Sadly, we cannot see the planetary conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter as we have been beaten by the mizzle as so many full astronomical events are in Cornwall. Nevertheless, I send Solstice Greetings to you all and a picture of the conjunction sent to me by my sister in Hawaii where the volcano, Kilauea, also woke up today. How auspicious!
Halemaʻumaʻu happening tonight! by Mary Strong
Our Advent Candle is nearly done…….
Our walk along Cliff Road in Falmouth was a chilly one in cool winter sun.
One of our local choirs, The Red River Singers, sang carols in Victoria Park this evening and what a delight it was. Here is some of ‘While Shepherds Watched’ for you.
The carols they sang this evening were mostly from the C19 when Redruth was described in 1887 as the “musical metropolis” of Cornwall. Many of the composers of our favourite Cornish carols came from this area, People sang these carols, “not merely in the churches but in the highways and hedges” “They could be heard sung by hundreds of miners gathered in the Fore Street near the clock at Christmas time.” (Words from Hilary Coleman and Sally Burley)
My walk home in a bitter wind was brightened by all the Christmas lights especially in Albany Road. 
We were briefly in Truro this morning to find a particular book for the lovely Mr S (with success) and when finished called in at a well spaced and airy cafe for toast and coffee!
My choirs have been unable to sing together this Christmas but a very tech savvy member of our gang has put together a video of us singing in previous years with some stills. Here it is.
Our first Christmas present was delivered today, a gorgeous bunch of autumnal coloured flowers already in their glass so no chasing around trying to find one. I love the bright red berries in the water too. 
On this day in 2004 my lovely Dad died after seventeen days in the hospice, very special days that I was able to spend with him. I’ve posted about him before but never about the days before I was on the scene. The following photos are some of those he sent home to my Mum.
They had been on their way to South Africa but because of U-boat activity, were re-routed to Nova Scotia. By January 1942 they had arrived in South Africa.
Makoalis, Basutoland January 1942
The last one is of Dad with one of his beloved Burmese cats, a favourite of mine.
Dad with Shoshone
A friend of our is on the James Clark Ross travelling to Rothera Base in Antarctica for British Antarctic Survey. He’s going to be Boat Officer for a summer, a winter and a summer. Today he sent his sister, our lovely neighbour, this photo of a most beautiful iceberg!
We visited our friends who have planted a forest in a field. Their latest project is the making of a wild flower meadow. Some of the trees can be seen to the left.
Newly dug patch that is going to be a wild flower meadow.
We loved their Christmas cake, beautiful with marzipan vegetables on top, just fabulous!
Fabulous Christmas cake which tasted as good as it looks, especially with a slice of cheese.
The seed heads of Agapanthus in their garden are gorgeous and how Agapanthus usually look in this part of the world in December, unlike the ones we saw last week in flower.
Agapanthus seed head
We have the Christmas wreath on the front door.
We were late walking today ( I am spending every minute finishing off the embroidery wall panels for two of the LiveWires – forgive me for not coming to visit your blogs) and it was lovely to see the Town Clock from the park and to see the angel lights going up Fore Street through the bare winter trees.
Tonight was the Christmas party of one of my choirs, The Ingleheart Singers, all on zoom but fun nevertheless. It was good to see so many happy faces after all this time of not singing together.
The Ingleheart Singers.
Since our first visit to America some 40 years ago, I have loved their breakfast of waffles with maple syrup and crispy bacon. Now we have a waffle machine and I can make us that delicious breakfast!
These strange days when we aren’t allowed to hug – and we saw lots of friends yesterday in the market and delivering Christmas cards whom I wanted to hug – this turned up and says it all. In our heads and hearts, we are hugging with delight!
On our walk today, we saw an interesting flag comprising of several different flags. From the top left we identified the flag for Wales, then Scotland but what about the black and white stripy one? I think it’s the Breton flag. From the bottom left is Cornwall’s flag and the Isle of Man but the orange, white and green one? Wikipedia tells me that it is the flag of Ivory Coast. Seen from the other side, it would be green, white and orange, the flag of Ireland. Should one read a flag from the pole? Puzzling. Can anyone help? It would make sense for it to be Ireland, all the Celtic countries. Not sure about the swirly bit in the middle.
Our squirrel came to investigate his feeder for the first time this morning (photo taken through the window on a very long zoom). We have since propped it open a little to help him as he didn’t manage to get any peanuts this morning.
I found some delightful Angel earrings today for our choir zoom parties next week. 
It was such an unexpected joy to come across the Redruth Wassailers singing The Redruth Wassail in the market this morning. Here is a snippet for you.
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