The warmth of the fireside....

Saturday evening and it is cold outside ... finally. It has been far too warm in Holland but our temperatures are now dropping. I hope it continues to become winter. It was wonderful to go out today to get our groceries in a very thick wool sweater. The sun was shining so we did not need coats as we were kept warm by our natural wool. Now if we would only get some snow...


We sit inside with our Christmas tree lights burning gaily, our first two advent candles burning and a warm fire in the woodstove. I have been quilting and sipping a cup of hot cocoa. Bliss!

It needed to be a relaxing weekend after my mishap yesterday. We decided to go up to Cranberry Cottage after originally not planning to. We were about half an hour on our way when I realized I forgot to bring my most important medicine with me. So we had to turn around at the next exit and drive home. Needless to say, we no longer felt like going and went out to eat instead.

So I leave you on this lazy Saturday evening to contemplate the words of America's famous fireside poets, James Greenleaf Whittier...

"We watched the first red blaze appear,
Heard the sharp crackle, caught the gleam
On whitewashed wall and sagging beam,
Until the old, rude-furnished room
Burst, flower-like, into rosy bloom;
While radiant with a mimic flame
Outside the sparkling drift became,
And through the bare-boughed lilac-tree
Our own warm hearth seemed blazing free."

~ from Snow-bound by James Greenleaf Whittier