Tag Archives: 2023

Celebrating the Holidays!

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Hi Folks:

This Friday marks the winter solstice; we’re closing in on the end of another year. As the global pandemic has shifted to an endemic, we’re continuing to open to ourselves and each other – slowly and with caution, but still. Last night we hosted our first Christmas dinner with friends since 2019.

As we move toward the vernal equinox we will be entering the period where the days begin to lengthen once again (here in the northern hemisphere, at least). More light, more trust, new beginnings. It’s a choice each of us gets to make in every moment, so if you’re ever unsure how to react in any situation, be kind. It’s good for you, good for the other person, is non-fattening, doesn’t cause cavities and helps to make the world a better place, even just for a moment. And, sharing kindness is often contagious! Pay it forward. 🙂

A Christmas tree decorated largely with twinkling white lights and shiny silver balls, it also displays a heavy piece of cardstock with the message, "Peace on Earth"

Peace on Earth – Festival of Trees, the Bay Centre, Victoria, BC

“We’re all just walking each other home.” ~ Ram Dass

Whether you celebrate Christmas or Festivus, Solstice or Saturnalia, the arrival of Sinterklaas or Grandfather Frost, Hanukkah, Yalda, Pancha Ganapati, Bodhi Day, Kwanzaa, Eid al-Fitr (April 2024), Diwali (October 2024) or something entirely personal, from our house to yours, we wish you a Safe and Happy Holiday season! May 2024 find you safe, healthy and surrounded by Love. 💗

Hugs,
M&M
🎅🤶

 

Celebrating the Holidays!!

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Hi Folks:

We’re running a little late with our Holiday Greeting this year… The winter solstice has come and gone, winter has descended up on us (here in Victoria, anyway!) and today marks the sixth day of Hanukkah.

As we move toward the vernal equinox we’re also entering the period where the days begin to lengthen once again (here in the northern hemisphere, at least). More light, more trust, new beginnings. It’s a choice each of us gets to make in every moment, so if you’re ever unsure how to react in any situation, be kind. It’s good for you, good for the other person, is non-fattening, doesn’t cause cavities and helps to make the world a better place, even just for a moment. And, sharing kindness is often contagious! Pay it forward. 🙂

A gingerbread creation in the shape of a pegacorn. Per the rules, everything in the display must be edible. In this case the horn is made from drawn sugar, the wings were individually hand-cut and the final result is just exquisite.

Pegacorn – by Selena Olivera for the 2022 Victoria Gingerbread Showcase for Habitat for Humanity.

“Carry out a random act of kindness, with no expectation of reward, safe in the knowledge that one day someone might do the same for you.” —Princess Diana.

Whether you celebrate Christmas or Festivus, Solstice or Saturnalia, the arrival of Sinterklaas or Grandfather Frost, Hanukkah, Yalda, Pancha Ganapati, Bodhi Day, Kwanzaa or something entirely personal, from our house to yours, we wish you a Safe and Happy Holiday season! May 2023 find you safe, healthy and surrounded by Love. 💗

Hugs,
M&M
🎅🤶

P.S. Above image made by Marcia.

2023 Photo Calendars (part two)

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Hi Folks:

This is just a quick update to our previous calendar post as we’ve gone through the (5000+) images we’ve made this year and picked out 12 for our calendar. As usual, some of the images were made with our cell phones and some were made with the Sony a7rIII camera. Half of the images were made by Marcia and half by Mike, but none of that really matters. All of this year’s images were made in and around Victoria, BC except for October’s, which was made in Tofino, BC.

Combined, our calendar looks like the image below. If you’d like to download a copy for yourself, click the image to link to a .pdf version.

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This is the thirteenth year that we’ve made our photo calendar templates available, both for MS Word users (for those who don’t use graphics programs) and as .png files for those who do. As before we will be making our own calendar available in .pdf format for those who are interested, but (as we did last year) we’re doing the post in two parts. For our calendar we use images made in that month (i.e. the image for May 2023 was made in May 2022). Since we haven’t yet gotten to December our calendar isn’t yet complete, but we wanted to make the templates available so others can work on their own calendars. Continue Reading →

2023 Photo Calendars (part one)

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Hi Folks:

This is the thirteenth year that we’ve made our photo calendar templates available, both for MS Word users (for those who don’t use graphics programs) and as .png files for those who do. As before we will be making our own calendar available in .pdf format for those who are interested, but (as we did last year) we’re doing the post in two parts. For our calendar we use images made in that month (i.e. the image for May 2023 was made in May 2022). Since we haven’t yet gotten to December our calendar isn’t yet complete, but we wanted to make the templates available so others can work on their own calendars. Continue Reading →