FRUITCAKE WEATHER....

"Snowflakes swirl down gently in the deep blue haze beyond the window. The outside world is a dream. Inside, the fireplace is brightly lit, and the Yule log with orange and crimson sparks. There's a steaming mug in your hands, warming your fingers. There's a friend seated across from you in a cozy chair, warming your heart. There is Mystery unfolding...." -Vera Nazarian

"Poetry is a fireplace in summer or a fan in winter..." -Robert Hass

"I think people who come into my home feel comfortable and welcome and loved....." -Julia Roberts

                          "I light candles every single night in my home..." -Evangeline Lily

"There was a fire in the fireplace and peace in my heart......

                                             and everything was quiet.." -Veronica Roth

"Arrives the snow ....the whited air  hides hills and woods, the river and the heaven..." -Ralph Waldo Emerson

"You're lying on the floor  ( in front of the  fire), with all the lights off and listening to the silence of the snow falling outside. For that one instance in time, everything is good..." -Francesca Zappia

"Imagine a morning in late November. A coming of winter morning more than twenty years ago. Consider the kitchen of a spreading old house in a country town. A great black stove is its main feature; but there is also a big round table and a fireplace with two rocking chairs placed in front of it. Just today the fireplace commenced its seasonal roar. A woman with shorn white hair is standing at the kitchen window. She is wearing tennis shoes and a shapeless gray sweater over a summery calico dress. She is small and sprightly, like a bantam hen; but, due to a long youthful illness, her shoulders are pitifully hunched. Her face is remarkable—not unlike Lincoln’s, craggy like that, and tinted by sun and wind; but it is delicate, too, finely boned, and her eyes are sherry-colored and timid. “Oh my,” she exclaims, her breath smoking the windowpane, “it’s fruitcake weather!" -Truman Capote ( my mother's favourite expression for  this time of year!)

"In the soft quiet of the days before Christmas , we find warmth not from a fireplace, but in the close embrace of loved ones. The true magic of the season lies in simple acts of kindness, shared laughter, and the heart's gentle whisper that the best gifts are not under the tree, but in the moments we create together..."

                                                                                                                   -Michail St. Fountoulakis

Photographs Mt. Washington Range, Campbell River, B.C.  2024