The Sixth Day of Christmas

The last time I posted here on Blogger was 12-5-13, twenty days before Christmas, and, now it is already the sixth day of Christmas, a day when someone's true love gave to them among other things) six geese a laying . . ."

While I do have a true love, he did not give me six geese a laying, but my visiting crocodile (pictured above with six Christmas trees atop his back) reminded me that on this sixth day of Christmas, I do not need six geese a laying because in the main room of my studio apartment, I have six Christmas trees a standing . . .  

My crocodile is correct, for in the main room of my apartment, I do have six trees a standing. Three of them are in my armoire as seen in the image below.

And you may recall, dear reader, (from previous posts here on Blogger), members of casts of characters "hung" out for the Halloween and Thanksgiving seasons in my armoire for it has become a place where whimsical characters have designated as a place to meet 'n greet, to network with one another, and to save me from taking myself too seriously.

"Time is fun when you are having flies."

Happy First Saturday of November, dear reader, from the Upper West Side of Manhattan, where I live, and where extra preparations are still under way for the New York City Marathon, an annual world-famous event which takes place the first Sunday of November. It is an exciting time for many; however, it is a bittersweet time for Lucifer, my rhinestone frog, who is the little creature featured in the image posted above todays blog entry.

Tuesday's Truths WK 20: Honoring Saint Nicholas

Welcome to the twentieth week of my Tuesday's Truths series where I am paying homage to the beloved Saint Nicholas, as today, December the sixth, is his feast day. The image atop this entry is a depiction Saint Nicholas, and it comes from catholicompany.com  In any event, according to Holiday Insights, "Saint Nicholas lived in the country of Greece, just a couple hundred years after the birth of Christ. (And) This day is in honor of Saint Nicholas and his life."

The Fifth Day of Christmas

Today's the fifth day of the 2016-2017 Christmas season. It is a day when according to a song (The Twelve Days of Christmas), that someone's true love gave to them five golden rings, four calling birds, as well as three french hens, and a partridge in a pear tree. The Christmas ornament seen in the photograph atop this entry is representative of today's gift that a true love gave to someone near and dear to him/her. And it's the gift I plan to bring it to a married couple that live not too far from me at some time today. I hope they will enjoy this bird-themed ornament as much as I do, but then, I'm someone who deeply appreciates birds, as evidenced by my posts here on Blogger, as well as by my entries on tumblr, Facebook, hometalk and Pinterest.

As I mentioned in yesterday's Blogger posting, John R. Henderson, has studied the meaning behind the lyrics to the twelve days song, and has posted his findings on a web-page which he has titled the 12 Birds of Christmas. Here's what Henderson, who associates pheasants with the fifth day of Christmas points out re this bird type and the giving of five golden rings on this fifth day of Christmas:

"They may not sound bird-like to you, but these are ring-necked pheasants. Not native to Europe, pheasants had been introduced there during Roman times and were quite common throughout Europe before the rise of Christianity. Pheasants were symbols of the element of Fire and sensuous sexuality. The number Five also represents sensuality and magic. Ever wonder why there is so much emphasis, rhythmically, to this verse?"

Mr. Henderson's theory has certainly given me something to keep in mind the next time I happen to see a pheasant. My encounters with this bird type have been minimal, the last time I saw a pheasant was this past spring.

Humpty Dumpty Honors Penguin Awareness Day

With all the "year-end review talk" going on in my urban (NYC) terrace garden, the Humpty Dumpty figurine in my indoor succulent garden (pictured above, and you might recognize his face from other entries here on TLLG) is now feeling nostalgic.

Tuesday's Truths WK 47-B: It's Independence Day (And Many Figurines Are Celebrating!)

Welcome to the forty-seventh week of my Tuesday's Truths. This day happens to be Independence Day and a number of my figurines are celebrating!

In the photograph atop this entry, all of my firework-themed figurines (dressed in red and white) can be seen rehearsing with two directors. One of them will be the mistress of ceremonies. She is wearing a red skirt and a blue top with white stripes. Her hand is clasping a baton that's been decorated to resemble a firework, and she is standing towards the left/center of the first row.

Her partner, the master of ceremonies is wearing a red jacket and white pants with blue stripes. He is also holding a baton that's been decorated to resemble a firework, and he is standing towards the right/center of the first row.

Their intention is to have the fire-work-themed figurines perform immediately after the completion of a vow renewal ceremony, where all the guests in attendance are wearing patriotic outfits. They can be seen in the bottom half of the aforementioned image, and many of them are ones you might recognize from prior posts here on Blogger.

Another figurine (pictured below) dressed as Lady Liberty,

is doing her own thing, by carrying an apple to honor NYC, which as you probably know is often called The Big Apple. She has also appeared in prior entries on Blogger (without her apple)  including ones that you may reference by clicking here as well as here.

And this year, I have two newcomers! They can be seen in the next image.

Each figurine has his/her own agenda, however, they all share one thing in common: Every one of them joins me in wishing you and yours a safe as well as celebratory Independence Day!

My "Six Degrees of Separation" led to sad news...

Once upon a time, I wrote little stories (unpaid) for hometalk (and also for this blog) about whimsical holiday-themed figurines. These were designed by an array of artisans including Patience Brewster, Lori Mitchell, Bethany Lowe and Byer's Choice. Although I no longer do this (except on rare occasion) I still get emails about new and old figurines as well as information re those who create them.

The other day I received a notification that the MacKenzie-Childs company is now producing Halloween themed figurines and home decor. Pictures of their works can be seen in the photo-ops atop this entry. I don't (nor can I afford) anything created by MacKenzie-Childs but their name is familiar with me for other reasons.

Friday Follow-Up: HERE'S THE BUZZ

As you may have noticed, dear reader, this past week, I have included two "extra" postings (Monday Musings on the 17th and Wednesday's Wisdom on the 19th), today (Follow Up Friday) will make it three extra postings outside of my Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday (an occasional special event posting) schedule — a "plan" which I laid out in a blog entry that I made this past January that you may refer to by clicking here.

Because the next several weeks will involve an array of Holidays and special events, and because gardening takes interesting turns at this time of year, and because these topics are often what I discuss in blog entries, I've been asked to include more postings at least until the end of the calendar year.

It's #NATIONALBLACKCATDAY!

I would be remiss to not mention that October the 27th (today) is known as National Black Cat Day, a "holiday" (according to a web-page) that "is all about celebrating the beauty of these sleek creatures... these felines deserve the love and attention just as much as their tabby counterparts.  Old notions have given these furry critters a bad reputation.  National Black Cat Day is about turning that reputation around..."

One of my figurines who is visiting my place to attended a vow renewal ceremony came dressed as a black cat as his way of paying homage to these creatures, he can be seen in the picture atop this entry, bearing candy corn. 

National House Plant Appreciation Day (Tuesday's Truths WK 161)

The official observance for  National Houseplant Appreciation Day has come and gone, but in my mind, house plants and indoor succulents can be celebrated at any time!

A reason the official holiday which is my (Tuesday's Truth for today) is celebrated annually on January tenth (according to National Today) is this:

"By mid-January, most of our various holiday decorations and Christmas trees have made their way out of our homes. National Houseplant Appreciation Day is on January 10 every year, and it reminds us that we don’t have to lose the freshness and vibrancy that plants bring to our homes just because the holidays have drawn to a close. If you have the post-holiday blues, this is the perfect chance for you to brighten up your house with a lovely plant that you can enjoy all year long."

My indoor garden is comprised of plants are a collection of succulents which thrive under grow lights but I have to take them outside or place them in a basin on a regular basis in order to give them water.

"The Monday After Thanksgiving" (in 2012)

Look up in the sky! It's a bird! It's a plane! No, it's a Christmas ornament — "floating" near some trees! Christmas is one month and one day from today, the Monday after Thanksgiving, and of course the stores and the media have been cashing in on this fact since Halloween. 

Moreover, a big portion of Macy's Thanksgiving Parade had (as it always does) a good number of floats and balloons "dedicated" to the Christmas holiday, including the ornaments seen here against the "back drop" of Central Park.

Tonight the neighborhood tree lighting at Lincoln Center will take place, and on Wednesday the Rockefeller Center Tree will be lit. "Normally" a tree lighting ceremony at The South Street Seaport this week, but, as per info on the web, "South Street Seaport's annual holiday traditions have been hampered due to the aftermath left behind from the enormous impact of storm flooding in our neighborhood."

New York City seems like several different cities at this time, as several areas are quite devastated by Hurricane Sandy, while others continue to go about business as usual. If one cannot donate monies or time directly to hurricane relief efforts during this holiday season, there is always something one can do locally for their friends in need, such as visiting the elderly, homebound and those that are in assisted living centers such as the one I have volunteered at for nine years.

But reaching out to others does not have to involve a lot of time or money, as every little bit helps! For example, yesterday, a man from my hood, helped me pull my Chelsea Larch (AKA Japanese Larch or Larix Kaempferi), out of a "high-end" container in which it had been planted in my urban (NYC) garden, as I wanted to donate the container to his garden at our parish, but, because the larch was root bound, I was afraid I would break the container getting the tree out, hence my need for his help.

It gets dark so early now that I was not able to get my tree into its "replacement digs," a container which has been awaiting my wonderful larch! 

Therefore I had to prop it up in the container without planting it properly and hope that it would survive the cold night in order for me to plant it today, which I plan to do (with Michael's help) later this morning or early afternoon on this Monday after Thanksgiving.

"The Monday after Thanksgiving" may be a "phrase" that will remain with me throughout my life as it was one of the last things my father said before his death in 1995. On November 22nd of that year, my father recorded a tape from his hospital bed stating, "The doctor hopes to have me out of here by the twenty-seventh . . .  that would be Monday. The Monday after Thanksgiving,"  but alas that was not meant to be, for he took a turn for the worse and ultimately died on November 30th, 1995 — three days after "the Monday after Thanksgiving." This is something I have written about in prior posts here on Blogger, including an entry which may be found by clicking here.

In any event, seventeen years later, on this Monday after Thanksgiving, among other things, I hope to be successful in giving my Chelsea Larch a comfortable new home!

As for this day also marking the count down for Christmas, I won't start writing cards or decorating my home as I do not like to rush the season — or any season for that matter — as I have indicated before when folks were rushing the onset of spring, the onset of fall and the onset of events in general! 

However, I do confess that I've put a number of "pre-Christmas" figurines (deer) in my indoor succulent garden as it is an "installation" where I frequently change decor. In this instance I wanted to remove my Thanksgiving figurines, yet not fully decorate for Christmas at such an early stage, so I "replaced" the Thanksgiving figurines with a deer family until I "officially" decorate for Christmas. Photo-ops of this lovable family enjoying my succulent garden as well as the back story on the man who created these deer will be posted some time this week, so please stay tuned! Meanwhile, a "sneak preview" (image) of one, a "member" of my deer family can be found below.

By the way if this adorable guy looks familiar to you, his "extended family" were a part of my terrace garden decor last season.

It's Veterans Day

Today, November Eleventh is Veterans Day, and over the years, I've written about this solemn holiday in a number of entries here on Blogger as well as in a couple of entries on tumblr. The image atop this entry features some of my patriotic figurines paying homage to this day with a small celebration in my succulent garden.

"Uncle Sam's a reminder of the great risks & personal sacrifices endured by generations of Americans in the quest for liberty." (Wednesday's Wisdom)

An exhibit at The New York Historical Society which paid homage to the history of iconic Uncle Sam ended ten days ago on September 3rd 2017. Banners announcing the exhibit, such as the one seen in the image atop this entry, are still flying from street lamps on NYC's Upper Westside.

A web-page for The New York Historical Society states that "since the 19th century, the familiar figure of “Uncle Sam,” with his beard and stovepipe hat, has represented the U.S. in recruitment posters, political cartoons, and advertisements. But long before he first appeared, artists drew upon a visual tradition stretching back centuries to depict America as an evocative woman."

Pinecones and Cardinals Spend Time With my Japanese Larch (Larix Kaempferi)

 I have a couple of newcomers to my garden: Pinecones!

They are on my Larix Kaempferi! 

A partial view of this evergreen tree can be seen in the image atop this entry.

Close-ups of the pinecones who have made their home in her branches can be seen in the next two images. 

I was so intrigued by the presence of these pinecones that I researched on pinecones and found lots of interesting content.

Wednesday's Wisdom Facts Re "4 calling birds"

Yesterday, was the third day of  Christmas; and here on Blogger, I weighed in with my musings re that particular holiday and included some thoughts on the second as well as the first day of Christmas.

Today is known as the fourth day of Christmas, the day when someone's true love gave to them four calling birds or four colly birds; depending on one's interpretation of the story told within the song, The Twelve Days of Christmas.

Growing up, I was always led to believe that on the fourth day of Christmas someone's true love gave to them, four calling birds, three french hens, two turtle doves and a partridge in a pear tree. Now, after all these years of singing the twelve days, I've discovered one's true love was never given calling birds; rather he/she was most likely given colly or coaly birds!

According to "research and speculative detective work" done by John R. Henderson, "the version of the Twelve Days of Christmas that we know today dates back only as far as 1909, when arranger Frederic Austin's transcription of the words and his own tune were published in London. The three earliest printed versions (with no music) date back to about 1780, and it is noteworthy that the order of the gifts was different than the Twentieth Century version. The song was old when it was first published. One scholar has found what she thinks are elements of the song in a damaged manuscript from the seventh century, the time of Beowulf, the great heroic pagan poem.

"Most of what we know about the Anglo-Celtic pagan religion comes from Christian writers condemning it. What the Anglo-Celts actually believed will never be known for sure, but there are clues. We know numbers had special signifigance to them, and we know that birds were honored as holy symbols of fertility. That in itself might actually provide even more evidence of the song's true non-Christian origins."

Henderson states that on the fourth day of Christmas, one was given four colly birds and he claims "the birds are really Colly Birds, not Calling Birds. Colly birds may be any of several coal-black birds – crows, jackdaws, rooks, or ravens. These birds of the night carry the power and mystery of the dark season of the year. The raven was the bird of battle. Four is an important number to link with the darkness, since Four is the number of the Earth, which, though now asleep and filled in darkness, remains fertile and a potent elemental source of power. "

I have no pictures of crows, jackdaws, rooks or ravens in the collection of bird images that I've taken over the years. Therefore, I'm representing these coal-colored birds by featuring images (atop this entry) of figurines based on crow varieties.

Halloween will be here in 2 weeks! Wednesday's Wisdom: Get your cards, invitations + gifts NOW!

They're baacccccck! A number of my annual Halloween "guests" (figurines)* have returned to my armoire for the upcoming 2018 holiday. You can see some them on the top shelf, where a bride and groom are in the midst of rehearsing for a vow renewal ceremony as the wedding-renewal party (surrounding them) oversees the event which is scheduled to take place on Halloween night.

The "folks" on the bottom shelf plan to attend the ceremony in their Halloween costumes and are currently comparing notes as to who is wearing the most ingenious costume.

And this is how my visitors are preparing for Halloween! What about you, dear reader? Do you have plans to send greetings to those near and dear to you or to host a soirée?

Follow-Up Friday: Using Christmas Tree Parts & Other News Re "Words In Our Beak"

The reindeer figurine (Alexie) featured in the picture atop this blog entry is sitting in my apartment, engrossed in her reading a proof to be submitted to Small Editions for the soft-cover version of Cam's book, Words In Our Beak Volume One.

"The groundhog is like most other prophets; it delivers its prediction and disappears." (REPRISED)

Today is Groundhog Day! This is a "holiday" with events whose celebrations date back to 1887 in the United States. However, traditions re this day started long before that, and the Romans looked to hedgehogs — not groundhogs — to forecast the ending of winter or the arrival of spring. However, when folks migrated to Pennsylvania, there weren't any hedgehogs to be found — so they used a groundhog instead!

One of my hedgehog figurines, who has spent time in my indoor succulent garden, has always been a bit "miffed" that the "role" of predicting the weather was delegated to a groundhog! Therefore, to appease him, I included his photograph, which is very similar to the one at the top of today's blog entry, in blog posts that I've made here on TLLG in bygone years. You may refer to those entries by clicking here as well as here.

My other hedgehog figurines seen in the pictures below,

have no aspirations to take over the duties of the groundhog at will-he/she-see-his/her-shadow events, especially in NYC.

It's Chester Greenwood Day!

Today is the first Saturday in December which means that it's Chester Greenwood Day! He can be seen in the photo above, wearing earmuffs, an accessory that he invented!

How does your indoor garden grow?

On this last Friday in the month of September, I would be remiss to not mention that last week (the third week in September) was National Indoor Plant Week.

According to Holiday Insights (HI),"this particular "celebration" was created to promote and increase awareness of the importance of live plants in internal spaces. Those spaces can be your home, an office where you work, a hospital, or even an indoor shopping mall." 

Furthermore, HI proclaims, "Indoor plants are widely popular in American homes. Yet, with their passive nature blending into the decorum of the home, they are seldom thought of, and sometimes ignored."

I confess that recently I've been guilty of not giving my indoor garden (which can seen in the image atop this entry featuring fall-themed figurines who have stopped by to visit it) the same attention and care that I give to my rooftop garden.