Christmas Greetings

 Just stopping by my blog this afternoon to tell you, we are busy getting ready for Christmas. A weather surprise has turned everything decidedly wintery just in time. Tonight’s prediction of 15 degrees F is a bit concerning as our homes in the South are not built for that kind of weather. Hope we don’t wake up to frozen water pipes! 

  As you know we have a new addition to our family — Frank, a young cat. Everything dangly and new is a toy to him, to be stalked, pounced on, and dispatched if at all possible. As a result, our usual decorations have had to be … shall we say, modified … out of concern for their preservation! 

  So far he has broken nothing and only gazed longingly in deep contemplation at the fireplace mantle above. 

    No big Christmas tree with all the glass balls and family mementos for us this year. Instead we cut this small yellow pine from the National Forest and added some trimmings from nature. It smells heavenly!
  

 

  We also cut a very prickly red cedar. It has a few unbreakable ornaments and since Frank doesn’t like the prickles, he has left the tree and baubles completely alone. Instead, he has been content to climb the window behind it. 

  

 I made Nisse Guda gift tags for family gifts. Some are paper, some made of felt and embroidered.  

 . .  and I painted our Christmas cards. 

    Christmas bread is being baked this afternoon and we have a few more gifts to wrap and then we are ready!

Bob and Frank, The Writer and I,

would like to wish you and yours 

Peace

Hope 

Health

and 

Love 

today and always!

and 

A Very Merry Christmas! 🎄 

Is It a Signal Tree?

 

 Is this old water oak tree on a trail we frequent a signal or marker tree, made by  Native Americans and used as a navigational aid in the forests?  By bending a young sapling at a right angle to the ground, they altered a tree to serve as a signpost to others, indicating a trail direction or marking a point of interest, such as a natural spring or a safe river crossing.

 

 As the tree  matured, it grew back upward toward the light, pointing the way to the desired direction to whomever passed.   

  We aren’t sure if this tree is a signal tree or not. There are only a few hundred documented examples in the United States and no studies done in our state.

  A survivor of hurricanes and loggers, fires and diseases, it is several hundred years old, plenty old enough to have done the job.

  I call it the Elephant Tree because of its bark.  What do you think? Do you see the elephant leg there? 

 

 

  It’s one of those trees I can’t resist. Don’t tell anyone, but when we pass by, I always stop and give it a hug! 

The waxing moon