{2016 beginnings}

Happy weekend!
Hope you're having a fab fab Sunday!
I've been enjoying 2016 so far--last weekend we rented a car and went to a fab old piano shop (a converted old school house) and also went antiquing:

{my dad testing the pianos}

I found some great mirrors and an old dressing table, which had in one of the drawers all this lace and newspapers dated back to the 1947!

Yesterday I wasn't feeling so well so I stayed close to the fire most of the day (& you can see the bookshelves are almost done!):

Then today, it snowed! so we went for a lovely walk in the snow along the canal:

Must put the roast in the oven.

xo

L

{quotable thursdays}

It's the first Sunday of Advent this weekend--I'm going to actually get out of the house, go to a Christmas market & attend an advent service. Here's hoping my knee behaves!
I'm so looking forward to seeing lovely London in all of its Christmas glory.
England is a beautiful place to be at this time of year--it's crisp & chilly--but not so cold or unbearable like Montreal! The shoppes are all beautifully decorated, the pubs look warm & cosy with promises of mulled wine and a warm fire to curl up beside, and the streets are decked in fantastic Christmas cheer!
So with that, my quote today is a poem about this time of year:

Sybil of months and worshipper of winds
I love thee, rude and boisterous as thou art.

And scraps of joy my wandering ever finds

'Mid thy uproarious madness--when the start

Of sudden tempests stir the forest leaves

Into hoarse fury, till the shower set free

Still the huge swells and ebb the mighty heaves

That swing the forest like a troubled sea.

I love the wizard noise, and rave in turn

Half vacant thoughts and self-imagined rhymes

-John Clare

{tree procurement!}

London is full of so many wonderful things including...

of course...the fantastic skating rink at my alma mater, the Courtauld (Somerset House)--which I won't be able to enjoy this year because of my knee...but maybe next year!:

I'm so looking forward to the Belgravia Christmas Market:

check out this list of Christmassy things to do in London by Red.

Then there's always the English countryside of course:

Of sudden tempests stir the forest leaves...

Happy Christmas Season!

xo

L

ps: I realise it's William Blake's birthday today, and so, click here for one of my favourite Blake poem's set to Christmas music often sung for advent.

pps: I realise it's American Thanksgiving, so for all of you Americans--Happy Thanksgiving!