Glædelig Jul!

Hanne wishes you a merry Christmas!   (Breakfast on Christmas Eve)

Michael wishes you a Glædelig Jul! { Morgenmad, Jul } A Toast with Egg Nog!

Ellen singing carols by our "fireside" yesterday....

Happy Christmas!
Glædelig Jul!
We are off to Ellen's house for Danish Jul this evening, after attending afternoon service at the local Lutheran Church...
A Happy Jolly Christmas to All!
From Michael and Hanne
Christmas 2011

Bothy

Yesterday's Party at Athens Creek Lodge

Last Year's Party at Kurt and Else's House

Skaha Lake

Bothy ( courtesy of Wikipedia)

Does anybody know what a bothy is? An interesting word for various buildings with quite a bit of history and traditions associated, along with rules of behaviour  involved whilst using them. It started with Sylvia Plath's recently published drawings. You can read more here on this fascinating subject.  Now, on with the wrapping of gifts and preparations for parties.....

Paper Wine-Glasses?

Going Home for Christmas

Our Granddaughter Adel and Great Grandson Jake are on their way from Bowen Island to New Zealand and her Mom's House for Christmas

Snowmobile Tracks, Armstrong

" I thought it would be warmer than this outside, didn't you? " Christmas Alpacas, Armstrong

Maybe by next year Christmas we will be drinking a toast in paper wine-glasses? Paper wine containers by Green Bottle are scheduled for 2012. Then what next? paper chandeliers? What is the world coming to? Not to worry. Half the world is bleeding or starving to death. The human species will soon be extinct. In 2018 there will be no more room in landfill sites so we might as well go. But who wants to float around the oceans in a houseboat all mixed up with floating rubbish? There won't be anywhere left habitable on land... Hopefully this talk is only in our grandchildren's time. I'm alright Jack. There's always Everlasting Life so why worry? Said he, whilst happily munching on a suicidally delicious piece of egg-nog fudge. To cheer you up, here is a link to a new version of the Story.

Solstice

Outside our door this morning: three photos...

Sunrise

This year the Winter Solstice is later, and will occur at 5.30 am (GMT) tomorrow. I don't mind really, but next year it is back to the 21st December, and stays that way for a couple of years more. Today here it is sunny and last evening we had some snow. Time then for a snowy Christmas Card from us!

Driving

Digital Painting

Rushes

Cows near Keremeos

Newly planted Vines, Naramata

Not another post about driving you say, but I find this subject interesting. More and more people are driving impaired due to cocaine, cannabis, amphetamines, and prescription drugs. One fellow staggered drunkenly into the police car's back seat the other day in Kelowna after running over two pedestrians. He was high on cocaine.  Not easy for the police to pick up on. But here a select few are receiving special training. It seems a long way off but possibly in the future cars will have to drive themselves, just like space ships and LRT trains do now. But as for now, we have to have our freedom as humans to screw up!

Busy

A Bald Eagle on a Ponderosa Pine, Skaha Lake. I think I caught his attention!

Does one really have to take drag whilst being photographed?

Our Christmas Tree is up and lit.

We are, like everyone else, busy right now. Being entertained at numerous Christmas concerts and services; putting up the tree, visiting friends for a toast of egg-nog and a bite of mince pie, watching Andre Rieu's Christmas broadcast, sending and receiving cards and viewing Advent calendars on the computer. Our relatives are flying this year for Christmas holidays, from Vancouver to Jamaica, from Bowen Island and Chile and Vernon to New Zealand. We are staying home this year. We took a walk on Skaha beach yesterday in the sunshine, lots of people out, walking their dogs and children, and riding their bicycles.....Discovered a bald eagle in a Ponderosa Pine, keeping an eye out for an errant duck. There weren't any, as all the ducks I could see were in tight formation way out in the middle of the lake.

Headlines

Recent headlines: "the Doom Boom".... "Oil rig lost in the Russian Arctic, 53 missing"....

Window decoration at the winery

Kraze Legz Winery View towards Penticton.

Ice on Bulrush Stems, Skaha Lake

A Sunny Interval, Skaha Lake

"Leaking diesel from a beached cargo ship is threatening France's Atlantic coast"... "Oil pipeline leaks".... "Smog halts airlines and traffic in Bejing". The list goes on and on. Time for an electric makeover, time to save up for that wind turbine, solar panel, electric car. Time too for hope in the future in the form of newborn babes. Today's photos are from yesterday's outing to Kaleden....