~This little mouse and the little horse are part of a very large Swiss made Christmas ski toy set. I only have them and 2 little girl mice. They seem to actually be made of some type of fur, and must have been made more that 40 years ago. I cannot keep them out for viewing . I have a cat problem......
~Here is THE cat problem. Doesn't she look so very peaceful , and innocent? And why not, she has been on her nightly (and daily) mission of seek out, catch,and destroy . I suppose if I did that every night I would need a long and peaceful nap to dream and ponder the next days' destruction. Here (below ) she is napping in the midst of one of my Nativity scenes. I have placed NONE of my little Nativity sheep near this creche. Miss Marple has killed too many of my little sheep.
~Just look at these sheep. The shepherd here has been unable to protect them from Miss Marple. She seizes them and takes them off to her various lairs around the house and completely and utterly destroys them!She has a real fondness for the black sheep. "
In a cats' eyes ,all things belong to cats." English Proverb
~Oh no !Miss Marple has discovered my new toys. I just know she has designs on Rudolph. I don't think the Abominable Snowman can do as much damage to Rudolph as Miss Marple can.
~Oh no you don't there Miss Marple. Leave my toys alone, go kill a real mouse.
~No!!!! I said a REAL mouse...these are mice I made at least 25 years ago. I made a lot of them, I sold a lot of them, I gave a lot of them away. They are now up high on a cupboard, because they would most definitely be carried off and destroyed by Miss Marple if they were down lower where the viewing would be easier for me, or you, or the grandchildren.
~Back to these little guys. I had them high in a shelf in my craft room, and kept finding the little mouse on the floor , in the hall,all over the house. Yes, I witnessed Miss Marple jump up onto the shelf, grab him and take off with him to have her way with him.And her way is to claw, chew, kick and bat around the poor defenseless little toy. He and the horse are looking battered and now I will need to give them shelter from the cunning and destructive feline I love. "
Honest as the cat when the meat is out of sight." English Proverb
~It is not only the cats who love to frolic and feast and destroy our Christmas decorations. A few years ago we had another litter of Lab puppies around for the holidays. Hubby and I went Christmas shopping and apparently did not close the back door firmly enough. We had a litter of 6 week old puppies on the back porch, with heat lamp and deep bedding to keep them warm. We came home to the devastation a litter of Lab puppies can do to a Christmas tree if left to their own devices. The picture below is cute, but what we saw was far from the image Christmas cards paint. The ornaments were all over the place, broken, chewed, wet! The carpet was littered with broken bits of the glass balls, puppy poop and vomit ( they did vomit up quite a few pieces of ornaments) and the mess of puppy play was everywhere.
The puppies were genuinely surprised by my reaction. I knew that as soon as we were greeted at the front door by the happy and excited to see us puppies, that I was in for a scene I did not want to see. I remember crying at the broken ornaments. There were some very special childhood ornaments totally destroyed. But, I got over it. After seeing broken glass I was a bit afraid some of the puppies had eaten glass and was more worried by the damage ingested Christmas ornaments could have done to little , happy, puppies. The puppies were fine, my Hubby was good to me and cleaned up most of the mess. The carpet was shampooed.......the puppies (all but one who still lives here ) went to new homes. Happy ending here.
~If only it would have looked this peaceful. Only in story books and Christmas cards!~
~Here is a little pastoral scene I keep on the front porch table. The Baby's Tears plant grows well in the shade and the porch seems to shelter it from the harshest weather. If you have read my blog for even a short while you can tell I very much enjoy little vignettes and miniatures. Really, my house is normal people size , and not cluttered. There is a place for almost everything around here except in my craft room...I digress. The inspiration for a lot of my little Nativity scenes and my little sheep comes from a magazine article I read in December 1987, in a magazine called Early American Life, which has not been published now for many years. There was an article entitled "Sister Benel's Sheep".
~This is a picture( below ) from that article, a representation of a Moravian Putz, or Nativity scene, or creche. The article went on to quote "Benels' sheep were wondrous to behold! They were shaped out of clay, then cotton was wrapped around them, four matches were stuck into represent legs, and a splash of Chinese vermillion was daubed on the end where the nose belonged." A Century of Moravian Sisters, by Elizabeth Lehman Meyers
~I have been researching Sister Benel and the Moravians and what I have discovered is so interesting and inspirational. First, there are written accounts of Sister Benel. She was a very friendly and jovial woman. She would go into people's homes once a week and do their mending for them and enjoy their company. It sounds like they enjoyed hers too, for she had a good sense of humor and liked to joke. She was also known for her handmade gift boxes she gave with her mint cakes inside. I almost did not post tonight because I was engrossed in reading about the Moravians, their founding, theology, and mission philosophy. I lost track of time, so I printed up some info to read later.
~Years ago Hubby and I were studying Missions, missionary work and what the Bible says , or does NOT say about it...we were the most impressed with the Moravians and their view of missions and how the missions were to be carried out...I am still impressed with what I have read. I am going to try to get Hubby to write on this because in the 1980's he went on a mission to Honduras and Nicaragua . He was basically a pack horse and support for a team of doctors who went into the jungles to give medical aid to the Miskito Indians. What he saw and learned is deeply moving..but the reason I bring this up is because there are many, many Christians there in the jungles who are the fruit of the work of the Lord using a group of Believers called Moravians,almost 2 centuries ago. The lasting fruit of the Holy Spirit. I would like Hubby to tell about men who witnessed the slaughter of their families , and atrocities we only read about, and these men still praise God and call on Him...
~Maybe I will write more on the Moravians at another time, but you can look them up...the group was founded by Count Ludwig von Zinzendorf, according to the authors of the research I found, but from what I read , the Count would object to this statement, for he would say they were CALLED by God, and doing only what He required, and by His mercy and grace, the work of God using the foolishness of man ( Zinzendorf ), the fruit of their work is still ripening!
~"And in the same region there were some shepherds staying out in the fields, and keeping watch over their flock by night." Luke 2:8
