A Christmas tree

In the UK over the past 3 decades the custom of festooning the tree(s) in your garden with garlands of lights over the Christmas period has become very popular and if you don't have a garden then usually the door or window of your house will be draped with lights.  It makes the streets in towns look bright and festive and the houses in the dark country lanes suddenly leap out and shine at you.  Yesterday I saw this tree (pictured) and at first I thought it was blossom but not many blossoms enjoy the British winter it has to be admitted.  However on closer inspection it turned out to be totally false: the trunk was made of rigid plastic and the blossoms(?) were fibre optic lights with all the wires needed buried in the earth.  Now I did not know if I liked it or not.  It looked lovely but I decided I really did prefer a fir or spruce tree
 or any kind of tree so long as it was really growing in the garden.  I have to ask if it will still be there at Christmas or will some 'low life' decide they would like it and just steal it.
I hope not.

Red Sky at Night

Red Sky at Night

The sky outside our house last evening kept this beautiful colour for a long time - plenty of time to find my camera, check it
was charged up, find the keys to the front door from the bottom of my copious handbag and eventually just as the sky was
beginning to lose its vibrancy take this photograph. I remember the old saying 'Red Sky at Night Shepherd's delight' meaning
we were to enjoy some good weather. l have lived in the coutryside for most of my life so have a deep respect for the country
folklore, even though I am now living in the city. Many more beautiful days before winter kicks in pleeeease!

Forever thankful for that razor-thin atmosphere that makes ou... on Twitpic

Forever thankful for that razor-thin atmosphere that makes ou... on Twitpic

'Dress-down' Friday in Cordoba

autumn fruits

This picture was taken from our front door showing the beautiful berries on the Pyracantha bush - I always hope to keep them for a long time but can't help remembering the old country folklore that says - the longer the birds save the berries without being tempted to snack on them, the longer the winter will be. Is this is a tasty morsel for after Christmas then when the long dark, cold days will feel as though they are staying for ever. Nope! I refuse to believe a word of it.

my cousin Vernon

Tyne Cot Cemetery, Passchendaele

Remember

The Menin Gate near Ypres in Belgium is a memorial to those British and Commonwealth soldiers who died in the First World War and have no known graves as their bodies were never found.  The names of 60,000 young men missing on the Battlefield are remembered here but sadly despite the vastness of the memorial arch there was not enough room for all the names of the missing - another 35,000 had to be inscribed on the stone walls of the Tyne Cot cemetery near Passchendale along with the 12,000 graves of their commrades.  It was decided that soldiers would be buried  close to where they had fallen in an identical grave without distinction rank, colour or creed.  Row upon row of identical white slabs bear the name, age, regimental badge and religious symbol of the fallen soldier and on the graves of unidentified soldiers just 'Known to God'.  These huge cemeteries containing many more graves are scattered throughout
 Belgium and France with many more joining them after the second World War including many Americans.  Another very sad place is Langemark where 45,000 German youth lie in a mass grave.  All children from our schools should be taken here for their education, so should our Leaders........'Lest we Forget'

Santaklass

I went to the Garden Centre to buy some Spring bulbs for my many
pots outside and this was the site that met my eyes as I opened the
door - dozens of Santas large and small. Once when the Spirit of
St Nicholaus was a welcome guest throughout the whole of Europe
bearing SMALL gifts for the children of every household, he was dressed
in Bishop's clothing of his day which was about 1000 or more years ago, but
during the last century he was adopted by the USA, had a change of name
and is beginning to look more scary every year!