Dainty Kitty

Christmas Toys

Little kids aren't the only ones enjoying their Christmas toys on the day after Christmas. 

I hope everyone had an absolutely wonderful holiday!

Christmas Miscellany-toe

I'm almost finished with my Christmas shopping - thanks to a few last minute ideas from my mom.  One meant a little last minute Christmas knitting in the form of a hot water bottle cozy.  To make it easy but still interesting, I'm using the same self-striping wool from Universal Yarn that I used to make my Addams Hat.

Then there's loads of baking.  I'm making Chocolate Crinkle Cut Cookies tonight to package up for the managers at work.  For Christmas Eve/Christmas I'm making Alton Brown's The Puffy (thanks to Ginny), more Chocolate Crinkle Cut Cookies and Chocolate-Dipped Coconut Macaroons (scroll all the way to the very bottom) as well as a batch of my tried and true chocolate chip cookies for my granny.  This may be a bit too much for one person, one day and one oven but at least I can make most of the batter the night before. 

Today is a mostly a loungy, relaxing day, though - save the aforementioned knitting and baking and maybe a little housework.  It's Matt's birthday so there's a bottle of champagne in the fridge for a little extra special date night (for him)/afternoon (for me).  The best gift of all, though - a gift for both of us - is that he'll be here on January 23rd!  Countdown: 33 days!  I can't wait to have him here.

Thankful Thursday

I'm thankful for

- my eyes.  I've had an issue with the right one for several months and I think my trip to the ophthalmologist this morning may have solved the problem. 

- my friends.  I know I've not been in contact as much as I should be or, more importantly, as I'd like to be but perhaps when the holidays are over I'll feel more...um, friendly.

- a few more precious shopping days until Christmas.  I've also not felt so in the Christmas spirit and gift ideas have been few and far between.  I always seem to find something I like, though....

- Hershey's Hot Cocoa Creme Kisses.  As is evidenced by the stash in my freezer.

- nightly love letters and the man who writes them.

Wordless Wednesday

   

No Right or Wrong Way - Just a New Way

Back to the Hershey's Kiss issue.  Like I said, there's really no right way to open one.  I've always opened mine by just peeling it apart at the top so imagine my surprise when Matt said, "It took me a couple to figure out how to open them."  What?  It's a bit of foil around a piece of chocolate - how hard is that?  Then he continued, "Then I figured out the little paper tag is like a ripcord."  What?  I grabbed a couple from the dish behind me and tried his theory immediately.  The paper broke on the first one but the second one...sliced that kiss right open.  I had no idea! 

The only downfall I see to that method is that the paper breaks on at least one out of three kisses.  With that in mind, I think I'll stick to my peeling method.  I'm just glad to find out that I'm not the only one who opens them without the tag - to me it's just a cute little label!

Acorns

Matt doesn't need to bring me acorns (an inside joke from the adventure) - I can carry one with me where ever I go. 

Instantly gratifying tutorial here. 

How Do You Open a Hershey's Kiss?

I found out yesterday that, throughout my entire life, I've opened hundreds of Hershey's Kisses the wrong way.  Matt figured it out after only two (it would take living in another country to not have had your first Hershey's Kiss until you were just shy of 37). 

Not that there's really a wrong way but when I Googled how he did it because I thought it had to be a fluke, I found that other people did it that way, too!  I was just flabbergasted and almost embarrassed. 

So tell me, how do you open your Hershey's Kisses?

Winchester Cathedral & Jane - November 12th

I really do love Jane Austen but have to confess that I had no idea she was buried at Winchester Cathedral until Matt asked one of the tour guides where she was buried.   Jane was easy to point out because there are always flowers by her marker.

The marker, which was added later, reads, Jane Austen. Known to many by her writings, endeared to her family by the varied charms of her character and ennobled by her Christian faith and piety was born at Steventon in the County of Hants, December 16 1775 and buried in the Cathedral July 18 1817. "She openeth her mouth with wisdom and in her tongue is the law of kindness".

This is her original marker. 

It was surrounded by tourists when we first walked.  After we toured the rest of the cathedral ("toured" is used lightly) I asked Matt if we could go back and visit Jane for a few minutes and I got her all to myself.  It was kind of an overwhelming few minutes.  It seemed silly to cry but I really did have to hold back a few tears.  

Speaking of Austen - I got to watch the Lost in Austen series while I was there.  It's really clever and I recommend it for a couple nights of girly fun.    Matt was a trooper and watched the last two episodes with me but if you're not familiar with Pride and Prejudice...yikes.  And to come in halfway made it worse.  I appreciated the effort, though.  :)

Stourhead - Tuesday, November 11th

The past couple of days have been really hard.  How do I combat missing Matt?  By reminiscing.

A month or so before I left, I started a thread in a West Country group on Ravelry looking for not only yarn shop suggestions but just interesting things to do in general.  I felt a little guilty that I was showing up on Matt's doorstep for two weeks, "Entertain me!"  Lots of people suggested a visit to Stourhead.  The house was closed but a fellow Raveler who works in the gardens assured me that they would still be beautitul in early November.  And they were.

This is one of the first views as you walk down into the gardens.   Here you can see the Palladin Bridge and the Pantheon. 

 

From The National Trust booklet that Matt purchased on the way in:

Not far from Stourhead House, the flat meadow suddenly falls away into a steep valley at a spot known as 'Paradise'.  When  the sun sets over the far slope, glinting off the lake and gilding the hanging woods, it feels just like that. 

Here, from the 1740s Henry Hoare II created the perfect landscape garden.  He dammed the stream to make a huge lake, around which he laid out a circuit walk.  As you progress round the lake, you take in a series of carefully composed views of classical and Gothic buildings set against wooded slopes.

We had come to The Temple of Flora before we read about Henry's pre-Hollywood Hollywood sets and were completely at a loss.  The outside was incredibly ornate but the building itself was just one room that was maybe about six feet deep.  After reading those paragraphs, the gardens took on an almost magical quality. 

Especially when you walk around a corner and spot things like this -

   

A tiny robin posed on a wooden bench.  Robins in Ohio look like tough, escaped convicts compared to their sweet, little, brown, English cousins. 

There were grottos reminiscent of Labyrinth that lead to amazing views or up secret paths.  Unfortunately, this grotto lead to the death of my camera -

 

I was getting ready to snap a photo not unlike this when my camera slipped from my hands and landed in a puddle, right on the edge of the lens.  Unfortunately that meant I didn't get as many photos of Stourhead as I'd have liked to.  Thank goodness I got this one of the Temple of Apollo -

 

I think, of the entire vacation, this is my favorite photo.  Later we walked into a grotto that led to a secret path that took you up to the Temple with an amazing view of the gardens.  It's the perfect picnic spot on is our list of things to do when we go back. 

I was lucky enough to cross off a few things on my 101 in 1001 list (the list is a mess - I was cleaning it up at one point and haven't gotten back to finish).  Here I got to cross off number seventy-four, "Kiss in the rain."  We'd already talked about the list and he had mentioned that he wanted to help me cross off a few (I was hoping number 98 was one of them and it was - just a day later) so when it started to rain just a bit and he stopped walking, I knew just why.  I actually crossed that one off my list several times, all over England and a few times in Paris as well...not that we really needed an excuse to smooch (red lights were also an opportunity we took advantage of as often as possible). 

And to continue with the magic of Stourhead, it was raining just enough to give us a beautiful, full rainbow as we drove away.  Absolutely amazing.  This was one of my very favorite days and I can't wait to go back and see it in other seasons - it'll always hold a very special place in my heart.