A Blessed Turning of the Wheel

The Wheel turns today, Solstice comes at 11:11 am Central Standard Time (US) and we then are climbing back up to more sunshine, heat, and humidity. I'm doing one more photo blog today to celebrate the joy and beauty of the season.

This lovely wooden rendition of the turning of the wheel starts us off. 

This hay bale with a sunrise is a natural reminder of the wheel in our daily life.

I really like this version of the Wheel of the Year. The plants in each
section are beautifully done and the signposts are clear and readable. I may
have to think about this as one of my avatars. 

This is another lovely version of the Wheel of the Year. 

Welcome to Solstice, welcome to a new year of possibility. 

Light your Yule log, sing carols, gather with friends and family. Cook wondrous food, drink marvelous drink and celebrate. Solstice is here, Christmas is coming, and there is still love in the world. Do something kind for someone today - spread the love.

Good Holidays to All

Solstice arrived and the sun will probably rise again in an hour or so, starting another revolution of the wheel of time and life. For those of you in the Southern Hemisphere - welcome toward your decline to the snows of winter, and for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, we're on our climb back up to High Summer.

I thought sunrise pictures might be appropriate on this first day of the New Year....

This photo is from Newgrange, Ireland

This sunrise is from South Curl - so beautiful!

This is from 2012's Druidic Solstice ceremony at Stonehenge. 

This lovely sunrise is a Winter Solstice picture taken in Cusco, Peru. We can look
forward to this in six months, but today we celebrate. 

Celebrate with friends and others as we commemorate another turn of the Wheel. 

Have a wonderful Friday!

A Feeling of Accomplishment

Yesterday was crazy, busy, and very successful. I actually got some holiday shopping done, picking up a few things for DH. It's not a lot, but at least I will have some things to present to him for Christmas as well as his birthday that follows the holiday quite quickly. I also arranged for my pies and checked the hours for picking up my Honey Baked Ham on Sunday. When I arrived back home, I started cleaning.

I washed the floor, then washed it again, and one more time. I washed each wall, and the fixtures and cabinets in the room. I pulled the shade from the light fixture and washed that. I even washed the ceiling and pulled and laundered the draperies. At this point I feel quite confident in saying that we could eat off the floor in this bathroom and that it's the cleanest room in my house.

I admit that I used a mop for the floor, but I handwashed
the walls. Thank goodness for gloves!

Today my DH will work on the covering for my closet wall holes. Once it is stained and mounted, I can return my bins and clothing to my closet and I can't wait! I hate finding/choosing my clothing from the variety of piles in my den. I want my clothes hanging back in my closet and things organized once again.

A snow-filled winter when mixed with holiday lighting and nature's wondrous
paintbrush in the sky always brightens my heart. 

Yesterday was also our one warm day of the week. Today we're back into the deep freeze and expecting more snow tonight. But it's just going to be one of those winters *sigh*. Here's hoping you're warm and cozy on this Thursday.

Time Crunch

It's December 18th and Christmas, for those of you who celebrate this holiday, is NEXT WEDNESDAY! We're all running out of time.

Tick tock...tempus fugit!

I have a bathroom which has a surface of fine plaster dust all over it. It has to be scrubbed today, so that's on my agenda.

I have a washing machine with a tile schematic for re-tiling the ripped-up wall. This needs to be photographed, drawn out, and then can be moved so that I can do laundry.

I have a closet with holes in the wall. The new moulding was cut and glued yesterday and DH will install it on Thursday.

I have pies to order, chicken to make, and food lists to prepare. I have orders to fill and stories to write. I'm frackin' BUSY...and so are all of you, my friends.

One of my favorite holiday treats is Baker's Square Candy Cane Pie.
I ordered one this morning and will be picking it up on Sunday. 

So as I ready myself to join the teeming hoardes of people today in a variety of stores, to wash walls and flooring, and to do laundry - multiple loads - in a washer that still hasn't been replaced, I'll think of next Wednesday because I can sleep in on Christmas Day. Yippee!

One Small Little Thing...

Isn't there a song or a children's story about how one small thing can escalate into something large? Something on the order of "For the lack of a nail", although I've heard many other varieties. Well, in essence, that's what happened in my bathroom with the mysterious leak.

FOR WANT OF A NAIL

For want of a nail the shoe was lost.

For want of a shoe the horse was lost.

For want of a horse the rider was lost.

For want of a rider the message was lost.

For want of a message the battle was lost.

For want of a battle the kingdom was lost.

And all for the want of a horseshoe nail.

I called Jack at 7:00 am yesterday, and Chickie worked, and a wall was opened. See that blue pipe above? That's the section of pipe that was leaking. It was a pinhole leak, too small to see unless water was being pushed through it. The discolored concrete below the new section on the back wall is the moisture that this little sucker had put onto the wall. Things are now finally starting to dry out, although we won't be able to really replace this part of the wall until the interior has had a chance to dry too.

It was such a little thing, but the damage it caused was extensive!

So...one crisis solved, others still to be handled. Such as my closet, which currently has two lovely holes in the wall.

Today DH gets to work on making a new covering for these holes. You can
see the framing on the last time we needed a hole in my closet wall to the left
of the current holes. He'll take molding and luan, stain things appropriately, and
mount the new panel. Then I can have my closet back - hopefully by Wednesday.

My holiday cards are almost ready for mailing, though. All of my LJ and overseas friends cards are being sent this morning, my other batch will go out on Wednesday morning. Then I can get back to writing again! I've missed it for the past few days and that's not allowed - LOL. Have a wonderful Tuesday, and sorry for the short post, I'm still trying to get caught up on Emails and posts and am running late.

Argh!

The minor leak has gotten worse and worse and worse. The shower floor is now regrouted and that didn't solve anything (although it looks really nice). We've got a leaking pipe somewhere. I'll be calling the plumber first thing this morning. If he can come out today, Chickie said she could work today so we could be with the plumber as he tears walls apart *sigh*.

So I'm looking for pictures of water today. Photos of gushing water to remind me of how much worse my plumbing issue can get, but hopefully won't.

This pic is from a Chinese reservoir.

This water is gushing from the Ord  River Dam.

This shot is from the Three Gorges Dam in China. It's rather surreal, isn't it? 

One more pic from China, this one is the Xiaolangdi Reservoir on the Yellow River. 

A small crack can lead to major problems. I hope my plumber can get this
resolved quickly.

Have a good Monday. My cards are almost ready to mail. I'll let you know when they actually are in the postal system.