Boxing Day

Boxing Day is celebrated the day after Christmas in Britain and some of the Commonwealth countries. What one does to celebrate Boxing Day is a mystery to me. It is the same day as the Feast of Stephen when King Wenceslas and his page set out, though the frost was cruel. It is cold--here at least. Windshield scraping was a chore this morning.

It gave me a good idea, though, for a theme for our header challenge this week (Thursday instead of Wednesday Christmas). BOXES.

Check out the other Headbangers who are listed in my sidebar. Mac may even include in his post what Boxing Day is about, as he is the lone Brit in our little group at this time.

I figured there would be boxes in our sights or in our files. Mine are mostly in the files, though some are from the last few days, such as thinking about the boxes the cookies would go out in. (The reindeer, gingerbread boys, and stars got their dressings completed before they made their way to friends.)

And there are the costumes to be placed back in their boxes

to store till next year's Christmas Nativity Pageant.

 

Looking back, I realized a fascination with far back methods of printing, and the need for boxes. The first picture is from when we toured Rubel's Castle in Glendora, California. The second came from a museum in Lincoln, England. (This link is to the first of several posts about Lincoln--the one where we first met Mac and his lovely wife Julie.)

Rather glad I don't have to find the right letters in that second batch. (I have a printing press picture from St. Petersburg, Russia, but the computer does not seem to want to let me turn it right side up.)

 

As a quilter, I sometimes tend to put things in boxes--both in the sewing room and in the quilt design. And this one continues with little boxes in the border fabric as well.

 

Browsing around I found that on the Washington State Ferries, we are somewhat placed in boxes. But this cyclist does not seem to want to stay in the box.

 

And viewed from the Space Needle, the city of Seattle, looks, like many cities do, like a whole lot of boxes. In fact, at one time that boxy black building just left of  center, once the Washington Mutual Building but I am not sure what it is now since the demise of Washington Mutual, was dubbed "the box the Space Needle came in". At the time, it was the tallest building in Seattle, now eclipsed by several others.

 

 

But boxes, the favored plaything of kittens and kittens at heart everywhere, gets my nod for my header.

Seattle, Woodland Park Zoo

 

Holiday Preparations

We decorated the church yesterday, and in keeping with it still being Advent, the Baby Jesus is not in the manger. He will be added on Christmas Eve at the Children's Mass.

In the meantime, preparations for our Christmas Pageant the same evening are underway. We got a late start because of other things going on, and I had to take over. We only have one king. I hope to remedy that situation at the next practice. This picture is from last year.

And as usual, the Advent Wreath is a beautiful reminder of that hope in our hearts because Christ came, and comes to us each day, and will come in the end.

 It is our Header challenge theme for this week. Check those listed in my sidebar for their interpretations of the them of Holiday Preparations.

It's cloudy

Mac gave us the theme of Cloud Formations, so what could I possibly use other than the lenticular clouds that form over Mt. Rainier.

I'm a day early again with my Headbanger post and new header as tomorrow is another doctor day for my better half.

I'm glad the clouds theme was traded to this week, as I have access to my files to retrieve some of the mountain pics. I could have made do last week with some of the clouds from our travels, but there is nothing quite like a lenticular cloud.

 The other members of our little challenge are linked in my sidebar. We'll see what they can put up.

Sparkle

Once again I was not sure I would be able to participate with the headbangers, as I needed to find something without resource of my photo files. In other words, something had to sparkle today, while we were driving nearly 500 miles from early morning till dark.

I did find a sparkle last night as we turned into the street where our hotel was, while waiting at a stoplight, I spotted this underpass lighting. I would call that sparkly. I'll use a better shot of it for the header.

We often wonder about these trucks which we pass each time we drive through Weed. California. They are also kind of sparkly. What is the deal with a fleet of bright and sparkly multi-colored tank trucks. They always look so shiny and clean.

The snow made the Grand Canyon rather sparkly last week.

I will use this version of the underpass lighting for the header. Check the links in my sidebar to see what the other header challenge participants find. Their posts and new headers will be up sometime Wednesday.

Thank you

Thank you Lord for a husband still willing for an occasional adventure.

For wonders vast.

And simple pleasures.

And thank you for my managing to force the jammed bit of the camera so I could get the memory card out as the cable connection does not work with this little laptop. Without it I would not have been able to play.

I gave out the theme of Thank You for this week's Header challenge. We are Thanksgiving-ing in Arizona with family once again. It is a tradition of at least ten or so years. The other challengees can be found linked in my sidebar, and they are always up to the challenge.

Crane

EDIT: Tom has identified this bird more accurately as a Snowy Egret.

We walked again at Veteran Oasis Park and here is the crane. Did I post a picture of him when I was here with the family on a picnic not long ago? We had a better view today.

In fact, we kind of stalked him. We watched where he went when he took off.

walked aga

 And we figured out where he and his mate keep their nest. See him there landing  in the tall tree?

There he is.

 taking off again

 Back to the pond to hide clearly.....

Purple

Purple is my favorite color, so finding something purple to post when Tom announced it as the week's theme was not difficult. Deciding what to use was the problem.

This purple hanging--fabric not stained glass--graced the chapel at our conference last spring.

Our purple picnic is a celebration of friendships present and those who have passed. We serve purple foods on purple settings. My purple batik tablecloth from India sparked the first purple picnic, when Grace and I surprised our friend Deb. Grace and Deb are both gone now, and we dedicate each purple picnic to them and to those others whose lives have inspired.

Donna Kay was busy making tuffets using rich batik fabrics this last summer. This one was mostly purple.

Purple Monkey Flower

Larkspur, I think

Penstemon
 

Lupine, and a few Mountain Daisies
 

Sunset at Liberty Lake

Other Headbanger members will be posting within the next 24 hours--I am early, not knowing what is on the schedule for tomorrow as himself has doctors I might visit with him. The others' links are in my sidebar. It will be interesting to see what they have found to head up their blogs in purple.

Panning

The headbangers are going to be panning this week.

 

This old sourdough is panning.

 

We learned to pan from him.

You can see how authentic the experience was.

Of course, that is not what Craver vii had in mind when he suggested the theme. He wanted us to follow moving targets with our cameras.

 

Alas, for me it is not to be.  I must forgo this week's competition as, travel, hospitals, doctors, and waiting for all three did not leave me time to go panning. Imac will also be out this week as his iMac is in the puter hospital. You will find the other headbangers linked in my sidebar, and I commend their efforts to you.

 

Oh, we did our gold panning in Alaska in September of 2009, and among the four of us found a total of about $30 in gold dust.



Arizona Picnic Walk

Memories

I'm in Arizona Hanging out with grandkids--especially doing some stuff with Aiden.

I have figured out how to get a picture I took into the blog from the camera using my new Chromebook. I had my daughter download it on her computer and e-mail it to me. So I can participate in this week's "Memories" theme with my fellow headbangers.

There may be a more direct method to get the pictures on this tiny computer, but I haven't found it yet.

I had figured I would not be participating this week, but in the conversations by text that led me to a quick trip with minimum luggage to help out in a family emergency, there was one that could not help but be shared.

I went to bed Thursday night undecided, and woke up Friday morning and texted Karen that I was coming. Karen texted Mary and she responded that when Aiden heard I was coming, he asked if I could bring some of my oatmeal cookies.

Aiden is one of the quiet ones, and since we often only see him once a year, you can't be sure what he remembers. Apparently he remembers the oatmeal cookies that I brought last fall.

We made them Saturday afternoon. Now we have the memory not only of the cookies, but of baking them together.  

The other Headbangers--who are linked in my sidebar--will also share their memories in their headers this week. Not sure they can match this one.

Here is the recipe for Grandma's Special Oatmeal Cookies

3/4 cup butter, margarine, or shortening
3/4 cup white sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/4 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
2 3/4 cups oatmeal
1 cup raisins
GRANDMA'S  SECRET INGREDIENT

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease or spray cookie sheets.

Cream together shortening and sugars till smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla.

Stir together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt and gradually beat into the batter. Stir in Oats and raisins.

Finally add Grandma's secret ingredient--a bag of butterscotch chips.

Drop by teaspoonfuls onto cookie sheets and bake about ten minutes or until golden brown. Cool on a wire rack.

Serve to hungry grandchildren---or hungry grandpas.