Happy Christmas John and Yoko.

Oh I was tired on Christmas eve morning and I got up far too late.

In the end I put off all the difficult things as I was too sore and boiled my ham instead.

I do it every year - lots of memories.

It has to be said that I've been fairly good; I'm largely vegetarian these days, but occasionally like Christmas I weaken. Robyn is much better than I am.

It never used to be as painful boiling a ham but I made it.....with a couple of carrots, some onions, celery, garlic, peppercorns, cloves, bay leaves.

It's going to be nice.

Then after lunch and a rest I set out equipped (allegedly) for theft. I headed down to historic, evocative Ankerwycke because I know there is Mistletoe to be had there.

And there was;

There's lots, the ancient trees were heavy with Mistletoe this year. The Druids symbol of new life in mid winter.

This looks good - not too high for me.

As I said, I had equipment with me;

Lots of berries, Christmas is complete.

Even if I was fairly shattered by the time I got home.

So, I'd like to wish you a very happy Christmas; I'm drinking Robyn's eggnog which means I've got to stay up late to take my antibiotic.

I've still got to put up the holly and the mistletoe and some balloons but there's time.

Meanwhile every year I put up a link top Yoko Ono's page commemorating her and John Lennon's 1969 poster campaign and 1971 single; "War is over - If you want it", where you can download this slogan in any language or buy a T-shirt and become a 'Small pebble person'.

http://imaginepeace.com/warisover/

Happy Christmas John and Yoko.

Neil Harris
(a don't stop till you drop production)
Home: helpmesortoutstpeters.blogspot.com
Contact me: neilwithpromisestokeep@gmail.com

I went to church by accident and then we gathered Mistletoe.

Sunday was deeply embarrassing - for some unknown reason I agreed to meet Robyn at her church in the evening for their carol concert.

I have no idea why I did it - I'm not at all religious and after having religion pushed down my throat from an early age I don't want any more.

But it meant a lot to Robyn and her vicar had supported her last Monday.....so it seemed polite to go.

It was charming - the church was lit only by candles and was beautiful. The music was good. I got to talking to a nice lady who knew Robyn. Everyone was very friendly.

Unfortunately I got there far too early and there was more than enough time for it to dawn on me how foolish I'd been. Robyn arrived just as the service was about to start.

I was there for a very short prayer and the first line of 'Oh little town of Bethlehem' when I realised I'd made a terrible mistake and had to get out.

Somehow I was able to blunder my way out without actually barging past little old ladies and escaped alone into the night with a sigh of relief.

Phew!

I was reminded of the line in 'Withnail and I' and amended it to my situation;

"I've come to church by accident".

Monday morning was a bit miserable - I wasn't feeling well and we'd planned to go to Stonehenge for the midwinter solstice on Tuesday morning like we went there for the summer one.

The forecast was for heavy rain and we didn't feel like going so it was a bit sad.

So we went out to celebrate the shortest day of the year by gathering Mistletoe.

Unfortunately, I hadn't felt like struggling around trying to locate the kind of tools that would have been useful - I improvised; (these are all Robyn G. May's photo's)

Not too successfully;

In the end we were lucky - I didn't have to go back home to get my tools, we found some that other people had left behind;

There were berries and it was the right size.

This picture shows the Mistletoe high up in the trees;

That's more like it;

The day had already been ruined because I needed to go to the Doctor and couldn't get an appointment until the afternoon - so we couldn't get anything else done.

But spending time on the Solstice gathering Mistletoe, it doesn't get much better than that.

Neil Harris
(a don't stop till you drop production)

Home: helpmesortoutstpeters.blogspot.com
Contact me: neilwithpromisestokeep@gmail.com

A winter walk.

This morning I took advantage of a sunny morning (it was freezing) to take a walk around ancient Ankerwycke and remembered why the Pagans worshiped evergreen plants like Holly, Ivy, Yew and Mistletoe.

When you live in a forest where all the leaves come down in autumn - when winter comes the flash of green seems like a miracle.

 

This poor old tree is just covered with Mistletoe - it's a parasite. Scientists will tell you that the Mistletoe doesn't kill the tree - it does. This one is on the way out.

 

I haven't been here since the autumn and I found lots of traces of young lads earning some beer money before Christmas; pulling down Mistletoe to sell; 

  

 





This is one of a number of branches they didn't bother to take or couldn't carry. It's hard work and you really need a head for heights - the best stuff is high up. But as each sprig retails for £2-50, the wholesale price of this big branch would buy a lot of lager.

The white berries are very sticky and hungry birds can get to regret eating the berry when they can't get rid of the seed. So, they fly up to a bend in a branch on the tree and smear the seed off their beak so that it sticks onto the branch. then the seed sprouts and grows into the tree to drink it's sap.

They do look nice on a winter's morning, though;

 

 

 

Neil Harris

(a don't stop till you drop production)

 

 

Home: helpmesortoutstpeters.blogspot.com

 

Contact me: neilwithpromisestokeep@gmail.com