a true white Christmas

Cecil and Percy were delighted to look out the window on this Christmas Eve to see SNOW!

SNOW SNOW SNOW LET IT SNOW!

White Christmas, anyone? Um... YES!

Brother spud Dan was being a silly and not going into the snow...

...making sister spud very sad indeed.

Cecil and Percy love snow even more than I do! They've sat in the window watching it ALL day.

I hope you are all tucked by a fire with your family this Christmastide.

(also hope you don't have a cold like I do)

This is our 200th post, and how lovely that it should be about my favoritest things of all... snow and Christmas!

Happy Christmas!

Happy Ugly Sweater Day!

Tonight Layne and I went ice skating to celebrate both Christmas, Ugly Sweater Day, and Talk With a Fake British Accent Day. Turns out the Galleria has the largest indoor Christmas tree in America! We feel fancy now.

Aaa! Big tree is coming to get my ugly sweater! Now... I feel burdened to say this. The sweater I'm wearing is my dad's (that's why it fits so awfully... I'm not really rectangular, people)... and I want to clarify that on him it is a really awesome Christmas sweater. It's simply the fact of a girl wearing it that makes it that. On him? Not ugly. On me? Um, yeah.

We got to the rink during an ice dancing show, so we had to wait an hour... so we tried on formal gowns!

I love the picture on the left. While we were in the store we talked in British accents the whole time. It was FUN!

Finally on the ice... we had to accept that we looked like spazzes. Yikes. We got pretty good by the end though, I could skate on one foot like a fancy swan.

...My teeth freak me out in this one. Actually I look pretty awful in all of these. Oh well. The sweater in person was more of a Sandra Bullock in While You Were Sleeping kind of look... not just... like... Frosty the Snowman.

We named the tree Bill, and decided that someday we will be in charge of decorating it, and will put a moustached face on it. Yes!

There was this really cute guy there, and he was an amazing skater! Fancy jumps and stuff! Plus, later on he put on a really awesome logger hat with a fur pom-pom on top. Nice.

Waiting for the Zamborghini to be done (isn't my face crazy red!?haha). Yes, a Zamborghini is a really fancy Italian Zamboni.

Attempted ice dancing. We both fell down only once!

We're gonna make this a tradition, it was so much fun... even though I'm partially dead today. My feet blister really easily because they're shaped funny from so many broken toes. Plus we skated for TWO 1/2 HOURS. Go us! Next year, however, our costume of choice will be... ugly sweaters, funny stockings, sparkly ice princess eyeshadow, and FLUFFY TUTUS!

(p.s. the winter olympics are my favorite.)

(p.p.s. i was a little scared of ice skating, and i'm not now... so theres something off the list!)

psst

I'm in Memphis right now, visiting the Beauchamps for Daniel and Andrew's college graduation party! The womenfolk are in the kitchen cooking now, and I'm making pretty paper decorations to make things more festive.

Reminder: Ugly Sweater Day is coming up on Thursday... have you got your sweaters yet? Please remember to take a picture of yourself in your ugly sweater and send it to nfhearne@yahoo.com ! Can't wait to see the festive ugliness! I have plans on Thursday to go ice skating with some friends at the oh-so-festive galleria rink (they have the biggest, sparkliest tree in the world!) in our ugly sweaters. Any plans?

i thank you God for most this amazing day

This past week I've been in Graham at my grandparents for Thanksgiving! Our whole branch of the Pyles family was there (except my sister, wah. MISSUMS!) and it was loud and crazy.

The cousins have a weird tradition of playing charades (we call it "transmography" actually. think calvin and hobbes) Thanksgiving night - and I say it's weird because our charades cards are just... crazy.

Some of my favorite things that were (unsuccessfully) acted out over the weekend:

Man Sitting Down On Meatloaf

Minnesota Forests

Woman Drinking Tea While Running A Marathon

Oz Tries To Catch A Moose

and my favorite, which I tried very very hard to get them to guess...

Sarah Palin Assembles A Bookcase While Eating Cake

That one was super interesting.

Also, while we were out at the farm I attempted to learn how to drive stick, in my grandad's 1975 pickup, and let me tell you it is SCARY! Way scarier than it looks! I killed the engine so many times. By the end I was doing a little better, I think, but I think I'll stick with automatic for now.

Ooooh also, I was down at Fireman's park and a goose tried to bite my face! It was scary, and I felt tiny and completely unintimidating, so... maybe, just maybe I pulled over on my way back to the farm to scare a herd of cows. And maybe it was thoroughly satisfying to see a herd of big animals running en masse Because Of Me.

Sunday after church, on our way out of town, we met the Lunsfords for lunch, which was super fancy!

It really bugs me when I forget to take pictures when I'm out of town or with cool people, because afterwards I want to throw pies at my feet. So... I need to work on that, because I can't imagine pie between the toes would feel... oh yuck that's ... really gross.

Sorry this is so rambly. I don't like big conglomoratory posts like this, but hadn't posted in a while!

thanksgiving week

May 20 : Very Early Morning

-

all the field praises him/all

dandelions are his glory/gold

and silver all trilliums unfold

white flames above their trinities

of leaves all wild strawberries

and massed wood violets reflect his skies'

clean blue and white

all brambles/all oxeyes

all stalks and stems lift to his light

all young windflower bells

tremble on hair

springs for his air's

carillon touch/last year's yarrow(raising

brittle star skeletons) tells

age is not past praising

all small low unknown

unnamed weeds show his impossible greens

all grasses sing

tone on clear tone

all mosses spread a spring-

soft velvet for his feet

and by all means

all leaves/buds/all flowers cup

jewels of fire and ice

holding up

to his kind morning heat

a silver sacrifice

now

make of our hearts a field

to raise your praise.

-Luci Shaw

To A Wiggy Spud

This is one of those rarest of posts ... a birthday post.

Happy 20th to Monolog! He's one of the good ones for sure! Once we were driving to Eddings Hill and I mentioned that I had always wanted to go to the delightfully huge cement yard statue lot ... and he did a u-turn and went back!

Also he's been very... tolerant... of elliebird's and my bouts of silliness, even participating in our 6 year old plays (they went on and on for hours) :)

And also incredibly musically talented (don't say shush to me, it's true!) and always pushing me to expand artistically and intellectually.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, thou art WIGGY!

-i got that last pic from facebook

Etsy

I've been thinking of starting an Etsy shop, because I've become rather crafty of late. Unfortunately I haven't time to spare at the moment, but this is something I'm longing to do. Perhaps over Christmas break.

So many things are being pushed onto the "perhaps over Christmas break" list recently that I'm beginning to wonder if perhaps I'll be busier over Christmas break than I am during school.

If I did open an Etsy shop, I'd be selling things like headbands, curtains, throw pillow slipcovers, my monster dolls (they're really quite friendly and personable), and I've recently designed some rather delightful mobiles. I've got other ideas, but those are the ones I'm confident of right now.

Problems with this idea:
1. No time.
2. Whenever I create something I become so attached to it that I can't let it go. Because of this, things are looking frightful on the whole motherhood front.

Happy birthday!

This little blog turned 3 today!

Happy Birthday!

In honour of the original inspiration,

here's the quote that its name came from:

"Our monks go robed in rain and snow
but the heart of flame therein;
you go clothed in flame and fire
when all is ice within."

- G.K.Chesterton
"The Ballad of the White Horse"

Hope you've enjoyed so far, I certainly have!

Keep reading, my punctuation can only get better from here! =)

much love,

beatrice

did you get the day off today?

today is National Work Zone Awareness Week. be aware of a work zone today, in celebration!