Saturday farmers' market, jaunty and surrounded by children

- The Peachtree Road farmers' market inside St. Phillips Cathedral on Saturday.  I got a jar of Strawberry and Lavender jam from the woman beyond those huge mushrooms there.  Should the jam go in someone's Christmas stocking or should I keep it?  I vote for keeping it.  :)

- This purveyor of yogurt was wearing a jaunty straw hat with a sprig of holly in it.  Friend Laura thought he had a vaguely Johnny Depp appearance.  I'll let you decide.  Sorry for the fuzzy iPhone photo - click to enlarge.

- The sanctuary of my church on Sunday morning.  When the service started, I realized the two children in front of me and the one at my side were going to fidget during the whole service.  And then realized how happy I was to be surrounded by fidgeting children.

Christmas part II, fav ornament and horse in striped pajamas

- I had a ridiculous amount of fun mixing my ornaments and treasured family ornaments into this new tree, which arrived right on schedule.  The stuffed "Richie" bear was free with a purchase at the now defunct Rich's department store.  (How I miss you so.)  Until I can get some gifts wrapped, he looks cute sitting there.

- And I cracked myself up just now, trying to get a good shot of my favorite little ornament:  a baby angel sitting in half a walnut shell.  This was the best of the six shots.  I laughed because I need to leave for work in an hour and am just now taking photos for my blog.  I suffer for my art.  :)

- Three-month-old great nephew Monroe's favorite toy, Bo the Zebra.  My sister is part of the village taking care of Monroe during the day until official daycare starts in January.  She emailed yesterday: "This is Monroe's favorite thing to stare at, his zebra.  I'm racking my brain trying to remember the words to the song about the zebra looking like a horse in striped pajamas!"  Aunt Lynn to the rescue!  It's indeed call Horse in Striped Pajamas.  We used to hear it on Captain Kangaroo when we were kids.

look there daddy, do you see?

there's a horse in striped pajamas

no, that's not what it is at all

that's an animal people call a zebra

i see, but it still looks like a

horse in striped pajamas to me!

It goes on to honor penguins, seals, pandas and leopards.  There is a link to the Captain and Mr. Green Jeans on a visit to the zoo, singing the song on the record, above.  I sang it all day yesterday.  :)

I have worked for the weekend.  It's here!  I hope you all have a wonderful one!

Update - it's difficult to go about daily activities after the tragedy in Connecticut on Friday.  So sad...

Christmas, part 1, vintage Santa and view from the other side

- SnaggleTooth asked, in a comment the other day, when I was putting up my little tree.  Here it is - in its usual spot in the pass through from the kitchen to the dining room.  This year I have my flashing snowman that was in my stocking last Christmas.  My sister asked my brother-in-law to be in charge of stockings last year and he did such a good job that it is his permanent job now.

- This photo was a little grainy, so I took the other one above this morning.  But here it is anyway.  The Santa on the left belonged to my Great Aunt Grace, who always placed him under her Christmas tree.  The wooden Christmas tree box on the right was given to me by a client - her husband made it.  You can sit holiday cards in it, but I have an angel sitting in it.

- The view from the other side.  The music box there plays "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" - it used to have candy in it.  Long gone, of course.  

This is Christmas, part 1.  A United Parcel Service driver has my 4.5' prelit tree and is diligently making his way to my home, to arrive today.  I brought home so many of my late parents' Christmas decorations that it'll be filled up in no time.  So you know there will be Christmas, part 2 on Friday.  :)

Snowman, another tour day and the mountain

- Seen in one of the bedrooms at a bed and breakfast called Silver Hill Manor in nearby Stone Mountain, Georgia - this "snowman" that began as a lighted Christmas tree.  Someone added black boots and the rest of the items that make a truly unique display.

- This is Silver Hill - one of the homes on the tour of homes this weekend sponsored by the Stone Mountain Woman's Club.  Friend Barbara D and I toured six homes that included lunch at the clubhouse (very genteel - chicken salad on a croissant.)  :)  And the best part was - I was 10 minutes from home when we were done.

- A "through the windshield" shot of Stone Mountain that I've posted before.  I walk at this park sometimes. The mountain is granite that extends 9.5 miles underground into the surrounding counties.  You see outcroppings of granite popping up here and there.  I think we are lucky to have such a great park, but I wish it was part of the national park system - it's getting commercialized with items like a frontier village and man-made snow "ski" slope.  Still lovely though.

Unexpected gift, good Samaritan and all lit up

- The unexpected gift of this evergreen scented Christmas candle.  It's sitting on top of my three Christmas themed books.  I love the way the green jewel on its lid evokes the green of the trees outside.

- Driving down a beautiful residential street and spotting two nice sneakers lying on the sidewalk a few feet from each other, as if someone sat them on top of their car and drove off with them still up there.  The next day, the two sneakers have been put together on the sidewalk and neatly left upright.

- Bringing in the timer I bought to see if someone can figure it out for me.  The instructions are either too complicated or my mind just doesn't work like that (it's the latter, really.)  The plant manager walks away with it and comes back five minutes later set all correctly.  Now my front door Christmas wreath with its white lights, will cut on at 5pm and cut off at 11pm.  And I'll get to see it lit up when I drive up in the evening.

It's the little things...and it's Friday!  How I love Friday and the weekend.  I hope yours is wonderful, my friends.

Trees on cars, it says it all and peace and quiet

- Signs of the season - trees tied to the tops of cars.  I'll bet they'll love the smell of that tree in their home.

- A coworker refers to a client who is a little mixed up:  "Bless her heart!"  That phrase says it all and is something often heard in the south.  :)

- After an exhausting day at work, volunteer work after, an hour commute home from that, walking into my peaceful and quiet home.  Lovely.

Madison tour, whimsy and fabulous

Friend Barbara G and I drove an hour to beautiful Madison, Georgia on Saturday for the annual tour of homes.  I have a few photos, of course.

- Madrigal singers in front of Heritage Hall, where we picked up our tickets.  That's the First Methodist Church behind them.  

- This was the first house on the tour:  Hilltop.  Samuel Shields built Hilltop in 1838 as a wedding gift to his daughter, Julia Ann, upon her marrage to Thomas Jefferson Burney.  I worked on a project a couple of years ago - a portrait catalog, which contained images of portraits from various homes in Madison.  I immediately recognized portraits from the book inside this home.  Note - love the placid dogs sleeping in front of the home.  One of them is just out of the picture.

- In the second home, I loved the whimsical way in which this chandelier was decorated for Christmas within an inch of its life.  The homeowner was present and graciously allowed me to snap this slightly blurry pic with my phone.  Click to enlarge.

- The display of art in her guest room was fabulous.  Love the color of the walls, too.

Lunch was shrimp and grits and a fried green tomatoes appetizer.  Yum.  After some shopping we headed home, so I could watch The University of Georgia and The University of Alabama play for the SEC Championship.  Sadly, the Bulldogs lost, but the game was good anyway.  :)