Rosanne's Sketch Portfolio

Dickens for the New Year

Thanks to Clare Taylor Coleman for sharing
~ artwork by Brenda Dorsey ~
[still searching for source of quotation]

This one is from Our Mutual Friend, Chapter 2:

“Have a heart that never hardens,
and a temper that never tires,
and a touch that never hurts.”

Wishing Everyone a Very Cozy New Year!

Never the Old Year Ends

A Christmas card to my grandfather
from a friend in Texas, in 1958

Never the old year ends
but what you wish you had read more books!

I admit to slacking off toward the year's end,
but here are a few suggestions from

Kitti's List:

Uniquely Magic

&

The Year is Going

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

Last card I received from
my Grandma Adeline Carriker ~ 1980

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

These little skaters were
sent from my Grandma Carrie,
sometime in the 1960's.

She and my dentist
(RIP Dr. Marvin Cohen)
were the lone holdouts --
never to call me Kitti.

More vintage cards from my Grandpa Lindsey
and from Diane Feliciano's collection

Ever Bright Christmas Memories

From My Parents' Old LP Collection
Anyone else remember this one?
I don't have the actual LP,
just a photograph . . . and memories . . .
[click to play album]

For a few more Christmas memories
see my recent posts

80 Year Old Christmas Presents

&

Ever Bright Christmas Night

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

One Short Sleep

Past Three O'Clock
~ Only One More Sleep - or not! - til Christmas ~

And to all a goodnight!

Willa Cather Christmas

Paper Collage Angels from my friend Nikki
~~~~~
Court Jester from Christmas Company UK

There are so many things to love about Willa Cather's novel My Antonia. One of my favorites is Jim Burden's memory of decorating the Christmas tree with Jake and Otto:

"By the time we had placed the cold, fresh-smelling little tree in a corner of the sitting-room, it was already Christmas Eve. After supper we all gathered there, and even grandfather, reading his paper by the table, looked up with friendly interest now and then. The cedar was about five feet high and very shapely. We hung it with the gingerbread animals, strings of popcorn, and bits of candle which Fuchs had fitted into pasteboard sockets. Its real splendours, however, came from the most unlikely place in the world—from Otto’s cowboy trunk. I had never seen anything in that trunk but old boots and spurs and pistols, and a fascinating mixture of yellow leather thongs, cartridges, and shoemaker’s wax. From under the lining he now produced a collection of brilliantly coloured paper figures, several inches high and stiff enough to stand alone. They had been sent to him year after year, by his old mother in Austria. There was a bleeding heart, in tufts of paper lace; there were the three kings, gorgeously apparelled, and the ox and the ass and the shepherds; there was the Baby in the manger, and a group of angels, singing; there were camels and leopards, held by the black slaves of the three kings. Our tree became the talking tree of the fairy tale; legends and stories nestled like birds in its branches. Grandmother said it reminded her of the Tree of Knowledge. We put sheets of cotton wool under it for a snow-field, and Jake’s pocket-mirror for a frozen lake." ~ Chapter 9

More Cather on FN and KL

~~~~~

Felt Nativity Set
from Christmas Company UK
[also literary figures]

Winter Solstice Flamingos

The Holly & The Ivy
& the Winter Solstice Flamingos

This year, the Winter Solstice kicks in
on December 21 at 10:27 p.m. Eastern Time (USA).

The Zodiacal Sign of Capricorn kicks in
on December 22, thus we make the following
quick leap from flamingos to goats . . .

The Sun Capers

The sun capers
Down the goat's short sky.

Nothing fruits but
Holly, flowers but ivy.

Ehemeral
Tinsel, glass balls, whisky,

Crackers, signal
The birth of a god.

~ by U. A. Fanthorpe ~
from her book of Christmas Poems: BC - AD
given to us several Christmases ago
by Gerry's Auntie Jan,
the fashioner of our fabulous ~ St. Nicholas!

Autumnal Equinox Flamingos

Winter Solstice Flamingos

Merry Christmas Neighbor

Listen to Your Sons!

Living United

All About the Expectation

Almost Solstice, Still Advent

Thanks to my friend Steven
for this serene illustration of approaching Winter,
"where more light replaces less"

Artist: Wendy Andrew ~ Facebook ~ Autumn
Not sure if you'll be getting what you want for Christmas this year? The following Advent readings reminded me that we already have a surfeit of gifts:

From Pastor Nadia Bolz - Weber:
Not Feeling "Christmas-y"?
I can stop treating my life as a reward, when it is really a gift. . . .

Because this pattern of time, this story, these rituals and practices and songs have gone on long before us and will continue long after us. . . .

. . . may your vision be sharpened to take in what you missed during all those years you saw what you expected to see and felt what you expected to feel. . . .
and

From Architect Duo Dickinson
Circles Of Hell In First World Problems
We are just us, with all the gifts and flaws and hopes and fears they impose on us.

Because we were given them. But some us can hear Faith in the fear, Grace in the hope, even happiness in moments when our full incompetence does not matter. Perhaps at death, surely at birth.

This is the conspired Advent, where more light replaces less . . . . . . I did not get what I expected to get (I expected getting, because I wanted.)

**********

As my friend Joni always says,
"Everything is Gift":

a lone autumn leaf, a holiday mantelpiece,
a cozy chair, an AWEsome book; the list is endless.

**********

A Gift
Thanks to Thomas Jay Oord
for the use of these breathtaking photos

See also:
Katherine May ~ Loreena McKennitt ~ Margaret Renkl

J. C.

"The Father, the Son and J.C."
Season 6 Episode 4 ~ Dec 16, 2001

Even if you're not a King of the Hill fan, I hope you can find a copy of this episode somewhere, if you haven't seen it already.

I re- watch it every Christmas! Bobby mistakes Jimmy Carter for Jesus Christ because of the "J.C." on his overalls, his work as a carpenter for Habitat, and his effort to resolve a family dispute between Bobby's dad and grandfather.

RIP
Jimmy Carter
October 1, 1924 ~ December 29, 2024

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

Podcast of Christmas Past
Neil Gaiman reads
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

Lucia Day in the Movies

The Ref

How many movies feature St. Lucia Day?
Well, here are two!

The Ref
with Judy Davis, Denis Leary, and Kevin Spacey

and

The Wife
with Glenn Close and Jonathan Pryce.

The Wife

As imdb points out:

"The Lucia celebration is on the morning of the 13th of December, the Nobel prize ceremony is held on the 10th of December so the time-line is wrong."

But who's counting, right?

I'm just thrilled to see a live Lucia Breakfast scene
and hear the beautiful early morning carol
with which the Lucia choristers serenade Close & Pryce
(even if only for 90 seconds: 25:27 26:48).

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

Previous Lucia Day Posts
2011 ~ Santa Lucia & More Carl Larsson

2012 ~ Day of Light (also Fortnightly)

2013 ~ Luciakatter

2020 ~ Three Sisters Photo of Facebook

2023 ~ Lucia Day in the Movies

Love this painting of Lucia
and friends in the snow!
By Maja Lindberg

Plastic Cherries

Back in the day, we kids cooked dinner most evenings when we got home from high school, and my little brother thought it would be funny to put these cartoons on the refrigerator. They have been taped inside my kitchen scrapbook for 50 years or so!

This is the same little brother who, after sampling our mother's fruitcake ingredients, referred to the glacé cherries as "plastic cherries." To this day, that's what we call them, an accurate description for those who do not like them and a term of endearment for those who do.

Because it's always "fruitcake weather" somewhere, Gerry and I try to keep our pantry well - stocked with plenty of "cherries, candied" and "pineapple, candied." Such was our quest last January, because we had used up our entire supply in December, making the Christmas Cake. We had concluded our weekly shopping, except for "plastic cherries" which had not appeared in our perusal of the store. Gerry said he would wait patiently near the cash registers while I searched one more time.

First, I re- checked the holiday baking display, which had looked like this before Christmas . . .

. . . but had sadly dwindled away to nearly nothing in the New Year, certainly no candied cherries. Were there truly none to be had? I continued looking in what seemed like the most likely places: the regular baking aisle, with pie - fillings and so forth; the produce section, which sometimes harbors dried fruits as well as fresh; the breakfast aisle with prunes and raisins; the canned fruit section. My last guess was the section of novelty snacks, near the nuts, featuring dried strawberries and mango slices. But no plastic cherries. Where else would they be hiding?

Ready to admit that I couldn't find them anywhere, I headed to the front of the store where Gerry was checking his phone, casually leaning against a cartful of sale items, that -- coincidence! -- just so happened to include all of the season's leftover cherries and pineapple, marked down to half - price! Instead of defeat, we succeeded in securing a year's supply and more. The thing about that plastic fruit -- it never goes bad!

A pantry well stocked
with plastic cherries and plastic pineapple
(and dozens of ladyfingers for the Sherry Trifle):

THIS YEAR'S DELICIOUS
CHRISTMAS CAKE!

Even Morning, Even Dusk

Thanks to my niece Chantel
for sending this sweet animated graphic!

One Candle Now, Then Seven More

I grew up in a family that did not tell
the story. I am listening to it now:

Even the morning you see a robin
flattened on the street, you hear

another in a tree, the notes
they’ve taught each other, bird

before bird before we were born.
And elsewhere, the rusty bicycle

carries the doctor all the way
across an island. He arrives in time.

Somewhere his sister adds water
to the soup until payday. And

over the final hill in a Southwestern
desert, a gas station appears. No,

the grief has not forgotten my name,
but this morning I tied

my shoelaces. Outside I can force
a wave at every face who might

need it. We might
spin till we collapse, but we still

have a hub: Even at dusk,
the sun isn’t going anywhere.

We have lamps. The story insists
it just looks like there’s only

enough oil to last one night.

by Brad Aaron Modlin

Thanks to my friend Beata
for this ethereal photograph!

See also:

"To the Astronaut Who Hopes
Life on Another Planet Will Be More Bearable"

&

“What You Missed That Day
You Were Absent from Fourth Grade”

&

Everyone at This Party Has Two Names

&

All of my previous
Hanukkah Posts

Dusk

Countdown to Christmas

A year ago, I posted a few of our favorite
Advent candles.
Now for some favorite calendars:

A Miniature (6" x 8") London Scene from Auntie Jan

A Little Library ~ Thanks Kathleen!

A 3-D Playmobile Set from the McCabes
A childhood gift to Ben & Sam . . .

. . . with toys for a snow scene
tucked inside each box.

Another charming gift from the McCabes,
a reprinted 19th C German calendar:

Another German import
from our friend Rebecca
for Ben's First Christmas ~ 1990

Advent Calendar
"Bethlehem in Germany,
Glitter on the sloping roofs,
Breadcrumbs on the windowsills,
Candles in the Christmas trees . . ."

~ by Gjertrud Schnackenberg (b 1953)

Click here to read the continuation of this
beautiful poem (under copyright protection).
Stanza by stanza, Schnackenberg,
captures every magical image portrayed
on these classic paper Advent calendars.

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

Also from Auntie Jan ~ sent from England
for Sam's First Christmas ~ 1993
Victorian Cats Advent Calendar
by Liz Underhill

A new choice this year,
more adorable felines!
Cats by Lesley Anne Ivory

Dear to our hearts, from previous years . . .
Art Institute of Chicago

Norman Rockwell's Stockbridge Village

The New Millenniun

And Jostein Gaarder's Christmas Mystery,
a novelistic Advent journey in book - form! See my book blog for more Holiday Favorites.

From Hallows to Advent

Thanks to my friend Steven for posting
this fanciful, dichotomous depiction
of the ever - changing holiday calendar!
See Facebook & 2024

Here's another one!

Thanks to Professor Brigit Farley, who writes:
"This is one of my favorite Slavic words, "Listopad"
-- it means 'autumn,' and it describes what happens in autumn.
List=leaf, and pad=fall. It's Leaf fall
-- at least in some of the Slavic languages."

I'm a bit late putting away Halloween this year, but that's okay. As the above graphics illustrate, there's no harm in stretching these things out. Sometimes it's a lengthy transition.

When I finally cleared the dining room of all the autumn decor, little Ellie took one look and said:

"Where is that pumpkin and that football?"

She has grown used to seeing it
over the past couple of months,
by day and by night . . .

Never fear, little one!
Advent candles and calendars will soon appear!