 |
| Carrot Top by Thelwell |
The slightly surreal this morning: The Xmas tree fell down in the night, so Lillie informed me at 6.30 this morning. My mind immediately saw fat fairies tumbling the tree. Not sure if I am being woke or anti-woke there but fairies don't really exist do they? It reminded me of when my daughter was young and a piece of music came on the radio, which I saw as fat fairies dancing. Follow through on my thinking and a Thelwellian image came to mind, I do love plump little Shetland ponies.
There seems more political humour around today and not that fun poking gentle humour that would make you laugh out loud. Xmas presents always included Giles cartoons, with grumpy, witchy old grandma sitting in the corner glowering evilly on all the festivities. Is that me now I wonder, still I have a better dress sense than her!
I used to get a Giles book every Christmas too. Must be a generational thing. H.G. Wells believed in fairies...
ReplyDeleteAlso we got the annuals, girls books for girls and boys book for boys.
DeleteAs, yes, those Giles cartoon books, I well remember them too.
ReplyDeleteA familiar landmark Will.
DeleteAre you sure you haven't got An Elf On The Shelf? knocking the Christmas tree over would be the sort of thing he does. (very glad this tradition didn't exist in the 80's!)
ReplyDeleteNever seen the Elf films Sue, but I think the tree, which is tall got overloaded. It also had been waiting for a tray (filled with water) for it to drink from. Probably unstabilised it.
DeleteI remember when my children were very little, we tied the Christmas to the ceiling using fishing line!
ReplyDeleteDon't you have a cat in the house? That is who I would suspect! :)
I have always tied bookshelves to the wall Ellen in fear of them falling and killing anyone. But I think they are going to tie it to the old suitcase, suitably weighted down with something. I doubt Mollie would have climbed it.
DeleteHave you seen any videos on the internet of cats and Christmas trees? There may be your answer.
ReplyDeleteYes I have seen a couple, but Mollie is innocent of crime, the door was shut Tasker.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed the Taliesin link. Tam read some of his work in Middle Welsh when she was at school. I think, like Merlin and Arthur, he has transmogrified down the centuries. Sadly I doubt we will ever get to how his life truly was. I enjoyed trying to get my head around some of the later impressions of his work though.
ReplyDeleteI have always imagined monks writing away, probably in the warming room. Perhaps they played fast and loose with the old literature but it was a different world Jenny. Taliesin is a name to be conjured with though.
DeleteYour tree falling over brought back a long ago event for me Thelma - we bought a Siamese kitten - hadn't had him long. Our son, at prepschool as a day boy in Lichfield, didn't leave until after prep and cocoa at around 7pm so we decorated the tree in the window and switched the lights on before we collected him, telling him on the mile drive back home that when we drove into the culdesac there was a surprise. We rounded the corner - total darkness. When we got in the kitten had pulled the tree over, all the ornaments were scattered round the room and he was festooned in fairy light and had managed to pull the plug out of the socket. Luckily he was unharme.d.
ReplyDeleteSo the little kitten used up one of his nine lives early Pat. Here, in our part of the world, In Hebden Bridge the people are disgruntled because the council has put up a smaller tree in their square. Whilst in Halifax the large tree they put up at Piece Hall was blown over by the strong winds we have been having.
DeleteOh my goodness. I remember one year. Our tree was wonky. It fell over twice. We tied it up but one side pulled loose and it fell over on excited children on Christmas morning. It was the first time a tree was taken down on Boxing day.
ReplyDeleteI am always sorry for real Xmas trees. Snatched out of their normal habitat and then left to die in overheated houses ;) ;) but it gives the children a thrill. In Switzerland the tree had candles on it and were lit on Christmas Eve. Also attendance at the midnight service was a must Debby.
ReplyDeleteHere, they are recycled to pine mulch or sunk in the reservoir to provide hiding spots for young fish to protect themselves from larger predatory fish. The Christmas trees here are harvested from Christmas tree farms who replace what they harvest. It is an business. That being said we switched to artificial trees probably 15 years ago, mainly due to the mess. Midnight mass would certainly guarantee sleeping in the next day!
DeleteI've been trying to make heads or tails of Taliesin link. I feel like a hand has been extended from the mists of time and try as I might, sadly, I cannot grasp it.
DeleteYou are probably not meant to understand Taliesin Debby, that is the supposed magic of his words. Like a shaman on drugs he just wrote. If he existed of course.
DeleteAs for Xmas trees, probably a real tree is better than an artificial one. Here the trees are also mulched, the council offer their services for that after Christmas.
There is a moral somewhere in that smaller tree versus larger tree blowing over but just can't put it into words! Did I say thank you for that beautiful card? I get pleasure every day from looking at those trees.
ReplyDeleteYes you did Pat. The people in Hebden Bridge were told (rightly) to count their blessings in that they had any tree at all. The Halifax tree had a 'spare' somewhere in the forest. Our tree is still waiting to be tied up ;) having broken a few ornaments on the way down.
Delete