macomber and I’m really enjoying it. I’ll definitely be buying more of her books in the future.

So if I haven’t been blogging and I’m behind with Christmas, what’s been keeping me busy? Well, first off I went to see Meat Loaf at Birmingham LG Arena on Sunday evening. Dad & I have been wanting to see Meat Loaf in concert for years, but when we’d previously booked tickets Meat Loaf was ill and had to cancel the tour, so it was great to finally see him on stage on Sunday. Meat Loaf performed his classic hits as well as some songs off his current album. Would you believe that we were all given a free copy of his current album complete with 4 extra songs on it when we got to the arena?! I go to a lot of gigs and I don’t think that’s ever happened before! I always buy a programme when I go to a gig, but the merchandise stall was also selling autographed hardback copies of Meat Loaf’s autobiography To Hell and Back which I couldn’t resist! So keep an eye out on here for a review  of that (I’m sure it’ll jump my reading queue).

This past week has been a little painful and achey. I’ve had neck & shoulder ache. I haven’t a clue why, though there could be several reasons (or a combination there of!). Over the years I’ve fallen over and smacked my shoulder into a pavement (which resulted in me not being able to lift my one arm any higher than my chest for a couple of weeks), I was once knocked off my motor scooter by a stupid woman in a car and another time my car was rear-ended by another car while going around a roundabout. After none of these incidents have I seeked medical attention and I’m beginning to wonder if his neck & shoulder pain/ache is something to do with that as I’ve had it a few times over the years. This past week it’s been particularly bad, even causing me to wake up if I moved at night. Thankfully, the pain seems to have gone now and my neck & shoulder now just ache if I stay in one postition too long. Having said all that, I now feel like I’m coming down with a cold… Doh!

My niece has also been keeping me busy this past week. She has fallen in love with the cuddly toy reindeer I found in WH Smith  last weekend for a grand total of £2.99 (down from £9.99). She had spotted it in the shopping bag before I’d barely got in through the door! She’s also fallen in love with my cuddly toy lion (which my Nan & Granddad gave me a few years ago) and she cuddled him and carried him around the house for ages on Saturday, so now I’m on the look out for one just like it so she can have her own. I know I spoil her, but who else have I got to spend my money on? Well, next year I will have somebody else to spoil too… a nephew!

Right then, time to get on with writing my Christmas cards!