We were having lunch at a favourite restaurant overlooking the lake when we spied a reindeer.
Is Santa about to make an appearance? Well, maybe not …… since this is not a reindeer.
In North America, reindeer are called caribou (unless they’re domesticated, in which case they‘re called reindeer – confused yet?), but they’re actually the same animal, domesticated or not.
The one above is actually a lovely little forest deer, but his appearance was very appropriate I thought, especially for December 23.
Do you like our December weather? It’s a fantastic break from all the rain!
Every Friday for the next month I am going to post a poinsettia photo; after all, even if you don’t celebrate any of the December observances, they are a lovely bright spot in a usually cold, gloomy weather period!
Sparkling Punch poinsettias on a greenhouse shelf.
I’ve seen many types of poinsettias before, but not this particular variant. They are indeed rather “sparkly” and the name is very appropriate.
I tried to find out what type of butterfly this is – it bears some resemblance to a white monarch – but I’m not sure and to me there seem to be differences.
Regardless of its type, it sure is beautiful. I followed it around for a bit, trying to get photos as it went about its nectar-collecting day; it was so lovely to see.
Halloween, or All Hallows Eve, in its original form is an ancient Celtic religious celebration that welcomed the harvest. People feasted and partied and in order to cautiously ward off ghosts, they lit bonfires and wore costumes to scare them away.
The advent of Christianity meant that elements of the ancient harvest festival were frowned on and the early church decided to incorporate it into the new November 1 All Saints Day, which was meant to eventually replace Samhain.
But things got a little muddled. “Halloween” is derived from All Hallows Eve, the name given to the evening before November 1, which is when Christians are to recognise and venerate the hallowed or consecrated and holy saints. Except things didn’t completely go that way.
The Samhain traditions remained largely untouched, regardless of Pope Gregory’s long-ago efforts back in AD 1000 to replace the celebration with a Christian one.
Most people don’t realise that the name “Halloween” is the shortened form of a Christian religious observance meant to overtake and eventually remove the old Samhain beliefs and practises, but Samhain lives on and the religious importance of November 1 has often been forgotten.
In the Net! - Pictures and Stories of Life 