Of gingerbread and A.A. Milne and melancholy...

 December has been a month of melancholy.  Seems an endless round of work, weather, wood.  Work because my daughter moved to her own place just down the lane, but oh the stuff to move.  Weather because it's been cold & frozen and on Thanksgiving Day (how ironic), our water line broke and we were without water until next day, then completely repaired day after that.  We had Thanksgiving dinner on Saturday.....definitely some things to be thankful for, if we weren't already.

 We heat with wood and the stove seems to devour it like melted chocolate in a desperate woman's mouth.

I'm relating to Eeyore (from Winnie the Pooh by Milne, if you're THAT uninformed!).  Feeling blue & friendless at times.  Wonder if the combination of chronic illness and the dreaded 'change of life' can do that to a person.........

 Spending too much time indoors, I guess.  Reminiscing over past years when the children were young and the calendar days were full of activity. 

Well, 'nuf of that!  Onward.
My 'new' sewing room is part studio to work in and very much a museum of relics - sewing machines from the late 1800s to the 1960s.  Lots of them.  Can you say....eccentric?

 This is a little piece of importance in my daily life.  I sit here and drink coffee, read from Our Daily Bread devotional and E-Sword (Bible online), pray for the needs that come to mind and mull over the day ahead.  I read a handful of interesting blogs, the headline events, the 10-day weather outlook and sneak a peek into the windows of my friends' homes via Facebook.  Check to see if my Ebay stuff is selling.

 Cookies are in important part of December.  Gingerbread men can chase the blues away in a heartbeat (if they had one....).


 I made and sold several batches of these guys on Ebay.  I wanted a bowl-full for myself, but I forgot and sold them all.....

 This is Dr. Zhivago.  He began to look like a Cossack from the moment I began sewing him together.   Just for the record, though I haven't seen that movie since I was a child, I remember that the scenery was amazing but the plot line was rather immoral. 

This snowman-Zhivago is a much nicer fellow.  

 In between moving my daughter's stuff out and hauling MILLIONS of sewing machines UPSTAIRS to my new spot, I also made some of these little fellers.

Then, I had an object lesson.  It started with this 1950s-60s sewing machine.  It looks great on the outside.  I cleaned and polished it up, oiled & serviced it, the cam stitch levers work smoothly and there's no rust or scum anywhere.  It is a FABULOUS machine!   Except it doesn't work.   The dumb thing is froze up solid!  I've done everything I can think of as far as freeing it up.  The only thing for it now is a vat of kerosene or some major doses of KROIL....outside.
Made me think about people.  Sometimes we look fabulous (ok, so we'll just go for neat & tidy) on the outside and most of the important things seem to be in place, but on the inside we may be hard hearted or stiff necked, or hiding other unpleasantries.   People often are not what they appear on the outside.  Before I judge people by what I see, I hope I'll think of this and pray for them instead.