a year in photos

↑ this photo won reserved grand prize in my local fair.

↑ this photo won grand prize in my local fair thanks to my nephew's angelic expressions

a year in photos.
farewell '13!

...and I sorta cheated, I skipped July and instead put two photos from August...
oh and here is a list of my favorite memory filled posts from this year.

A traipse
Sundays
Can I just put all of March?
A Day at the Lake
Pausing Those Moments
Country Stores, Country Drives
My first Vimeo
Amidst the Simple Beauty of Nature
Nostalgic, Bittersweet
All of August
Roadtrips - Travel - Big City - Wanderlust
Winter is a Pallid Summer

Cheers!

I heard the bells on Christmas day!

I heard the bells on Christmas Day
Their old, familiar carols play,
and wild and sweet
The words repeat
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!
And thought how, as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along
The unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!
Till ringing, singing on its way,
The world revolved from night to day,
A voice, a chime,
A chant sublime
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!
Then from each black, accursed mouth
The cannon thundered in the South,
And with the sound
The carols drowned
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!
It was as if an earthquake rent
The hearth-stones of a continent,
And made forlorn
The households born
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!
And in despair I bowed my head;
"There is no peace on earth," I said;
"For hate is strong,
And mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!"
Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
"God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
The Wrong shall fail,
The Right prevail,
With peace on earth, good-will to men."

~Longfellow

according to instagram

this past weekend has been one of the best of the year.
my aunt, her fiance, my two cousins and grandparents came up from Texas.
we laughed, ate too much sugar, stayed up till 1 talking and playing games in my sister's upstairs.
we had a huge evening of food, charades, apples to apples, spades and lots of happy noise.
oh, and lots of sugar
and more sugar
and even more sugar
but it's Christmastime so that's okay, right?
(okay, I was feeling a little guilty with all the sugar that I have devoured so about 30 minutes ago I took a long bike ride with a little friend we're babysitting today)
(oh and these pictures above have very little to do with all that's happened this weekend, they're just recent instagrams)

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas!

smalltown Christmas parade

my tiny town had a Christmas parade downtown yesterday. it was so full of happy cheer.
there were carolers singing and free hot cocoa and lots of lights and smiling cold faces...
ahh, i live in a darling little town.

winter is a pallid summer

the trees are bare,
the leaves are dry
and the grass is browned.
everything is seemingly bereft of life
and all things crisp and brittle to the touch .
the sharp frigid wind blowing strong,
chilling all things in it's path.

winter is a pallid summer

la neige tombe !

la neige tombe! the snow has fallen! this winter's first snowfall.