#icecles

Winter Loners Series….

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Victorian Christmas decorations were made from natural materials. Fastened 2 branches were paper nets filled with sweetmeats, golden apples & nuts. Small red, white, & blue candles where placed on branches. Paper dolls that looked like real people became popular. Tinsel stars hung on branches & tree tops.

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Many decorations were made from tin foil. Paper cornucopia were hung in branches filled with sweets, fruit, & nuts. Garlands of Popcorn, fruit, nuts or paper chains were a family pastime in the days leading up 2 decorating the tree. Some ornaments were made of wax shaped like angels & children. Cotton wool was used 2 make ornaments & they had embossed paper faces & they were decorated with buttons, powdered glass & gold paper wings. If a tree had candles then paper ornaments were not used. Ladies would guild walnuts in silver & gold foil. Sometimes they would split the walnut in half & add a sweet inside. Tinfoil, Cornish tin & gilded walnuts would catch the light & added a festive sparkle. I made some of these mentioned for examples. For more info see comments & a website with directions to make Victorian ornaments & another that has printable directions at then end of last comment. Dec 30, 2021.

Lo que me trajo el viento (junio, 2024)

Era viernes. Los carámbanos en la ventana se aferraban al invierno. Llevaba dos meses en Estados Unidos y ya había vivido en dos casas. El frío se me seguía metiendo dentro de las medias. En la tarde fuimos a comer all único restaurante venezolano de Tulsa. Antes de eso, en una silla tiesa y seca de un hospital, recibí la primera dosis de la vacuna del COVID. Ahora, meses de polémicas corrían por mis venas. Atribuí los pequeños sorbitos de aire que di al salir del hospital a la emoción. Se suponía que tenía que estar emocionada, ¿verdad?

Luego vino la cena. Mientras tomaba sopa, su vaho se condensó en mi paladar. De pronto hubo una huelga en mi boca. Se me había olvidado cómo tragar. El paso estaba cerrado.  Era como si mi cerebro hubiera perdido los archivos que contenían la mecánica del paso de aire y comida en la garganta. Todos los músculos involucrados habían entrado en pánico y trataban de esconderse congelados.