Oranges and Cloves

Good news: I went to a craft fair and saw tons of great gift ideas!  I also bought the ornament I am going to use for the blog ornament exchange that I signed up for this holiday season but that will eventually have a post all to itself :) The craft fair reminded me that I have several projects with pieces waiting to be purchased (ie thread, paint, etc -- I tend to do "small" crafts) yet it also reminded me of a Christmas tradition that we have not done in a while! At least through elementary school (again scattered holidays after) my family would get together with some of our close family friends and create "masterpieces" out of fresh oranges and fresh whole cloves.  I found the image above online -- I do not recall ever taking photos of this particular project, but I know we did it often...perhaps once or twice with lemons, but usually with oranges.  You decorate your orange in any pattern you like, using one clove at a time.  When you push it into the skin of the orange it stays in place but fresh orange juice gets absorbed by the cloves and the smell of them mixed together is released into the air -- I think we would leave them out for perhaps the entire month of December? There were some in patterns (spirals were particular favorites of mine!) although there are no requirements.  You can create any fun design you want and the freshness is lovely!

I am holding myself accountable for posting something here every day and that has continued; however I have not gone for a single walk in the past few days.  I also have not been reading at all, and I have spent many more hours than usual sleeping.  There are health things to blame in part, but I just felt so unwilling to go for a walk yesterday (Saturday really was the first day I had plenty of time to go walking safely without any worries in my "walking week" -- from Tues to Tues at the moment).  So a bit of a fail, but perhaps I shall be able to take a walk late this afternoon and/or one tomorrow.  I had been doing very well at going on a 1.1 mile loop twice a week and then one or two shorter walks... Maybe I will just say this is a "fluke" week and not berate myself too much.

**Oh!** Tomorrow, Monday, is usually my book post.  Am not sure if I will write it however because it will be my one hundredth blog post!  I might do something short (just the number), maybe I will find a photo or quote, or perhaps I'll jot down a short story or share a poem.  Possibly take a photo of one of my craft items.  Anyway, this is blog post 99 out of ??? The End :)