Children in the Leaves & Straw

HAPPY:
turning straw to gold!

On my recent posts:
Lyrics by Emmylou Harris & Leonard Cohen
Poetry by Beth Vardon, Richard Wilbur, T. S. Eliot

1. Straw to Gold

&

2. There Are Children in the Leaves

&

P.S.
January 14, 2026
Continuing the theme of golden straw,
red leaves, and amber waves of grain

3. A Bright Golden Haze

@The Fortnightly Kitti Carriker
A literary blog of connection & coincidence;
custom & ceremony

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And for something to read
when the clock strikes twelve

The Midnight Blogpost

@Kitti's List

The Moon on New Year's Eve

&

The Full Moon After Yule

RE: Instatoon

Vintage Boxing Day

See Sing Along

When my Grandfather Paul J. Lindsey died in 1983, a lot of his belongings went into storage until my mother died in 2020. That's when I re - discovered his nostalgic stash of Christmas memorabilia (some posted earlier):

Above: from his last working box of blank cards,
accompanied by return labels and stickers.
I love and admire how committed he was to
the tradition of mailing Christmas cards, even
15 years after his wife -- my Grandma Rovilla -- died.

Below: a card from his nephew Hugh Victor Lindsey
(my first cousin, once removed), postmarked 1977.
Vic was the son of Paul's eldest brother
James Sankey Lindsey, Jr. and wife Hortense.

Jim & Horty at Multnomah Falls, 1942
As my second cousin Rob said:

"That's absolutely Grandma and Grandpa!
They don't make grandparents
that look like that anymore, do they!
They could have stepped right out of
the Andy Griffith Show."

*********************

Similar story from a friend:

"When we were clearing out our family home in Queens, I came across boxes in the attic filled with all sorts of things from my childhood, including stacks of greeting cards. The images shown here are from Christmas cards I received from elementary school friends and family. They are from the late 1960s /early-mid 1970s. I’ll use them for something, someday: gift tags, ornaments, etc. For now, enjoy."

Green Man & Red Woman

Red Sage, Green Sage

Green Santa

"The priests and priestesses were necessary;
they alone had the mysterious star calendars
that told when the performances must take place.
. . . at the year's turning point
to brighten the darkest days of winter . . ."

Wild Wise Woman

In The Skeptical Feminist (1987), Barbara G. Walker offers a beautiful description of Christmas Present, and an informative view of Christmas Past, explaining that "Christmas, or Yule, or Dies Natalis, or the Koreion [i.e. the legend of Persephone], or whatever other of its many names one likes, was hardly just a religious birthday party. It was immanent and real to those who invented it thousands of years ago, long before it was seized by Christianity":

"I had learned that the winter solstice festival was celebrated in much the same way in nearly all ancient societies, from Scandinavia to Egypt, with such trappings as gifts, lights, feasts, tree worship, holly, ivy, carols of praise . . . the divine Virgin . . her holy child of light, the old god's son . . . [the] promise of a new season of nourishment and blessings . . . a new season of seedtime and harvest . . ." (pp 46 - 47)

Rest in Peace Barbara G. Walker
~ July 2, 1930 - December 21, 2025 ~

amazing feminist scholar,
expert on Christmas and knitting,
and illustrator of Tarot Cards.

Additional posts: KL ~ QK ~ FN

Yet another Green Sage.
See more celebratory art
by Scottish Artist
Keli Clark

The Scent of Christmas

Any one of these gangly seedlings could push out
millions of cones over the course of its life . . .
And the forest they might remake he can almost smell --
resinous, fresh, thick with yearning,
sap of a fruit that is no fruit,
the scent of Christmases endlessly older than Christ."

From The Overstory (p 90)
By Richard Powers

One More Sleep Til Christmas

My friend Jay took this magical photograph
last month, on November 29,
~ 1st Snow ~ Kirksville, Missouri ~
but I think it is PERFECT for Christmas Eve!

"Saying the old town's name."
Heartbreaking, but in a good way.

There's just something about a county seat
town in the Midwest, built on a grid
with a courthouse in the center square.
That's America to me.

The Song ~ The Pictures

Shortness, Darkness, Coldness

" . . . The year
isn't a clear circle or some
dream of a clock but one shadowy
moment after the next. . . ."

Margaret Atwood (b 1939)
from her sequence "Small Poems for the Winter Solstice: #14"
in her book True Stories (p 39)
which also contains her poem "Christmas Carols" (pp 56 - 57)
See also fb / "Winter Vacations"

Solstice

Each year, on the same date, the summer solstice comes.
Consummate light: we plan for it,
the day we tell ourselves
that time is very long indeed, nearly infinite.
And in our reading and writing, preference is given
to the celebratory, the ecstatic.

There is in these rituals something apart from wonder:
there is also a kind of preening,
as though human genius has participated in these arrangements
and we found the results satisfying.

What follows the light is what precedes it:
the moment of balance, of dark equivalence.

But tonight we sit in the garden in our canvas chairs
so late into the evening -
why should we look either forward or backwards?
Why should we be forced to remember:
it is in our blood, this knowledge.
Shortness of the days; darkness, coldness of winter.
It is in our blood and bones; it is in our history.
It takes genius to forget these things.

by Louise Gluck (1943 -2023)
from The Seven Ages
more on QK & FN & fb

“This is the solstice, the still point of the sun,
its cusp and midnight, the year's threshold and unlocking,
where the past lets go and becomes the future."

Margaret Atwood
from her poem "Winter Vacations"

My Inner Rosemary Clooney

White Christmas ~ Red Dress!

When I think White Christmas, I tend to see red, as in all those gorgeous holiday fashions: classy red bathrobes, festive red Santa Suits, elegant red ballgowns, darling red tutus, shiny red manicures! Sometimes you just have to channel your inner Rosemary Clooney:

Red glitter for Christmas . . .

White tips for the New Year . . .

Sisters, Sisters!
Peg & Kit, sharing our color choices for the occasion

Pink hat for WTF?!

Jeopardy: No One Got It!

~ Christmas Gift Idea! ~

A funny sequence of events last night:

At 8pm:

I saw this facebook post on a friend's page:
"VILLANOVA! No one got it"
I meant to ask Gerry if it was perhaps a reference to a basketball game but forgot to do so. I don't know why my thoughts turned to basketball, but that's what came to mind.

At 9pm:
We watched Jeopardy! and could not guess this final clue on the topic of "Higher Education":

"Merrimack College is one of 2 Augustinian
institutions of higher learning in the U.S.;
in the news in 2025, this is the other."
We realized right away that they were asking where the new Pope went to college. Unfortunately, however, we did not know the answer, did not know anything about Merrimack College, and did not know that Villanova was Augustinian. Our bad.

To guess correctly, which we did not, you would need to know that

"Merrimack in Massachusetts and Villanova University in Pennsylvania are the only 2 Catholic Augustinian colleges in the USA. That’s just a fact you may know, and you may also know that Villanova was in the news in 2025 as the alma mater of Pope Leo XIV." [Reliable recaps: fikkle & fan]

At 10pm:
We decided to watch one of our seasonal favorites, Bill Murray's Scrooged.

Early in the movie, Bill / Frank announces to his coworkers that their new made - for - tv version of Dickens' Christmas Carol will "Scare the Dickens out of people." But, alas no one laughs at his joke, and he exclaims in annoyance: "No one gets me!"
At that moment the meaning of the facebook post
finally dawned on me; it was about Jeopardy!

"VILLANOVA! No one got it"!
Now why didn't it occur to me while watching Final Jeopardy! that even though I did not know the answer, I actually had the answer, as it had been given to me! As fate would have it, my friend's facebook post was such a subtly good hint — without being a spoiler -- that I didn’t get it until after the fact!

I wonder how often it happens -- with larger concerns than Facebook posts and Jeopardy! clues -- that we have been given   the answer on Monday that we are going to need on Wednesday.  The Universe has provided the information we need, but because we are human, we fail to realize.

Remember what Rilke says:

"Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms and like books that are now written in a very foreign tongue. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer."

from Letter Four: 16 July 1903
by Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 - 1926)

I also like this alternate translation from Stephen Mitchell:

"Perhaps then, someday far in the future,
you will gradually, without even noticing it,
live your way into the answer."

Gotta love Jeopardy!
Villanova
Moments of Truth
Running list of boo-boos
Purdue
Shakespeare
Olden days
Insomnia

Lucia & Katter

Christmas Card ~ 1916 ~ Facebook
By Adèle Söderberg (17 May 1880 — 3 March 1916)

There are so many great depictions of Santa Lucia -- including those by Betsy McCall & Carl Larsson -- and even a couple of movie scenes! However, this one by Soderberg -- new to me this year, thanks to my friend Steven, who follows all the customs -- has got to be my new favorite! Her sense of energy is so robust, as she strides purposefully through the night with her big fat home-baked luciakatter. Her little helper may be somewhat distracted, but not Lucia! Even the onlooker in the windown knows that Lucia means business! While Gertrude is known as the Patron Saint of Cats and Julian of Norwich as the Patron Saint of Cat Ladies, it is Lucia who is known for her cat - shaped cookies and saffron buns.

In honor of Lucia's delicious feline affiliations, here are a couple of the cutest cats I've seen all year:

I thought these illustrations were from the
Crystal Springs Cozy Witch Mysteries,
but, looking again, maybe not?
Does anyone know?

Why Christmas is Weird for Girls

Cartoon by Janie Stapleton,
posted by Allison Rablee Bryant,
Thanks Nikki!

Reminds me of the Christmas Story, which I want to like, if only it did not include the unhelpful message that boys are more important than girls and that ideal motherhood involves bearing children without having sex. Sadly, these are not healthy concepts for girls and young women to carry into adulthood.

In her novel August is a Wicked Month, Edna O'Brien explains the damaging double standard: "The great brainwash began in childhood. Slipped in between the catechism advocating chastity for women was the secret message that a man and a man's body was the true and absolute propitation" (118 - 119).

In her poem "Christmas Carols," Margaret Atwood warns against the exclusivity of the Virgin Mary: "think twice . . .

before you . . . single out one girl to play
the magic mother, in blue
& white, up on that pedestal,
perfect & intact, distinct
from those who aren't. Which means
everyone else."

Virgin Mary on Amazon

Every year around this time, I have to ask myself, could we not have something a little more life - affirming and consistent with reality? We all know where babies come from, right? We can still respect Mary, even if her child is conceived in the normal way, just like everybody else. And why isn't there a holy baby girl as well as a holy baby boy? Why can't we have A Twin Sister for Jesus?

No, I'm not just saying that because I happen to be a girl twin with a twin brother. I'm saying it because being part of the story is important. Hearing your pronoun omitted year after year is indeed -- precisely as the cartoonist says -- a weird thing to tell a kid.

Snow, Moon, Ginkgo

Halloween lingers, despite the snow . . .

by Terri Foss ~ amazon

"By Thanksgiving Day, the foliage of Broadway [in Golden, Georgia] had fully surrendered to autumn. The ground was awash in the copper tint of oak leaves, the buttery ochres of elm and maple, and the varied reds of sweet gum and dogwood.

"At one section of the Promenade, fallen leaves had drifted ankle deep at the curbside, like rust - colored confetti, in a way that children, and Theo, found irresistible. He stepped off the sidewalk and dragged his feet through the gathered softness as if wading through a stream of slivered almonds. He chuckled at his own playfulness.

"Entering the Boughery Neighborhood, he took note of three tall ginkgoes, as bright as Shekinah glory, blazing golden with evening light.

"The sun was fast disappearing below the tree line, taking with it the mild temperatures that had accompanied daylight. Theo was wrapped warmly . . . carrying a bottle of wine . . . as he made his way . . .

"On lawns and in windows throughout the Boughery, Chdristmas lights were already on display, a hint of what was to come in days and weeks ahead. It was a gladdening sight Theo made the final steps to Glissen House." (294 - 96, emphasis added)

from the novel Theo of Golden
by Allen Levi

**************

The UVA Ginkgo ~ Changing so quickly!

November 10th
The Pratt Ginkgo ~ UVA
November 14th

**************

November 17th

AND

The Last Full Moon of 2025

December 3rd ~ still looks autumnal!

Nativities ~ Chagall

Madonna of the Village (1988 - 1942)
&
Maternity (1954)

both by Marc Chagall (1887 - 1985)
[also FN & QK]

For more Nativities
see my recent post

Setting Up the Nativities

@The Fortnightly Kitti Carriker
A literary blog of connection & coincidence;
custom & ceremony

And for the upcoming
195th birthday
of Emily Dickinson

Emily Dickinson, Writer

@Kitti's List