Virginia Crow's Blog: Crowvus Book Blog, page 14

22nd December: the holidays begin!

 

Picture 1: Driving home for Christmas!

Picture 2: and then getting stuck just past the bridge into Stempster...

Picture 3: ... because a wire had come down across the road. It's a dead end road so there was nothing to do but wait and have a cuppa in the car.

Picture 4: but I saw a cormorant gliding down onto the river...

Picture 5: ...and bobbing along the meandering river.

Picture 6: but eventually I managed to get up the hill and home!

Picture 7: home for the holidays!!

Picture 8: "can you keep an eye on Orlando so he doesn't eat the presents?"
Picture 9: which wasn't really very taxing as the Christmassy feeling was almost delicious!
Picture 10: Clemency's feet were so wet after walking her children down to the retail park that we had to get her some new shoes! 
Picture 11: We were top to toe in tailbacks trying to get through Thurso this afternoon!
Picture 12: I'm sure that slate shouldn't be there! So far the only damage we've had in this weather.
Picture 13: Ginny with the table football. The first match hasn't taken place yet though! 
Picture 14: Our attempt at an outdoor tree hasn't been a great success so far!
Picture 15: Last day before the Christmas holidays calls for some fish and chips!
Picture 16: Which means that the dogs sit by the gate and wait to have some bits of fish.
Picture 17: Now they're happy!
Picture 18: Washing up is thirsty work!
Picture 19: It's a Wonderful Life - it wouldn't be Christmas until we've watched this one!
Picture 20: Who knows what Orlando is doing here?!
Picture 21: The piggy is looking particularly chilled today!
Picture 22: We weren't the only ones looking for bird food in the shop today!I love that B&M allow these little fellows in!

#HistFicThursdays - Christmas Snippets

Christmas is coming, it's only four days away! For someone who loves Christmas so much, the festival and celebration of Christmas does not feature in as many of my books as I would have expected. All the same, I've drawn together a couple of snippets concerning Christmas from various stories I've written, and I present them to you now as my #HistFicThursdays offering (you can also find a couple from Beneath Black Clouds and White here, as well as last year's offerings here).

Philip was almost grateful of the laborious journey, as it numbed his body to the pains which lay ahead. Instead, he concentrated all his thoughts on the imminent arrival of Advent. It had always been his favourite season of the church’s year. The coming of peace. And he was ready for peace.

~ from The Year We Lived

The presents were distributed by Hamish and Roger and all those present had a gift matched perfectly to their recipient. The day continued with games and carols, for which Catherine accompanied them on the piano, drawing smiles from Hamish and Imogen who shared a joke with her husband. Henry stood in the doorway at the back and smiled across at the gathered family who sang with great enthusiasm if not always great pitch. Toby walked over to him and his father smiled down.

“I have tried, with all my new family,” Toby began,“to find anyone who has a bad word to say about you. But no one has anything but the greatest respect for you. Do you know how hard it is to be the son of such a man?”

“If they have no bad word to say, Toby, it is only that they do not know me.”

“Do not say that, Father. I realised today, you see, that I should stop being so selfish. I was thinking only of you in relation to me. I am so proud of you, Father, and if I can do even half of what you have done for other people I shall be amongst the best of men.” 

~ from To Reason Why

Merry Christmas, Readers!

21st December: One Very Windy Day!

Picture 1: The sky this morning was incredible! Very threatening but beautiful! 
Picture 2: In the opposite direction, the sun was rising...
Picture 3: ...Covering the house in a pink light.
Picture 4: Look at that diagonal tree! We've had some pretty windy weather!
Picture 5: The pond actually had current on it!
Picture 6: The Flapometer is going a bit wild here!
Picture 7: The wind genuinely blew this plant out of its plantpot. I don't actually know what happened to the pot! 
Picture 8: The Forss was very fast and swollen today.
Picture 9: And I'm not sure that the Christmas tree in Thurso is supposed to be at that angle!
Picture 10: Peeping out from behind the Lincoln Imp is... Piggy! I hid him again after this, let's see if he appears again on here!
Picture 11: The birds were unfazed by the wind, although there were one or two acrobatics as they tried to steady themselves!
Picture 12: Mostly they were very well-behaved and waited their turn.
Picture 13: The goldfinches had first dibs on this feeder...
Picture 14: ...But also discovered there were lots of exciting things under the toppled Christmas tree!
Picture 15: But they all cleared out pretty quickly when the hail and rain arrived!
Picture 16: Orlando was unimpressed by the deposits of hail when he had to go outside to the toilet.
Picture 17: But waiting for him inside the conservatory is rather nice at the moment!
Picture 18: I also noticed how much of the twinkle lights' shine was caught by and reflected in the ivy leaves.
Picture 19: And it's not only the Christmas lights which are illuminating things. The moon is very bright this evening!
Picture 20: Jess has taken to terrorising poor Orlando when he is trying to eat. Imagine having this looking down on you every time you tried to eat!
Picture 21: And finally, I found him again! I am now trying to come up with somewhere really cunning to hide him...

20th December: Orlando and the Many Nativity Scenes

Picture 1: what's more hopeful for the new year than seed packets? These 50 packets arrived just in time to wrap up for pupil presents!

Picture 2: one of those logos which fill me with excitement!
Picture 3: Orlando decided to try and eat a plug. Funny! I thought spaniels were supposed to be intelligent!

Picture 4: But someone with such cute paws can get away with anything!

Picture 5: And here he is in front of the tree! 

Picture 6: I found Pig In Blanket! He looks so cute that I am almost tempted not to rehid him... Almost!
Picture 7: This year I set a decorating challenge of putting a Nativity scene in each room in the house... Here's my room's one...
Picture 8: ...The Bathroom...
Picture 9: ...The Railway Room...
Picture 10: ...The actual crib goes in the hallway, right at the heart of the house!
Picture 11: I like to have this one in the Drawing Room so that it's accessible for my pupils.
Picture 12: ...The Conservatory...
Picture 13: ...The Living Room. This room also has the Vienna snow globe, perfect for calming Orlando down!
Picture 14: The Shower Room...
Picture 15: ...The Kitchen...
Picture 16: ...Judith's Room...
Picture 17: ...Mum's and Dad's Room...
Picture 18: ...Clemency's Room...
Picture 19: ...The Landing. This Fimo Crib is a work of wonky art!
Picture 20: The first homemade Mince Pie of the season!

19th December: The first last day of term!

Picture 1: After a little heatwave this weekend, the temperatures are dropping again so the gritter is back!
Picture 2: Driving Home for Christmas!
Picture 3: The conservatory looking festive this morning, with hanging greenery and twinkle lights.
Picture 4: The kissing bough - absolutely majestic!
Picture 5: This rag wreath is one I made a few years ago. I'm actually quite pleased with it!
Picture 6: Another indoor wreath. This one used to be a garland but a couple of years ago I found a wreath base and attached the two... I think it looks rather lovely!
Picture 7: A third indoor wreath. I'm not sure where this one came from but it's been around for a while. It has gaps so I pepped it up with a single sprig of greenery.
Picture 8: It is impossible to get bored of gazing at our trees!
Picture 9: And here's the other!
Picture 10: The Christmas Cactus is now in full bloom. We have swapped it to the window now, though, as the pollen was falling.
Picture 11: Orlando being a cliche dog!
Picture 12: Mummy admiring her clock, which is now ticking away merrily. It's been in for tuning up for a few months, but has made its way home in time for Christmas.
Picture 13: The effect of our thunderstorm - it's part hail and part frozen snow.
Picture 14: Light begets light! I love that all of these lights are reflections.
Picture 15: Wow - it took me a long time to find the pig today! I was looking everywhere and then eventually found him on the mantelpiece...
Picture 16: A present for Mummy and Daddy which I made at school! The great thing with being a primary school teacher is that you never have to grow up!
Picture 17: There is a line in The Children of Green Knowe which refers to the house as "an ancient castle prepared for an ancient feast". Stempster may not be as old a building, but it has been celebrating this feast in one form or another for more than a millennium.
Picture 18: My first Christmas Card from a pupil arrived today!
Picture 19: And here it is in situ at the piano, along with some of the songbooks.

18th December: A Busy Day All Around!

 

Picture 1: the bunch I'm most pleased with and the most challenging to make!
Picture 2: so many scratches from the holly and spruce!
Picture 3: our cute little tree from the edge of the orchard!
Picture 4: The Christmas pudding is made! There's something wonderful about the smell which it creates as it's steaming!

Picture 5: A neat and tidy Drawing Room, ready for the final week of teaching in 2023!
Picture 6: Including a cleared and bedecked piano!
Picture 7: A growing present pile!
Picture 8: The little lambs are shining brightly for Christmas!
Picture 9: Presents from Miss Crow, ready for handing out tomorrow!
Picture 10: Someone has been looking through the Radio Times! Not that we really watch any tv at Christmas!
Picture 11: I found a nose!
Picture 12: This is what we actually get the Radio Times for - the cryptic crossword!
Picture 13: The wreath is up! I may be biased, but I think it looks rather fabulous!
Picture 14: That's not a wind turbine!!! Exciting things happening at T12!
Picture 15: I felt like this bird was judging me. It looks judgey, don't you think?
Picture 16: Pig In Blanket might be cunning, but he can't pass as a sheep! He has now been hidden elsewhere!
Picture 17: Jess is still waiting for the penguin to move!
Picture 18: Daddy's turn to open the Advent Calendar. Tonight it was Herod (Boo! Hiss!) who - despite rumours to the contrary - is not the patron saint of teachers [although Holly believed the vicar when he told her that he was]!

17th December: Decorating Day #2

Picture 1: Orlando's found a new friend, who doesn't growl at him.
Picture 2: Don't mind us. We're just waiting for any crumbs to roll.
Picture 3: Dates cooked in orange juice. Yum!
Picture 4: The rainbow over Stempster as we ventured out to collect greenery
Picture 5: A very tenacious 'Harlow Carr' rose by David Austin!
Picture 6: We found the perfect Christmas tree, but thought 3 might be a limit for the house. Here's our new outdoor Christmas tree!
Picture 7: Gathering the ivy...
Picture 8: ... and the holly
Picture 9: If you look closely, you might see the buckets of greenery by the conservatory!
Picture 10: Christmas Stempster selfie!
Picture 11: We found part of the wall of the broch! Unfortunately, it was sticking up out the ground so our feet weren't impressed!
Picture 12: Our little Stempster tree, cut off the top of one of the sitkas.
Picture 13: Judith found the pig! Now she's hidden it again, but I'm not sure where!
Picture 14: Hanging some Christmas greenery.
Picture 15: Orlando loves Christmas! Jess... not so much.
Picture 16: Judith has a Christmas tree on a plate, on her head.
Picture 17: The halls are decked!

16th December: Decorating Day #1

Picture 1: A beautiful sunrise to start the day!
Picture 2: Mum is decorating a tree this year. Her initial decoration isn't quite what I was expecting...
Picture 3: The Snowman has arrived, filled with Quality Streets, Roses and Heroes!

Picture 4: Decanting the Christmas tipples!
Picture 5: Dad making a wish, stirring the Christmas pud from east to west.

Picture 6: Jess loves her tummy rubs and fell asleep like this!

Picture 7: Mum's stunning little tree, filled with white lights and silver and gold decorations.

Picture 8: Our contribution to the decorating: a rather more colourful, taller tree with heaps of baubles, all connected to lovely memories!
Picture 9: Charles Edward Panda got hold of Judith's phone and took a selfie while she was out of the room. Vanity!
Picture 10: Back to Mum's tree, but we do love to get them from different angles!
Picture 11: And the lights of the tree reflected in the conservatory door.
Picture 12: The star on the big tree leaving interesting shadows on the ceiling.
Picture 13: And disco coloured lights on the carpet!
Picture 14: A tiny sliver of sunrise this morning, from the bathroom window.

Photo 15: "I don't know wuff-ing," says Orlando. Don't worry - this was actually taken before the tree was in situ.
Picture 16: And decorated... but without the lights switched on.

15th December: Pre-Decorating Day

Picture 1: Posting all the Christmas cards in Thurso. Lovely to think of everyone receiving them!
Picture 2: Attempting to carry the massive tree from the conservatory to the drawing room!
Picture 3: The massive tree has the thickest trunk I've ever seen on a bought Christmas tree, which meant we needed to saw quite a lot off!
Picture 4: More poo! This time because Jess decided it was too cold to poo outside... I'll let you fill in the rest!
Picture 5: Beautiful reflections in a very full River Thurso today.
Picture 6: Shopping is always ten times as exciting at Christmas! 
Picture 7: You can't have Christmas without the Radio Times.
Picture 8: Mum's lovely little tree in situ. It was alarmingly easy to get it right where we wanted it!
Picture 9: Before we attempted to put up the massive tree, it was trussed up in the conservatory. 
Picture 10: We bought a couple of extra strings of tinsel at Tesco today.
Picture 11: The SSE people cut back a couple of our trees this week (they made a great job of it) and this one was perfect for a mini-tree on the landing.
Picture 12: Is a very shallow bath better than no bath at all?
Picture 13: Opening Christmas cards from family and friends.
Picture 14: I FOUND THE PIG!

Picture 15: Another delicious Irish Coffee!

14th December: Advent for Preparation - Preparation for Christmas

Picture One: The less glamourous part of being a dog-owner. Thanks(!) for this picture, Judith.
Picture Two: The sun finally making an appearance...
Picture Three: ...And really struggling to stay up!
Picture Four: Yes, Orlando, we know that's your Advent Calendar.
Picture Five: A Bonfire Apple! This survived our bonfire night and has been sitting in the conservatory every day since. It had to go today, though, as we're readying for Christmas decorations.
Picture Six: Dusting in the gallery - soon there will be little holly sprigs behind these. But that means hard work beforehand to get everything clean and tidy.
Picture Seven: Jess waiting for the penguin to move... She's going to have a long wait!
Picture Eight: The Christmas cactus is so... nearly... out...
Picture Nine: Jess still waiting for the penguin to move!
Picture Ten: There is a real art to delivering parcels, and our postie is fabulous at it!
Picture Eleven: The moment Orlando and Jess realised they were getting a second walk.
Picture Twelve: An Irish Coffee - a Clemency-special and very much appreciated by Mum and Judith!
Picture Thirteen: Pig In Blanket was found, so he has gone on the move again. Keep your eyes peeled to see where he is hiding now!
Picture Fourteen: And finally, rare footage of The Spirit of Christmas Yet to Come getting ready to head out to all the miserly souls who need a wake-up call this Christmas. Here he can be seen admiring our gallery, for he is a real connoisseur of art.