Our post box has a neat new topper for Christmas.
One of my dear singing friends who lives in a nearby village has sent me this beautiful, detailed and delightful topper from her postbox. What a lot of work goes into these pieces of art that are there for everyone passing by to enjoy. . 
We drove past a lovely Christmas train topper, like a gingerbread construction, in Truro yesterday but the photo is a bit blurry as we were moving.
Malpas this morning where we had breakfast with friends at The Heron
The. rising moon behind the trees
Risen behind the trees
Close up of the Cold Full Moon
We’ve had a really good laugh at Roots today, titivating the beetroot prints done last week.What an array of delightful ideas for making the prints more festive! Thanks to N for the photos of the cards. Click on any photo for an enlarged view..
While we were being creative in the warmth of the poly tunnel, the lovely Mr S and others were busy outside, preparing a new plot and digging out some steps.
New planting plot
Logan’s steps
It was the AGM tonight for the Community Roots project that we volunteer with on Tuesdays so I made a Galette Jalousie full of mincemeat as our contribution.
The work done on the one acre site is amazing! What has been achieved by the team and their tribe of volunteers is just mind-blowing. Here is the field in March 2021 and the ‘farm’ June 2022 – quite remarkable.
The field in March 2021
June 2022
Each person was asked at the start of the meeting, what Community Roots means to them and this word cloud is the result, the bigger the word, the ore people said it.
Above three photos taken from the screen at the meeting.
It’s the England v Senegal match as I write. It’s a family Derby as we have people in both camps. LiveWire 5 supports England, his dad’s country and LiveWire 6 supports Senegal, her mother’s country. Right now, it’s England 2 and Senegal 0 but some of us still have hope in our hearts!
I counted my yearsand realized that I haveLess time to live by,Than I have lived so far.I feel like a child who won a pack of candies: at first he ate them with pleasureBut when he realized that there was little left, he began to taste them intensely.I have no time for endless meetingswhere the statutes, rules, procedures & internal regulations are discussed,knowing that nothing will be done.I no longer have the patienceTo stand absurd people who,despite their chronological age,have not grown up.My time is too short:I want the essence,my spirit is in a hurry.I do not have much candyIn the package anymore.I want to live next to humans,very realistic people who knowHow to laugh at their mistakes,Who are not inflated by their own triumphsand who take responsibility for their actions.In this way, human dignity is defendedand we live in truth and honesty.It is the essentials that make life useful.I want to surround myself with peoplewho know how to touch the hearts of those whom hard strokes of lifehave taught to grow with sweet touches of the soul.Yes, I’m in a hurry.I’m in a hurry to live with the intensity that only maturity can bring.I do not intend to waste any of the remaining desserts.I am sure they will be exquisite,much more than those eaten so far.My goal is to reach the end satisfiedand at peace with my loved ones and my conscience.We have two livesand the second begins when you realize you only have one.
~ Mario de Andrade
A dear friend has given me some ‘jewels’ for my glass work. It’s always an inspiration when new beads come in and I begin to plan how I might use them. Look out for them in future pieces.
Thank you N
We sang our first Christmas carols today at the Open Studios event at Krowji. It was brilliant – we and our audiences loved it. One of them videoed some of the Ukrainian carol, Carol of the Bells. Here is a link to see and hear the extract. https://www.facebook.com/reel/667726934976259.
Thanks to Sandra for the photo
In the breaks between sets, we can wander around the many studios and I was privileged to meet a sculptor , David Westby, whose work intrigued me – lots of cockerels, and some paintings. We got chatting and he explained the stories behind some of his work. When I asked if I could take a picture for mybeautfulthings blog, he picked up a hat and posed for me all the while telling me the story behind the hat and that it is dedicated to St Lucia,Saint of Light and Sight, hence the candles and spectacles on his hat. You can read more about her here.
David Westby
“THERE IS ALSO SWEETNESS IN THE NEW” (Remembering the Surrealist Society of Iran ). January 2022. Aluminium over wood construction, galvanised steel plinth. 1.75 meters high.
Read more about David Westby and his work here.
I picked a little posy of Rosemary, Petunia and Wallflowers to take next door to remember Bill-next-door’s birthday. He was such a lovely man, missed by so many. Read about him here
It’ll be Market Day tomorrow in Redruth so I’ve made my usual Coffee Cake for the cake stall. I sprayed the top with edible gold as it’s a Christmas market..
Our Advent candle glows in the dark.
The lovely Mr S took this photo for me while I was still sleeping this morning.
It’s the first of the month already so here is December’s Action for Happiness calendar, Be Kind to others and to yourself. If you’d like a bigger version go to their site on this link.
On the way home from singing this morning, I joined a queue of traffic, held up by cattle crossing the road on the A393. If you look really closely, you’ll see the back of one of the Jersey cows crossing the road.
Today we found a Snowdrop! It has been a warm November but snowdrops flowering now is just crazy – and quite worrying. 
Our Amanagowa Cherry Tree has gloriously coloured Autumnal leaves, here glowing in the late afternoon sunshine. 
I’ve made two more glass Angels for Ukraine today, probably the last as we move into ‘getting ready for Christmas’ mode.
One of our jobs at Community Roots today was starting to make Christmas cards by printing using beetroot. These ‘designs’ will be enhanced by one of our younger volunteers who did art at A level. Here is one of the initial prints. Next week, I’ll show you a finished card.
I sold two more angels today (two at choir yesterday too) one, I discovered, with a shell of Paua which is regarded as something special in New Zealand and I discovered the following by googling –
“It is believed that all varieties of abalone (including paua) strengthen the body as well as the heart. If a person wears jewelry made from paua shells, it is said that he can express his feelings to others articulately. They are believed to bring sensitivity, harmony, and connectivity in relationships. As this shell is found in a number of colours, it represents the beauty of life, which is ‘change’ that we experience every day.
It is a common Maori practice to gift paua shells to one another. According to them, this shell brings good luck, prosperity, and peace to the wearer.”
Volunteers always leave with some of the day’s harvest. This is one of the carrots we chose because it made me smile. 
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