The Time Between The Years.

So Christmas has passed, 

and we lie quietly in the time between the years, when one year is closing and another preparing to open, when we reflect on what has passed and wonder what is to come.

And we pause.

Dawn, Christmas Day.

We have been spending our time quietly, enjoying the snow while it lasted, and now that it's gone we are glad to spend it with family, and dear friends, catching up and just being together. Celebrating a tiny new arrival in our family, a most perfect Winter Solstice gift.

I'd like to dedicate this post to my family, to these people who are my dependables, my unwavering bastions. Without them I would not be who I am today.
And I give thanks for the blessing, the honour that is mine, to share this privileged life I have been granted, with this group of incredible, amazing people. Truly, we have been touched with gold, haven't we?
I wish we could all be together tonight, this special night that closes this year behind us. So wherever you are as you celebrate, know that across the miles you are in my heart.

~*~

And, warmest blessings to YOU dearest readers,

for a peaceful New Year.

May it be shared with loved ones, 

and may this coming year bring us all magic and blessings.

Thank you all for your continued support and comments, 

it's what makes Milkmoon possible.

Love Ciara.

Safely Found And Homeward bound, At Last.

And so, the latest episode in this little Redwork story is finally finished. Nothing like a looming deadline such as Christmas to give you a little push, is there? This was very slow in the making due to my limited free time to stitch, (with even reading still on the long finger). But it has been finished, at last.

My very patient Mum finally gets a piece! And now that Christmas Day is past I can share it with you.

And as always, the minute I finish one I am keen to start the next. Hopefully it will be slightly quicker in the making than this one was. But I do believe I say that every time...

I still have no real idea where this little story is going or how I will present it in the end, especially as I keep giving away these little stitcheries. But there is something here, I believe. And I have no doubt I will know what it is when I am finished.

Bright Blessings To You And Yours!

Bright Blessings to you and yours for a

magical, peaceful Christmas and New Year.

May it bring warmth and good cheer to you all!

Look forward to catching up with everyone over the break,

and to getting back to some blogging myself.

See you here very soon!

Love from Ciara.

And Something Is Then Found!

I cannot tell you how overwhelmed I am with the sweet and supportive comments from all you lovely readers on my last post. All you loyal and stouthearted readers! How could I possibly bow out now?

I have been disappointed so many times over the years when favourite bloggers have called it a day, and while I admire them for taking that step when they feel like that, I think, deep in my heart I know I am not there yet. 

I do love all that this wonderful world has brought to me, things a lot of you mentioned, like the ability to take tiny moments and slow them right down as they whirl by you, to seize hold of them for just a second, to take that snapshot, to imprint it in your mind's eye and tuck it away into that little corner of yourself where you hold the precious keepsakes of your days. And I love all the amazing people like you that I have met, the beautiful corners of the world I get to peek into thanks to you all taking the time to share it with us.

So for now, I am content to maybe just step back a little, and take some time to put to rights all the things that have not been as right as they should be, like my children's health, and my house, to get Christmas all wrapped up and under the tree. To spend some time by the fire with my dear ones as the year draws to a close, and reflect on the coming new year.

I will continue posting when I can, and what do you say I'll probably find I am unable to stay away. 

Something Is Lost...

Do you ever wonder why or how you blog? I mean, how you find the time to fit it in to your busy day? I look around at all you incredible bloggers out there, and the tiny snippets of your lives that we glimpse in between the lines of loveliness you post, the little 'fragments of your days', and I wonder, how do we do it! 
And to be honest I don't know.

The week in pictures,

A poorly boy. Again.

I have lately found myself struggling to capture the everyday magic that once came so easily to me. My camera more often than not lies forgotten as I run out the door, or dash about after small people with big bellies and hollow legs that need to be filled, and then, at night I find myself lying, eyes wide on the ceiling above as I try and recall some little fragment of magic that I know was there today. If only I could find it.
And even the pictures I do take seem to me to somehow highlight what I don't know about taking pictures.  And to lack more than anything. They certainly don't inspire and excite me they way they used to.

Before the cold set in.

Maybe it's the time of year, you say. But no, it's been a long time coming. I went from blogging every day (imagine!) to three or four times a week, to now barely once a week. This is not good.
It's not that I have nothing to say, but more the beauty spins by so fast I don't have time to even try and grasp or capture it. The dizzy carousel of life I am on is just that bit too fast, it has run away from me
and I lost some things along the way.

Busy little hands at work.

And so for the last week and a half, while we had nowhere to go and time on our hands, we sewed and made for Christmas, and baked cakes and built dens, and we did our best to keep warm in an old house with no central heating, and invariably one by one we succumbed to coughs and colds.

Our time away from the world was lengthened.

What I found one morning.

I listened to music that made the snow fall, I watched films that gently pulled the blankets higher and tighter around us, 

and the snow fell. The snow fell. And the snow fell. 

Like an endless slumber we went under, we slipped away from the world...

Hipstamatic shots.

I have thought and thought about it, and no, I am not ready to give up Milkmoon. I don't think so. But I do wonder if, or how I can make all these pieces of mine fit...

How We Fell Into A Sleepy Torpor...

We have been snowed in all week...

Something that is highly unusual for us at this time of year...

No school... 

Nothing for it but to stay in and stay warm...

And feed the birds... 

(Sorry Sparrow, you'll just have to watch from the window!)

We love it. You'll find not a whisper of 'Bah Humbug' from this household!
But as we live so close to the sea, the snow melts far too soon in our saltwashed garden, so we hope to get out and about tomorrow for some fun and games.

Hope you are having a lovely week wherever you are!