"May your walls know joy.  May every room hold laughter and every window open to great possibility."

~ Maryanne Radmacher-Hershey, author, artist, student www.maryanneradmacher.net

AND:  "Never give a party if you will be the most interesting person there."  ~ Mickey Friedman 
( Never attend a party if you will be the most interesting person there! lbw )

HAPPY NEW YEAR !

"Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known."

~ Carl Sagan (1934 - 1996)  American author, astronomer.

"It's very hard to take yourself too seriously when you look at the world from outer space."

~ Thomas K. Mattingly II (b. 1936) Rear Admiral USN, Ret. NASA astronaut Apollo 16.

"Sometimes I think the surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact us."

~ Bill Watterson (b. 1958)  American cartoonist, author of Calvin & Hobbes.

A Thought on Resolutions ~

"He who breaks a resolution is a weakling;
He who makes one is a fool."

~ Frederick Lawrence Knowles (1869 - 1905) American Poet,  A Cheerful Year Book.



Angel Reading Book



"I want all my senses engaged.  Let me absorb the world's variety and uniqueness."

~ Maya Angelou (b. April 4, 1928)  American author, poet.  At Presidential Inauguration, 1993, recited her poem, "On The Pulse of Morning."

Angel Snowed In



THE SNOW

by Emily Dickinson

It sifts from leaden sieves,

It powders all the wood,

It fills with alabaster wool

The wrinkles of the road.

It makes an even face

Of mountain and of plain, ~

Unbroken forehead from the east

Unto the east again.

It reaches to the fence,

It wraps it, rail by rail,

Till it is lost in fleeces;

It flings a crystal veil.

On stump and stack and stem, ~

The summer's empty room,

Acres of seams where harvests were,

Recordless, but for them.

It ruffles wrists of posts,

As ankles of a queen,~

Then stills its artisans like ghosts,

Denying they have been.

E.D. From a daguerreotype ~ Wikipedia

~ Emily Dickinson (December 10, 1830 - May 15, 1886) American poet.  It was not until 1890 after Emily's death that her poetry was published.  It was not until 1955 that it was published complete and unedited. ~ Wikipedia.

The Neat L'l Bookshop is Closed between Christmas and New Year's.  We will reopen on Wednesday, January 2nd.

(Photo:  Ouse Street, around the corner from the bookshop.  Thursday, December 27 ~ lbw)

"Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around."

~ Leo Buscaglia (1924 - 1998) American author, motivational speaker known as "Dr. Love."

[Can you imagine a better way to start each day than with this Leo Buscaglia quote? Thank you to my friend who gave me this beautiful 2013 Date Book ~lbw]

In the Peanuts comic strip, Snoopy walks up to Charlie Brown and his sister, Sally, giving them a great big hug.  Charlie says to Sally, "You can always tell when he's been listening to his Leo Buscaglia tapes." ~ Wikipedia.

Idea Writers ~

"With our revolutionary background in every activity we've ever touched ~ electricity, communication, flying ~ we've revolutionized just about everything in the history of the world, and it's interesting to me that we Americans are not interested in paradox more, and in ideas.  The literature we read up until the early sixties has been almost bankrupt of ideas.  A man like Hemingway hardly had an idea in his life.  It was always one idea:  the male situation.  It's good stuff, I love it, but he was not an idea man.  Neither was Steinbeck or Faulkner.  Fitzgerald came closer to being a kind of idea writer;  he had wonderful insights into human personality and foibles, his notebooks are full of ideas."

~ Ray Bradbury (b. Aug. 22, 1920, d. June 5, 2012) American Fantasy, Sci-Fi writer.

[Photo:  St. Thomas, Ontario Air Show, lbw]

"What can I give Him, Poor as I am?  If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb;  If I were a wise man, I would do my part, Yet what can I give him? Give my heart."~ Christina Rossetti, 1872, "In the Bleak Midwinter."

"...and a Merry Christmas to All."

Thank you to All Who Helped Make the Cayuga Village Green Festive and Fun.

Bristish poet, Christina Rossetti, wrote the devotional verses, "Love came down at Christmas."

Love came down at Christmas,

Love all lovely, love divine;

Love was born at Christmas,

Star and angels gave the sign.

Worship we the Godhead,

Love incarnate, love divine;
Worship we our Jesus ~

What shall be our sacred sign?

Love shall be our token,

Love be yours and love be mine;

Love to God and neighbor,

Love for prayer and gift and sign.

~ Christina Rossetti (b. Dec. 5, 1830.  d. Dec. 29, 1894) British poet.  Also wrote "In the Bleak Midwinter."  Both poems were eventually set to music as Christmas carols.

A Very Merry Christmas ~ a safe and happy holiday.  The bookshop will be closed between Christmas and New Year's. 

Shaped Christmas Card 1950s

Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer ! 

A novelty song written in 1979  by veterinarian Elmo Shrophire and popularized by Elmo and Patsy.  In it Grandma, who had been drinking too much eggnog, is found dead under circumstances that suggest she has been hit by Santa's sleigh.  The song achieved notoriety in Canada when complaints were lodged with politicians, women's groups, and seniors' organizations that it was offensive to elderly women and that the death of a matriarch was no laughing matter.  Though nothing was done to limit its airplay, the song was voted one of the "Three Most Dreaded Christmas Songs Ever" and an American disc jockey was fired for playing it (by request) 27 times in a row.  A parody followed entitled "Grandpa Got Runned Over by a John Deere."

~ THE WORLD ENCYCLOPEDIA OF CHRISTMAS, Gerry Bowler, McClelland & Stewart Ltd., 2000.

"...to bring happiness, true peace and hope back to our country" ~ words spoken by a soldier standing at a school doorway.

More than one soldier has voluntarily stood guard outside U.S. schools. Some are retired, some are on their days off.  The sense of security for their children, the appreciation and relief expressed by parents make it worthwhile for these soldiers' random acts of kindness.  Contrast this movement with the self-serving gun advocates who want to arm teachers and principals.
"Thank you for your service," from the children, parents, grandparents and folks everywhere who want to see happiness, true peace and hope return to our world.

Random Acts of Kindness ~

"Believe nothing, O monks, merely because you have been told it...Do not believe what your teacher tells you merely out of respect for the teacher.  But whatsoever, after due examination and analysis, you find to be kind, conducive to the good, the benefit, the welfare of all beings ~ that doctrine believe and cling to, and take it as your guide."
~ Buddha

"I feel no need for any other faith than my faith in the kindness of human beings...I am so absorbed in the wonder of earth and the life upon it that I cannot think of heaven and angels."
~ Pearl S. Buck (1892 - 1973) American writer, Nobel Prize (1938) in Literature, Pulitzer Prize (1932) for novel. The Good Earth, 1931.

"The only gift is a portion of thyself...the poet brings his poem; the shepherd his lamb...the girl, a handkerchief of her own sewing."
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 - 1882) American essayist, poet.

"I believe that man will not merely endure; he will prevail.  He is immortal, not because he alone among the creatures has an inexhaustible voice, but because he has a soul, a spirit capable of kindness and compassion."
~ William Faulkner (1897 - 1962) American novelist

~ Random Acts of Kindness (a gem of a book ~ lbw), Editors of Conari Press, 1992 Conari Press.

RANDOM ACTS OF KINDNESS DAY, is an unofficial holiday held around the world each year on September 1st.  Random Acts of Kindness Day 2012 honoured those killed in Aurora, Colorado July 20, 2012. 

The Nutcracker ~

The nutcracker phenomenon began life in 1816 as a story by the German writer E.T.A. Hoffmann (1776-1822).  Entitled "The Nutcracker and the Mouse King," it was a rather grim tale of an unhappy girl named Marie whose only love is a nutcracker doll.  The story was adapted in 1845 by famed French novelist Alexandre Dumas, who made it more suitable for children.  In 1891 the cheerier version was chosen as the basis of a Russian ballet.
One curious consequence of the ballet's popularity has been to stimulate interest in the collection of nutcrackers.  Though many types of metal and wood nutcrackers were made through the centuries, the commercial production of the popular wooden toy nutcracker dates only from the 1870s in Germany.  The Leavenworth Nutcracker Museum in Washington State exhibits over 3,000 of these implements from around the world.
~THE WORLD ENCYCLOPEDIA OF CHRISTMAS, Gerry Bowler, McClelland & Stewart Ltd., 2000



Eyes of Wonder

Photo Files:  Courtesy Michaye Walker

"...the best portion of a good man's life
His little, nameless, unremembered acts
Of kindness and of Love."

~ William Wordsworth, English Romantic Poet.  (1770 - 1850) "Lines Written a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey." 1798.

Thank you to the follower who sent us this Thought for Today.

She smiled back reluctantly when I smiled at her.  It is unlikely that I will ever know her name or whether she has family or friends.  Her personal circumstances will remain unknown to me. Her painfully slow movements were not appropriate for the busy cashier's booth that she occupied.

She appeared to be oblivious to the growing line of Christmas shoppers showing the strain.  With an air of boredom she honoured so-called "Price Matching."  Without a word she examined and returned worn competitors' flyers to customers and adjusted prices.  Not a word of greeting.  No expression of thanks.  Customer after customer.

With growing impatience and stoic silence customers filed through her aisle and finally whisked out the door relieved.  Then I ~ silently like the others ~ stood in front of this lady.  She slowly, painstakingly scanned each item in triple-slow motion.

Whatever is she doing? I asked myself.  It is unlikely that I will ever know or understand.  What I do know is that when I looked into her face and without a word, I smiled at her, she completed the transaction and for the first time in three-quarters of an hour ~ most likely an eight hour shift ~ she uttered the words "Merry Christmas.  Have a good day."


~ lbw

Random Acts of Kindness ~

"Kind words can be short and easy to speak but their echoes are truly endless."
~ Mother Teresa (1910 - 1997) Abanian nun, won the 1979 Nobel Peace Prize.

"T'was her thinking of others that made you think of her."
~ Elizabeth Browning (1806 - 1861) English poet.

"If there is any kindness I can show, or any good thing I can do to any fellow being, let me do it now, and not deter or neglect it, as I shall not pass this way again."
~ William Penn (1644 - 1718) English writer, philosopher.


"When I give I give myself."
~ Walt Whitman (1819 - 1892) "Father of Free Verse," American poet, essayist, journalist.

"The quality of mercy is not strained;
it dropeth as the gentle rain from heaven'
upon the place beneath; it is twice blessed;
it blesseth him that giveth and him that takes."
~ Wm Shakespeare (1564 - 1616) English playwright.

"My religion is very simple.  My religion is kindness."
~ The Dalai Lama, Tibetan spiritual leader.

"We do not remember days, we remember moments."
~ Cesare Pavese (1908 - 1950) Italian poet, writer.

"Let us be kinder to one another."
~ Aldous Huxley (1894 - 1963) English writer.

First Attempt at Bread-Machine Baking

Read recently in a vintage cookbook: "There is nothing worse than a wife who can cook but who won't, unless it is a wife who loves to cook but can't!"

Plant a Lemon Pit

This tiny plant is the beginning of a lemon tree.  Popular at Christmas are attractively packaged bulbs to be given as gifts,  Nurtured throughout the dull winter months, these can bring pleasure to anyone.  Amaryllis and paper whites are easily grown indoors.  The blooms brighten a room.

Add a lemon tree to your window-sill gardening.  It is inexpensive, fun to watch, requires only sunshine and water ~ but start early.  This little lemon tree is a year old.

(The adventurous hollyhock is a bonus.)
lbw

The first robin appeared on a Christmas card in 1882.  The little bird, a distinctive sight in winter in Britain, has been one of the most popular subjects.

"In 1880 the sending of cards was a common practice, encouraged by the availability of the penny post [First class mail was global for one penny] and improved printing techniques.  Innocent contentment, mirth and, above all, good nature were more often than not the sentiments expressed on Victorian Christmas cards..."

Contemporary Christmas Card



Early 1900s Post Card



~ The Spirit of Christmas ~ Past Evocative Memories of Years Gone By, Linda Clements, Todtri Productions Limited., 1996. 

"Christmas would not be Christmas but for the happy interchange of wishes..."
~ Charles Dickens

 

Charles Dana,
Editor,
The New York Sun, Dec.,1897.

Dear Virginia,
     Your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe what they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men’s or children’s, are little.
     In this great universe of ours, man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole truth and knowledge.
     Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.
     He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! How dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus! It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance, to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.

Early 1900s Post Card

     Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in Fairies! You might get your papa to hire men to watch in chimneys on Christmas evening to catch Santa Claus, but even if they did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove?

     Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see.

     Did you ever see Fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that’s no proof that they are not there.

     You may tear apart the baby’s rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived, could tear apart.

     Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond.

     Is it real?

     Ah, Virginia, in all the world there is nothing else real and abiding.

          No Santa Claus? Thank God, he lives and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia…nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.

The Editor

(Charles Dana, The New York Sun, 1897 ~ in answer to a letter from a little girl, asking “Is there a Santa Claus?”)

"The best teacher, until one comes to adult pupils, is not the one who knows most, but the one who is most capable of reducing knowledge to that simple compound of the obvious and the wonderful which slips into the infantile comprehension.  A man of high intelligence, perhaps, may accomplish the thing by a conscious intellectual feat.  But it is vastly easier to the man (or woman) whose habits of mind are naturally on the plane of a child's.  The best teacher of children, in brief, is one who is essentially childlike."

~ H. L. Mencken (1880 - 1956) American journalist, editor, critic.

As we send our children and grandchildren back to school this morning, let us vow to support the voices of reason.  Let us take a minute to write, to e-mail, to out-shout the self-serving rhetoric of pro-gun advocates screaming outdated legislation. lbw

"Blessed is the season which engages the whole world in a conspiracy of love."
~ Hamilton Wright Mabie (1846 - 1916) American editor, essayist, critic.

"It is good to be children sometimes, and never better than at Christmas, when its mighty founder was a child Himself."
~ Charles Dickens (1812 - 1870) British author.

"The time draws near the birth of Christ:
The moon is hid; the night is still;
The Christmas bells from hill to hill
Answer each other in the mist."

~  Alfred Tennyson (1809 - 1892) British Poet Laureate.

Cayuga Bridge Progress:   Bridge Work Completion Spring of 2013



The Grand River Cayuga



Some of you may have listened to self-serving gun lobbyists screaming ~ talking over each other ~ last night on "Piers Morgan Tonight" about the American "right-to-bear-arms."  Their rhetoric is sickening.  Essentially what they are saying is, "Arm everybody and we will all be safer."

The lack of conversation in the past on the tragic shootings occurring on a regular basis in the U.S. has motivated the British-born journalist and talk-show host to speak out on the flood of weapons among the general population in the U.S.

How many more of these mass shooting will we have to endure before the powerful gun lobbyists ~ not least of all the National Rife Association www.nra.org ~ begin to care about the rights of people to feel safe?

Gun-ownership rights are currently more important than the rights of children to feel safe.



~lbw

ABE LINCOLN ~   "Mostly, he educated himself by borrowing books and newspapers There are many stories about Lincoln's efforts to find enough books to satisfy him in that backwoods country.  Those he liked he read again and again, losing himself in the adventures of Robinson Crusoe or the magical tales of The Arabian Nights.  He was thrilled by a biography of George Washington, with its stirring account of the Revolutionary War.  And he came to love the rhyme and rhythm of poetry, reciting passages from Shakespeare or the Scottish poet Robert Burns at the drop of a hat.  He would carry a book out to the field with him, so he could read at the end of each plow furrow, while the horse was getting its breath.  When noon came, he would sit under a tree and read while he ate. 'I never saw Abe after he was twelve that he didn't have a book in his hand or in his pocket,'  Dennis Hanks remembered.  'It didn't seem natural to see a feller read like that.'"

~ Abraham Lincoln, American President (b.Feb. 12, 1809 - d.April 15, 1865)

Inscription in young Abe Lincoln's homemade arithmetic book:

"Abraham Lincoln
his hand and pen
he will be good but
god knows When."

~ LINCOLN A PHOTOBIOGRAPHY, Russell Freedman, Clarion Books, 1987.
www.alplm.org

For the book lover on your list, The Neat L'l Bookshop carries used, like-new and local new.

Many hardcover popular authors are only five dollars.Check us out!  "Coffee pot's always on..."

Have a safe and happy holiday season.  Wishing you the peace and beauty the Christmas season brings. 

Victorian Parlour Cottonwood Mansion

 In The Victorian Christmas Book*, Antony & Peter Miall describe the tradition of a Christmas goose in the South of England and roast beef in the North.

In Charles Dicken's A Christmas Carol (1843) the Crachit family dined on goose, "Its tenderness and flavor, size and cheapness, were the themes of universal admiration."

"Bob Crachit's salary was fifteen shillings a week.  How could he afford a goose of such magnificence?  The answer lies in one of the great Victorian working-class institutions ~ The Goose Club.  Even the lowest paid worker could enjoy a goose at Christmas with his family by contributing to his local Goose Club a small part of his week's wages throughout the year.  Some Goose Clubs also raffled geese and bottles of wine or port...Bob Cratchit and many of his kind took their Christmas geese to the baker to be cooked, then returned home with the finished article to find the whole family waiting round the table with knives and forks at the ready.  Middle-class families, however, would expect to cook their own Christmas lunch."

~ *J.M.Dent & Sons Ltd., 1978.

~ Charles Dickens (1812 - 1870) English author

www.cottonwoodmansion.ca

12.12.12 (For superstitious folks:  this is apparently the last triple date for almost a century!  January 1, 2101)  For couples:  it is an easy anniversary date to remember.

"It is a woman's business to get married as soon as possible, and a man's to keep unmarried as long as he can."
~ George B.Shaw (1856 - 1950) Man and Superman, Irish playwright. 

"The best works, and of greatest merit for the public, have proceeded from the unmarried or childless men."
~ Francis Bacon (1561 -1626)  Of Marriage and Single Life. English philosopher, statesman.

"When you're a married man, Samivel, you'll understand a good many things as you don't understand now; but vether it's worth while goin' through so much to learn so little, as the charity boy said ven he got to the end of the alphabet, is a matter o' taste."
~ Charles Dickens,  Pickwick Papers XXVII

"Marriage is popular because it combines the maximum of temptation with the maximum of opportunity."
~ George B. Shaw, Maxims for Revolutionists.

The writings of Charles Dickens had a profound effect on the public attitude to Christmas.  In his book, The Pickwick Papers (1836-7) he created an optimistic atmosphere of festivity that industrial England welcomed.  Games such as blind-man's buff, snap-dragon were played.  Logs burned in the fireplace.  Small gifts ~ bibles, handkerchiefs, pincushions, writing cases, glove boxes, photographic frames and coins were exchanged.  Gifts were often homemade.  Meals of wassail, hot apples and turkey.
The Victorians established Christmas as a time for children.  "It was the one event of the year when families could spend time together in a spirit of pure fun and merry-making.  Apart from all the excitement of decorating the Christmas tree and house, of giving and receiving presents, of attending parties, there were also the simple pleasures, such as reading a picture book together or walking in the country."

~ The Spirit of Christmas Past, Linda Clements, Todri Productions Ltd., 1996.
~ Charles Dickens (1812 - 1870) English author.  The Pickwick Papers, Serial Publication 1836.

Cottonwood Mansion in December ~

Photos by Catherine Stidsen

Alan Bishop, John Passfield, Neil Paul & John Nixon, Authors

Cottonwood Brass

(Experiencing technical difficulties w/blogspot ~ forgive incomplete captions!) 

The Santa Parade is the Effort of Many People ~ the following only a few of the 2012 entries.  Thank you to all the organizers and participants.

Toby Barrett, MPP



Mayor Hewitt & Councillor Morrison



(Note:  For a few more photos go to Facebook's "Cayuga-on-the-Grand.")

2011 Cayuga Santa Claus Parade

Cayuga Santa Parade Today 11:00  ~Don't Miss it!

www.cayugaparade.ca



Spirit of Christmas Past~

John Passfield, Lorna Walker, Neil Paul
Cottonwood Mansion Christmas Past



Christmas as we know it today would probably be a very different occasion but for the Victorians.  The Puritan rejection of the festival, although short-lived, was successful in that it changed forever the medieval idea of Christmas.  Hugely sumptuous feasts, exciting tournaments, good fellowship, playing the fool and gambling were never fully revived.  When Queen Victoria came to the throne in 1837, Christmas, at best a social event where neighbours and communities came together, had deteriorated to a little-remembered occasion. 

Yet Christmas offered everything that the socially and family-conscious Victorians could desire.  All the ingredients were there ~ strong family feeling, piety, sentimentality, alms-giving, fun and games, feasting and drinking ~ they just needed to be revived and mixed in the right way, with a few things added.  The German custom of decorating a fir tree was imported to Britain and popularized by Victoria and, especially, her husband, Prince Albert.  Father Christmas, metamorphosed from St. Nicholas, arrived, laden with gifts, and was then transformed into Santa Claus by the Americans.  The Christmas card was invented.  Singing carols regained popularity.  Turkey took over from beef and goose as the centrepiece of the Christmas feast.

~ The Spirit of Christmas Past, Linda Clements,  Todtri Productions Ltd., 1996.