Wishing you a Blossoming New Year

 

Every day in 'Les Trois Jardins' brings surprises. The snowdrops have been showing their white noses so early this year. The twigs of the weeping willow are turning yellow, a lot of movement going on underneath the surface of the garden. Signs of a New Beginning!

Our puppy had a successful fireworks training yesterday. Today he ignores all the banging that is going on and happily chased blackbirds in the garden.

Hermine, of the blog 'La Maison' surprised me with a lovely 'Wintergarden' seasons card by Laetitia de Haas, one of my favourite painters. Happiness is in little things, it is so delightful when someone remembers your passions.

One thing is for sure: 2012 will bring me a lot of time to enjoy art and our garden. Let's wait and see what it brings otherwise. In any case I wish you a Blossoming, Happy and Healthy 2012!
Thank you to all of my dear readers and followers!
Jacoba

Our new little angel

Pet animals are like little angels: they love and adore us, and we love and adore them. They protect us, comfort us, make us laugh, they are a bundle of joy and happiness.

Since 4 December we have a new puppy. For years on end we spent wonderful times with four previous dachshunds in this place. After Drikus went to the Forever Hunting Fields I kept looking at the site of the Dutch Dachshund Society and checking out breeder internet sites. The longhair standard red dachshund is not a popular dog at the moment, so nests are not easy to find. I did find a nest on line, and for some reason it just would not go away from my mind.
Over the last year we discussed would we yes or no start with a new puppy, and if yes we would do so in Spring. But here was this nest ... and in the end I could not sleep anymore, I just had to see the puppies.
Well, and here he is, our new little angel. He is 17 weeks old now and he helped me out with the Christmas floral arrangements I made in the garden today. He is cheeky at the moment and pinches everything he can manage to grab, his favorite game and part of growing up. I had to place the arrangements high up so he would not run off with them.

One of the dark little ones on the picture is our puppy.
He is so full of life and so lively that every time I take a picture I end up with just his tail, or just his shoulders, but never a 'look how beautiful I am' picture.

Christmas Eve it is one of my traditions to go out in the garden and sit quietly to experience the Silent Night. Earlier on I was already in the garden, Jupiter forever winking at me at the back door when I open it. In an hour's time I will be doing a tour with our new puppy in this village that is always full of noise and movements, and that will be so immensely quiet now.

Afterwards all of us will listen to the broadcast of the Night Mass from Rome: it is also one of my traditions on Christmas Eve.
I wish you all warmth, love and happiness in your heart and a very Merry Christmas filled with traditions and memories of beautiful times of togetherness.
Love from Holland,
Jacoba