Sunday, December 20, 2020

It's Christmas time in the city

Despite being an avowed country girl, I must confess the song "Silver Bells: It's Christmas Time in the City" is one of my favorite secular Christmas tunes. Go figure.

For the first time, we're living urban during Christmas and it's kinda neat. For example, yesterday I kept hearing what sounded like drums, but couldn't place the sound. After a few minutes, I looked out our back window and saw a small three-person music group, socially distanced in an elevated parking lot, serenading passers-by. It was great.


Naturally, all storefronts and windows are dolled up, including the World's Most Fabulous Used Bookstore that I'll be very sorry to leave behind. (Let's just say I've given them a fair bit of business in the short time we've been here.)

I also liked seeing this Little Free Library, something I'd heard about but had never seen in person.

It's a pity this little nook is so far away from our place, or I'd stuff it with a number of books I've read and can pass on to others.

And there have been other pretty sights too, such as a new snowfall on landscaping and trees.




It's probably no accident I tend to focus on little bits of nature, such as this snow-covered nest left over from last summer...

Or snow bending down branches outside our window.

And of course, people are adding pretty touches of color to their homes.

One evening we experienced a strange phenomenon. On a moonless night -- remember, moonless -- the air was lit up as if the moon was full. We postulated the city lights were bouncing off both a low cloud cover as well as snow on the ground. The photos below (un-enhanced in any way) were taken at 9:30 at night, at a time when our street is normally very dark since we have no streetlights. It was almost light enough to read by. Top photo is from our front porch, bottom photo from the back of the house.

But despite the temporary charms of city life, it's time for us to leave and move to our new home. Today -- Sunday -- is moving day. So we'll say goodbye to the lights and color, and get ready for another chapter of our Adventure.

14 comments:

  1. Good luck on your move! On my last one I said never again. Hope that holds true. Looking for some before photos of your new place.

    ReplyDelete
  2. You are so right! city lights bounce off the clouds and light up the night. It is pretty. We rarely get snow, but the lights and snow make the night bright.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hoping your move goes swift and safe. Merry Christmas folks!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Every place has its own beauty if you're open to it.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Patrice, that sounds about just the right amount of time to spend in a city. Good luck with the move!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Good luck! Can't wait to see the new place.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I'm sure everyone is as excited as I am as you and your family move to your new home. We are awaiting pictures! Merry Christmas!
    Jeff in Oklahoma

    ReplyDelete
  8. Your new adventure is beautifully off and running!! It will be a sweet sweet thing, to be HOME for Christmas!! Your NEW HOME !!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Depend on Patrice to find the beauty in the world wherever she is. And to take fine photos of it.
    And I also admire your understanding of the political life. I read your every blog and your every treatise on WND. I seldom disagree with your written word, but then it is usually only a matter of degree. I'm often more angry (about national politics and the far left) than you are. And more upset than you dare to express about supposedly conservative politicians, and the way they don't act in our interest once they have obtained their political office.
    Wishing Patrice and Don an uneventful, successful move; and them and all their readers a happy Christmas with their families, and a better year in 1921 than we've had this year.

    Duane

    ReplyDelete
  10. I'm so excited for you as you move and settle into your new home. Although moving is a lot of work, I've always found the unpacking and "settling in" time to be quite an enjoyable experience. I hope you find it the same as you start this new chapter. Can't wait to see the updates. Jenny

    ReplyDelete
  11. Such pretty photos! We are praying for a white Christmas. Why do I live in Wisconsin if I can’t have a white Christmas!? :) When our kids were little our family made up a term for the light caught between snow and the clouds... we call it “snow sky”.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Cities used to be nice places. Not as nice as the country, but they had their uses. Then between the democrats, the pharisees, and entitlement mentality parasites, cities began to morph into the fetid swamps most of them have become. So, sad, but most of the people in cities voted for the sewage they now live in.

    Hope your move to the new "farm" comes between blizzards.

    Merry Christmas.

    ReplyDelete
  13. I too like that song and odd form me as well being 'country' at heart.
    Merry Christmas and my your new home be overflowing with blessings :-)

    ReplyDelete
  14. Patrice, I have read your blog for many years and am always amazed at the beauty you find in the everyday things. Since I also live in Idaho, I pass over many of the things that you photograph, but I fail to find the beauty in them that you do. Thanks so much for reminding me of the beauty of Idaho and for sharing your gift through your wonderful photos.

    ReplyDelete