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The Christmas Doll

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Rosemary

Funny, just when I thought I had nothing to post, I turned my head and saw Rosemary sitting in the corner of my study, my ‘walkie talkie’ doll from childhood. I met Rosemary on a Christmas morning when I was six years old. My sister also received a doll, but there was something different about our parcels. Mine had a note pinned on. It read something like this. “Dear Vivienne, I have an apology, but on the way over one of my reindeer stood on your dolly, and now its ‘Mama’ doesn’t work. I know your parents will have it fixed as soon as they can. My best wishes, Father Christmas.” My reaction?

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A very short Christmas message and a weird photograph.

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Christmas wishes from me

We are in the unique position here in New Zealand of Christmas arriving a day before many other countries in the world. Tomorrow will be Christmas Eve here, and it will be a busy day, so today is my chosen day to forward my good wishes to you all, as I haven’t managed to write the post I had intended. I found this photo of myself, decorated as a Christmas ‘something’. It was taken while I was in Japan, by my lovely arty friend who made these wonderful adornments / ornaments. I remember sending the photo to my daughter who was living in New York at the time. I’m sure she laughed a lot when she saw it, because I certainly did when I viewed the image again the other day. What was I thinking??

To all you lovely WordPress bloggers, and friends. I would like to wish you the very best for the end of a year that has been pretty chaotic for so many. May you enjoy family, friends and good company this Christmas.

Vivienne Lingard.

Just one small thing at a time

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Figs in a Green Bowl by V. Lingard

Following last week’s post, I began wondering what I would write for the next. I usually like to ‘mix and match’ the content of my posts to keep my interest up, and hopefully that of my followers. But this week, for me (and everyone else), it has been a week so different and unplanned that it has been hard to think of writing longer succinct pieces of writing on any subject.  So, while this ‘isolating’ in our homes settles into a pattern, and I can begin thinking of something other than the covid-19 virus, I shall be posting one sketch at time and tell you the story attached to each. Continue reading →

Day Three: sketch challenge

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Day Three, a late start. Travelling a little further from home to Brown’s Bay beach. Kerry had a dental examination, and told me I had ’15 minutes’ to get to the beach and do some sketching. Okay. I was onto it pronto, and practically sprinted to the grassed area beside the shore. A rain shower had just passed over and I spotted a woman with an umbrella walking. Out with the art gear. She was moving quite slowly down the beach and I tracked her with my pencil. Next a man and another woman walking the opposite direction. Not my best sketches ever, but hey, I got something down. Continue reading →

Down Under at Christmas

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rhdr

While out on my usual morning constitutional, I came across this house adorned ready for Christmas. How crazy I thought, as our Pohutukawa blooms and locals are heading to the beaches, that so many of us ‘grownups’ in New Zealand still treasure this chubby fellow from the North Pole. Look at him, abseiling, climbing a ladder, and parachuting in. I only hoped his presents weren’t melting in the sack. I tucked my phone in my pocket and kept walking, on the hunt to see if there were more interlopers from the North Pole around. Continue reading →

What should have been on my bookshelf.

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‘Do Not Say We Have Nothing’  is not a title supported by my new bookends, sadly enough, but it was on loan from my book group. The author of this moving novel is Canadian Madeleine Thien, and I am pleased that I was given the opportunity to read her work.

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