Happy Christmas!

We're visiting with friends in Edinburgh for Christmas, and the kids flew from Canada to join us today (at 9:30 Christmas am). Can't think of a better Christmas gift! We've been having a wonderful time (great craic!), eating loads of such good food, enjoying home-produced Christmas concerts, and giving & getting thoughtful gifts. (It doesn't make sense to give bulky items that have to be packed for overseas travel, so extra thought went in to the purchases.) We received so many brilliant gifts from friends and family in Canada--we're so blessed!
Now for some rest before what sounds like a full slate of adventures tomorrow.
Happy Christmas to all . . .

Flowers in December

It's actually hard to imagine that there's snow at home. It's plenty rainy here, but flowers are still blooming. In front of our house, we still have a rose blooming. Not bad for the middle of December!
Still drying clothes on the line, too (between rain showers):

Armagh

Wow, I'm really behind at posting--our visit to Armagh with our friend Arthur was almost two weeks ago! Armagh is a lovely city, the "Christian capital" of Ireland, with two St. Patrick's Cathedrals--one Roman Catholic and one Church of Ireland. It's also in the area known for its apple orchards so, though it's beautiful & green now, I imagine the countryside is incredible at apple blossom time. We're really enjoying the local Bramley apples for pies & applesauce, and the varieties for eating fresh are so full of flavour--if we can manage to find locally grown Golden Delicious, etc. We also made a quick trip into the South to Monaghan, and on the way home stopped at an authentic Irish cottage. It was a wonderful day, and we enjoyed to the full our time with Arthur. He told us wonderful stories of his youth and, when we were talking about how people (at work, etc.) are now able to say things in conversation that just a few years ago would have been strictly forbidden because too dangerous, he mentioned a local proverb that Seamus Heaney used in one of his poems: "Whatever you say, say nothing!"

Down in the Dumps!

From now on, whenever I feel blue, I'll remember Jeannie at G's nursing home singing (and Margaret chiming in for a "wee duet" and soon almost everyone in the front room joining in):
Down in the dumps I'll never go;
That's where the devil keeps me low.
So I'll sing with all my might,
And I'll keep my armour bright,
And down in the dumps I'll never go!
I told Dad about it and he said he remembers the chorus from his primary Sunday School days.
It's really cool to see how Jeannie has brightened up. The other day, she asked me, "Are you a Christian?" When I replied in the affirmative, she said, "I'm a Baptist!"