Wednesday, November 24, 2010

We Gather Together

"Hem your blessings with thankfulness so they don't unravel." ~~Author Unknown

THANKSGIVING DAY
by Kathryn S. Gibson

COME GATHER round the table
To say a happy grace
For family and food and friends
And a smile on every face.

The harvest now is over,
The fields are clean and bare,
For all the fruits are gathered in
And stored away with care.

The open fire burns cheerfully,
The dancing flames leap high,
And apples roasting in the ash
Pop with a happy sigh.

Be thankful for the harvest,
For Friends so good and gay,
For happiness and loving care
On this Thanksgiving Day.


To My Dear Friends
Both Old and New:
That your Thanksgiving
Last the whole year through,
Is my loving wish for you!
Good Thanksgiving be yours!
Most sincerely,
Cellar Door

Friday, November 19, 2010

Some Enchanted Evening!

Harry and I met up again last night
and it was good
! (<~~ A midnight rendezvous!)

If you haven’t already attended a showing, you simply must put Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 on your list of priorities! (Hot, buttered popcorn, too! And Raisinets, don't forget the Raisinets!)

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Come in from the Cold, Josiette, Josiette!

Today and quite suddenly, our wee early morning, earmarked as a the start of a Satchel Packing Day, took a turn! Presently, Josiette and I would be at the close of her and her shiny new, black kitty Clarinet’s makereadies for

(A "something" about Josiette that you might otherwise would not have known, unless this little birdie told you: Upon her return to her charges, she will be celebrating her happiest year yet (number six) as their loving nanny! A well-deserved congratulations be yours, dear “Miss Poppins”!)
their road trip home,

as they shall point themselves in that direction, come bright and dawny Friday. (O the funs and frolics we have pulled from each others pockets during her memory~album~pages~filling, several~weeks stay with me, here, while I am caretaking at Gemmama’s!) Instead, and as if mysteriously triggered by the unlatch of the first suitcase we intended to make thick with freshly foldeds, Josiette did ACHOO! And, then, again...and again...and AGAIN! “Oh, no!to the very thought of such an untimely, respiratory echo!

All matters regarding the making fluffy of


Josiette’s luggage

were put on ice, as I chop~chop gave answer to herWhat ever shall I do?!”The Brick,” I assured her,The Brick!” And with scurry in both feet I did trot off to my grandmother's kitchen.

After red~hotting by oven Gemmama’s medicinal ashlar, I placed the block in a pan beneath Josiette’s chair with a flannel covering the seat. Whilst a back~into~her~pajamas sneezer claimed sips from a large cup of ginger and yarrow tea, the minder nurse (<~~~ That would be me!) poured hard humming water over the brick, until the tin it be in was full to the half~way. Swaddle~wrapped in a blanket fat and heavy was my dear Josiette, who I had sit down upon this healing throne.

Spoons of orange Royal
I did nourish her with
,
until dew of her own body’s making
began on her face
.

Afterwhichbe, a hasty but careful ---so as not to egg on chills, not even those of the slightest rank-–- cleansing rinse of warmed vinegar and water was next called for, followed by a blot~off completely. Then, straight to bed Josiette did go.

At her side and on Gemmama’s famous hilled~ottoman puffy~fabricated from a rich red upholstery with dotting white velveteen tuffs <~~all to mirror a toadstool’s look, ~~~> I perched. As my grandmother’s


phonograph played,

I listened with Josiette to special spots of Truman’s The Thanksgiving Visitor, till Dreamland kindly took her over. Despite delay, her sniffles~in~sleep became purrs of a kitten, and


the hovering Florence Nightingale
that I be
at last breathed a sigh of sweet relief!

In minutes short I will return to Josiette in the cozy Pink Room where she rests, to re~tuck and make coverlets to her chin. As her Nose Nasties continue to shift and lift, at her bedside I shall attentively sit. There and by then, since the knowings can now be counted on as All Is Wells, I will


cast on thirty stitches,

those of which I next shall knit one, purl one, knit six, purl two, (purl one, knit one) five times to make a first row. Row two will behave likewise, only a tadly reversed. So forth and so on but only a little bittle more my needles shall play clicky. Then begin again and finish again two times mair this mesh I’ll make from toty amounts of worsted~weight wool gray.

Once


catnip~stuffed and sewn into closed, I’ll have Mousies enough to treat Gemmama’s Spot, Josiette’s Clarinette, and my very own pointy-eared, fur bundle Puddle! I love when meowing faces smile! And I love happily ever afters, don't you?

Dearest Josiette:

Be well soon.
Love, E.

Postscript: Meant not only as remedy for that which calls for many consecutive geshudteits, vapor baths work their wonder on days when you think the water’s going to carry you away, as well!

Picture Book Illustrations: Mary Poppins by Mary Shepard for P.L. Travers' classic series, Harry Whittier Frees/Kitties!

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas!

Cup your ear and give a listen.
Do you hear what I hear?
A Christmas Belle is ringing!
That would be my dear pal,

Lolly,
a self~described Cow Belle

ever since moving to America’s Dairyland a few winters gone by. Year 'round is how often Yuletide songs are playing at her house and an O Tannebaum, wealthy with trims, is a perpetual in her parlor! I know no one who loves Christmas as plentiful much as Lolly! And the day after Halloween is when I can without exception see coming a pre~Holiday parcel from my forever walking in a winter wonderland friend. She calls this special delivery her Jolly Jumpstart to me, a ‘Tis~the~Season~to~be~Ho! Ho! Ho! reminder, if you will, and yet another one of Lolly's ratherish ways to say words about it.

Penned in white~as~the~"driven," rolling script that had looks like the “Over the River and Through the Woods” song sounds, Lolly had written this “Open Me! Open Me! lure:

“I’m Dreaming of a....”

Depluming fingers of mine went fast to pluck free the small box from brown postal paper wrap, and then layers of illustrated candy cane tissue that amounted to oodles! Afterwhich, my eyes joyfully met up with a cartonned, “Lolly” two~word finish that would complete the package’s front side inscription, and begin a delicious Christmas story from her house to mine (whose “sips of” I take, amazingly taste like the North Pole itself!):

Noël sous la neige the blanc!
(Christmas in the snow white tea!)
What a lovely song
my unpolished French does make sings of!

Miss Lolly? Cup your ear and give a listen. Do you hear? Another Christmas chime resounds, this time, belling a plethora of Thank
~yous in a direction that leads to you!


Have yourself a
Merry
, Little Christmas!