I can feel time running out, Mother arrives from NZ on Thursday and I suspect time to blog may be limited by the list of things we have to see in Sydney while she is here… So, today you get five decos for the price of one …
This angel is one I picked up, if I remember correctly at a gift shop at the Royal Oak Mall in Auckland, NZ.
I used to live right on that Royal Oak roundabout from around 1994-1995. It’s a dangerous place that roundabout ask any [normal] Auckland driver…
The most notable thing that happened there was the acquisition of Casey the next cat in the line of Deeleea’s pets. A gorgeous female with long hair strawberry blonde hair. And she was a total airhead to match it too. You know how it goes, a lovely cat but not exactly bright…
She disappeared once, and I was ever so slightly distraught, walking round the neighbourhood calling for her, I rang all the local vets to see if she’d been brought in, no one had seen her. Everyday I’d come home wondering if she’d be there when I got back from work… but nothing… so I got on my knees one night and poured out my breaking heart to God… please find the cat… and sure enough the next day when I got home there she was!
My flatmate had taken a call from the vet who had taken a call from a neighbour who was feeding the little miss who wouldn’t go home!!!
Sheesh…
Made me very happy that God hears even those kind of apparently unimportant prayers though…
This angel is another from the Victorian set I mentioned earlier and is hanging off the top of the tree. I think she’s a bit girly for the kind of angel that went ahead and freaked Mary out don’t you? |
I’m not sure if this one’s an angel…. she could be I guess… Still she’s another gift from Nobill and the Chairman. She’s significant because of her origins actually… you’ll notice the blue and yellow thread that’s hanging her from the tree. It’s a nod to the colors of Sweden I think you’ll find. Sweden a country that owes much to a certain annual prize given to people who have done work of note over the years in various scientific, economic and humanitarian efforts. I had moved from Auckland to Whangarei to take up a temporary post while a new order was established in our organisation. Of course it turned out to be a longer term post than anyone planned… Anyway that’s another story. As it happened I was working for a Pay TV company and as was customary we had the tv on constantly in the office [bonus!]. For some reason one afternoon we had it set to CNN… very unusual behaviour for a bunch of sport and movie freaks… but still, it happened occasionally just to give the office some variety. I was cashing up at the counter that afternoon and an article about the Nobel Prize winners for the year was on, for some peculiar reason it piqued my interest so I turned to watch it. Well, I’m not going to draw this story out any longer than necessary… it just so happened that the winner in one of the scientific disciplines that year was none other than Nobill and a colleage of his who had been working on similar stuff across the Atlantic. I had to look twice, he’d grown a beard I’d never seen and it had been a good 10 years since I’d seen him in the flesh! It was such a short article I wasn’t even sure if it was him so I jumped on line at the library on the way home to find out more and to make sure it was indeed the Nobill I knew! (It was) And funnily enough, again one night, I came home very late from some event, turned on the tv for company and there again was a tv special on the laureates for the year… This time I actually got to hear him speak and had it confirmed once again that it was indeed the Nobill I knew, I couldn’t mistake the voice!!! Well, knock me over with a feather…. I was the ‘adopted’ daughter of a Nobel laureate. This has been a very cool thing, because the prize means he gets to travel a lot and that travel has meant he and the Chairman have been to see me in Sydney twice in recent years! Yay!!! So, we still keep in touch, they still send the odd Christmas decoration for the tree/house. Actually, the next two are from them too… I’ve put them in because they don’t have their own stories… Funny how life goes huh? You just never know who you’re going to meet… and who they’re going to be!! So be careful to entertain strangers – they may be angels in disguise!! |
This is the Capitol Building in DC – all decked out! |
This needs very little explanation… except that it’s one of my favourites… |
deeleea says
Thanks Deborah!!!
http://www.serve.com/shea/germusa/lucia.htm says
Nope, not going mad, see link above: "…A young woman wearing a white gown, a red sash and a crown of lingonberry twigs and blazing candles emerges out of the darkness carrying a tray of rich saffron buns and steaming coffee to wake the family…"
http://www.wiblog.com/rosamundi says
The Christmas decoration you’re not sure about, the one on the blue and gold ribbon, is, I think, something to do with the feast of St Lucy. Big festival in Sweden, young maidens go to church with candles on their headdresses. Sorry for sounding vague, but I read it in a book a long time ago.