Busy December

December is always jam-packed with music, get-togethers, party food, letter/card writing, and gift-giving. Some people add decorating, shopping, and mailing to that list, but there is very little of that here. My quilt-robed Santa and my Boehm porcelain nativity set (which is in a china cabinet all year) are my usual. 

Music (singing or hearing) is usually my favorite part of Christmas. USM's orchestra and community chorus presented a beautiful program at Main Street Baptist Church. My amazingly talented friends Lei and Xin played a program for us at University Baptist Church. We decorate with our blue cut-out banners along with poinsettias and greenery. I picked up the poinsettias from Vesly's nursery--what a sight! Hattiesburg's Historic Neighborhood is beautiful with candles on every street. We enjoyed visiting on Jennifer and John-Mark Brown's porch.

USM Orchestra/Choirs Holiday Spectacular

Zhaolei Xie and Xin Zhang

     

Hanging the banners

All four banners 

Poinsettias at Vesly's Nursery

Candlit Hattiesburg Historic Neighborhood

South Mississippi Art Association has its annual show in December and it is fun to show my fiber art and have it accepted as ART along with oil, watercolor, and sculpture. My Cheesecloth Man with Pipe was a hit (and sold), but this kids' art piece, "Gruffalo in the Jungle" (inspired by Ellee Rigney's drawing), drew too many comments on Facebook to count. 

Cheesecloth Man with Pipe

With Gruffalo in the Jungle

Sunflower with 2nd place ribbon

My local quilt guild, Pine Belt Quilters, works throughout the year, and it is rewarding in December to see the joy the quilts bring to the agencies that receive them. We filled several tables with the quilts and stockings, toys, and personal items. 

Rhonda Mowry and Karen Weinberg moving quilts from Choral Hall

Table piled with stockings, toys, personal items

One of the tables of quilts

Agency reps tell us how the quilts are appreciated
 (Akwete Muhammad with Habitat for Humanity speaking)

My sasanqua bush has been blooming the whole month of December. With only a few really cold nights, the begonias left over from summer still look good. I'll leave them as long as they are blooming. The larger pots have been moved into the garage. 

Sasanqua bush in full bloom

Begonias still blooming

Pots moved into garage

I love the pink carpet 

Introducing Lacey, My Outdoor Cat

Meet Lacey

   I have mentioned several times the orange marmalade-colored stray cat that moved in under my little shop building in June with her four (about) 8-week old kittens. I didn't need another cat but I couldn't let this mama starve. After trapping and getting two kittens to the shelter, I trapped her and got her spayed and released back here. The last two kittens disappeared and mama cat came and went, sometimes disappearing for days before showing back up. She was very vocal but kept her distance. She's beautiful, with splotches of color rather than being tabby-striped.

   I called her Kitty or Mama but thought if she stayed I needed to give her a proper name. Last week when the yard guys were replacing the drainage pipe across the back yard, they discovered a dog tag for Lacey, the German Shepherd who used to live here with her former owner (how long ago before I bought the house in 2004?). So it seemed fitting for this cat to be called Lacey.

   She has gradually learned to trust me, following me to the mailbox or on walks, running to me for food, and finally accepting brief pettings and even jumping up into my lap. I have made a warm place in the garage for her to sleep on cold nights if she chooses. She enjoys watching for birds in the sunshine of the back yard, but is sometimes gone for hours--to her other home? She is my cat but on her terms. She has briefly checked out the house (when I had Elizabeth and Rahrah closed up) and seems to understand that they will not permit her inside.

A neighborhood racoon discovered free food and learned to get into the food supply. Lacey joined in the fun. I have since secured the cat food and bird seed in two Oscar coolers with locking handles.