THE SONGS OF A NIGHTINGAIL

CELEBRATED CHRISTMAS CARDS This is kind of long so you might want to pour yourself a cup of coffee or tea or eggnog before you start?  Maybe add a biscuit or two, or perhaps a slice of my Grandma Louise’s fruitcake? I’ve been known to choose lovely Christmas cards to send out to family & friends such as this cheerful neighborhood scene. Or this snowy one in the town of Groveland, California where we lived for 28 years. We had visited friends in Alaska the year we sent this card out. This was the card we sent for Christmas the year we met “Ella”, the little pigeon who suddenly flew into our lives.  I couldn’t have found a more perfect card. J And this one went out the year my Dad passed away shortly before Christmas.  It just seemed so right. Mostly, though, I like cards with a bit of humor.  This was the first card we sent out after my husband and I were married.  I forget how many I had to make with the combined list of his family & friends and mine,...

  ¯   “If you go down in the woods today you’d better not go alone. If you go down in the woods today it’s better you stayed at home. For every bear that ever there was will gather there to sit there because Today’s the day the teddy bears have their picnic.” ¯ (I wonder if the checked tablecloth in the prompt picture is red?) ¯  'If you go down to the beach today you’re in for a big surprise! If you go down to the beach today you’d better not hide your eyes! For mama bear and two little cubs are gathered there to sit there because Today’s the day they're gonna have a picnic.'  ¯ (A trio of real   bears looking for something to picnic on at Lake Tahoe.) Family reunion on the beach at Tahoe with snacks and music. ¯ Waiting for the play to begin at Sand Harbor, Lake Tahoe.  We were down there in front, 5 th  or 6 th  row back on the left – to see Shakespeare’s “The Two Gentlemen of Verona“ after enjoying a picnic dinner on ...

  A 40 th birthday cake for my eldest daughter.  I was a little slow getting my camera out to take a picture of it! Four years earlier she had carrot cake  cupcakes – carrot cake being her favorite. Thirty-eight years earlier she had her famous Pooh Bear cake. Her sister had a fancy-lookin’ cake for her 26 th birthday. And here’s the sister’s son with his cousins and older sister critiquing his 3 rd birthday cake featuring a hot race car scenario. Of course it wasn’t long before the car was off the cake and being played with! On his sister’s third birthday she had a “Barbie” princess cake. My Mom’s birthday always fell around Mother’s Day and sometimes on Mother’s Day as was the case for this combo Mother’s Day/Mom’s birthday cake in 2002 – her 84 th birthday. That same year someone brought a flourless chocolate cake to the celebration as well.  Talk about “death by chocolate”.  I’ve never tasted anything so decadent in my life!  Dense pure chocolate al...