Yesterday didn't quite go to plan. Instead of baking and sewing I cleaned up the shame of my life the Office. Daisydad is a hoarder, the desk, a big partners desk was piled high (about 60cm high ) in "stuff" I went through it all - four things (A4 sheets of paper were mine). So after a few hours the office is one computer desk, the dead computer, and two bookcases lighter we added a bigger bookcase for all the law books and moved the desk. It is an oddly shaped room because our house has a "kink" in it. So now it is clean and tidy and a great place to work.
I went out to the garden later in the afternoon to cut some flowers to put on the office desk and found my hydrangea bush has gone MAD. All these blooms and another lot the same size still on the bush all from one little shrub. I have tried to grow Hydrangeas for years this one was a gift to me and I just put it in and forgot it, last year after being in the ground for three years (all of them drought years) it bloomed in what I thought was a spectacular manner but this year with all the extra rain it is simply glorious. I know they are supposed to be blue but I am a pink girl and this is my favourite shade of summer pink.
In the middle of the cleaning the gas man arrived to connect up Gloria my new stove.............
Here she is all ready to go............ I cleaned the top and the oven but I am not sure what to use to get the scorch marks off the front of her around the dials I don't want to lose the writing around them...any suggestions gratefully accepted I will try just some white vinegar later, not sure I want to hit it with ajax but maybe some bicarb or toothpaste??? Over to you clever people.....................
CHRISTMAS TRIVIA: This fairly new "tradition" comes from Catalonia...............................Glory me ...what next?
This tradition is a much-loved element of the Christmas celebration in Catalonia, despite its somewhat obscure beginnings.
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A caganer -- or "pooper" -- is a small figurine of a person squatting down with lowered pants (or raised skirt) to answer nature's call. They have been around since the 17th century and can often be found hiding in an obscure corner of a Nativity scene.
Some say that the figurines originally became popular among farmers who believed -- quite practically -- that the caganer's "offerings" would make the soil rich and productive for the coming year. In somewhat vaguer terms, the Web site for the
Association of Friends of the Caganer -- an organization founded in 1990 to celebrate the caganer tradition and which boasts 60 members spread across the world -- states that the figures were meant to add "a human side to the representation of the mystery of Christmas."
The
Wikipedia entry mentions how the caganer might represent "the equality of all people" because "everyone defecates" or it may be meant to reinforce that "the infant Jesus is God in human form."
Young children in Catalonia still play a Where's-Waldo-like game that involves searching for the caganer in the Nativity scene arrangement. According to the Friends Web site, the caganer is "placed under a bridge, behind a haystack or otherwise discretely hidden" as it "would show a lack of respect" to have him near the arrangement's manger scene.
The original el caganer is a wooden or clay figure of a peasant wearing the traditional floppy red Catalan cap with a black band (barretina) and smoking a cigarette or a pipe. But the figure's popularity has led to a massive expansion in the range of defecating figurines.
Relaxative Holiday Mirth
The other scatological element of the traditional Catalan Christmas is the Tió de Nadal, which roughly translates as "Christmas log." Also known as the Caga Tió, or "pooping log," this character is a 30-centimeter (one-foot) log hallowed out on one end. In recent times, the other end of the log has been given a smiling face, topped with a miniature version of the barretina and propped up on two stick legs.
Starting on Dec. 8, which marks the Feast of the Immaculate Conception holiday in the Catholic tradition, the log is "fed" small amounts of candies, nuts, figs or torrons -- a local type of nougat -- every night and sleeps under a little blanket. On Christmas Eve or Christmas day, depending on the household, one end of the log is put in the fireplace and ordered to "poop."
To hasten and encourage the log's symbolic bowel movement, children sing special songs and beat it with sticks, yelling "caga tió!" Someone then reaches around the log and under the blanket to bring forth a gift that is then shared by the group.
Of course, if the revelers are still hungry, then can always go to their local pastry shops, which have sweets shaped like feces on offer during the holiday season.
And you thought Uncle Bert was embarassing at Christmas - imagine what he would say and o with this tradition in the offing???????????? So on this rather strange (and funny ) note I am off for a day of sewing and teaching Gloria how to cook my Christmas biscuits.
have a fabulous day
daisymum
