2nd Set of Twinchies - Advent of the Sun Calendar

Happy Holidays Everyone!
Since we are snowed in (today it was up to my waist as we waded through drifts to rescue our Fir trees whose branches were weighed down by ice and snow!) I took the snow time to finish off the last set of twinchies and who knows I may get to put it together before the New Year!

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13. The Gift of Forgiveness







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14. The Gift of World Wide Friendship
This journey which began in 1971 has been so rich in blessings of World Wide Friendship that I scarce can count or know where to begin. This image is composed of an ancient Compass Rose with a Celtic Stone Compass laid on top and a world clock placed in the centre.
I have a world clock on my desktop so I can see at a glance what time it is in my friend's respective countries. Since we are 'waiting on a kidney' (only another 4 years to go!) and cannot travel as much as we would like, the Internet serves our wanderlust.

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15. The Door to ?

Doorways have always fascinated me, especially those in Provence which are directly influenced by the Moorish occupation many centuries ago. In this country, doors lead not to the house itself but rather a courtyard, often with a garden. In fact, the word 'Paradise' means 'Garden' in Arabic and these ancient residents could not imagine a paradise without plants and flowing water.
Doorways also lead to dreams and visions and crossing the 'threshold'.
In this image, I would like you to take the Key and unlock the Door of Imagination.

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16.The Gift of Prosperity: what could be more fitting for someone like me who is busy exploring her celtic roots than to find out that the Apple Tree was that Symbol? I recently learned that there are even two 'Wassail Days' depending on which calendar you follow:
January 6th or January 17. On this day, you pour a libation of cider at the foot of your apple tree, sing or 'wassail' it and ask for a good harvest in the coming Spring.
This year I hope to do the same around ours!

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17 - The Gift of Prayer - On an amazing day in chilly February, in an old churchyard, a fig tree was absolutely loaded with fruit! To have a mediterranean fruit tree this far north, not only thrive but bear fruit is very much a Miracle!


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18 - A Gift Admired: my husband's amazing 'photograhic eye' and who has taught me everything I know about taking a good shot :
a Gift Remembered: as an Engagement present, my husband gave me an Olympus Trip camera to take with me to Israel in 1976.

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19. The Gift of Peace, Joy and Goodwill.
A shot of a quail in our first snow reminescent of a 'partridge in a pear tree' only in this case it would be a 'quail in a fir tree'.
Soft snow, plenty of cracked corn and no predators - this was a place where 'Quail could Safely Feed.'

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20. The Gift of Happiness: my sleeping cat curled up in front of a roaring fire, books and plenty of CHOCOLATE!




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21. Gift of Lessons Learned: Part of my celtic studies was to investigate and become familiar with the Ancient Celtic Calendar.
I used two images: one of a more modern interpretation (the black and white) and the background is a photo of the more ancient celtic Coligny Calendar.

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22. The Gift of Kindness - especially the Unexpected Kind!
In this image, I wish to pay homage to my 'Knights' -
Stephen who drove over 2 hours (ONE WAY!) to pick me up since I had damaged my left heel (now diagnosed as a stress fracture) and took me from Warwickshire allllll the way to other side of London where I was put up for a night (gratis) by Graeme who then made sure I got my to hotel safe and was able to make my flight the next day! PHEW! Knights to the Rescue? ...INDEED!
Blessings on you Stephen and Graeme!

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23. The Gift of Service.
This December while gift shopping, I discovered with delight a small storefront establishment which sold items for several non profit organizations.
A beautiful leather bag caught my eye with the nonedescript tag of the 'Nepal Education Fund'.
By googling the website, I found that the bag I had purchased for 50 dollars would help with the costs of a Nepalese child's education.
The Nepal Education Fund, I am pleased to say, was started by a local lady here in town so it has the true beauty of 'acting Locally and serving Globally'.
I thought it appropriate to use an image of Quan Yin the Goddess of Compassion with her outpouring of blessings on the two Nepalese children.
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24. The Gift of Faith








* Blessings to all who view these.
For those who might like to know, I used Serif's Digital Scrapbook Artist software to create these images and have found that my love of photography can mingle nicely with my collages!
Shanti