""Look!" said Jill suddenly. Someone was coming,
rather timidly, to meet them; a graceful creature on four feet, all
silvery-grey. And they stared at him for a whole ten seconds before five or six
voices said all at once, "Why, it's old Puzzle!" ... He was himself now: a beautiful donkey with such a soft, grey coat
and such a gentle, honest face that if you had seen him you would have done
just what Jill and Lucy did - rushed forward and put your arms round his neck
and kissed his nose and stroked his ears." - from The Last Battle, The Chronicles of Narnia, by C.S. Lewis
“A person without a sense of humor is like a wagon without
springs. It's jolted by every pebble on the road.” - Henry Ward Beecher (1813-1887)
In case your New Year resolution includes tackling that chaotic hall cupboard, here’s a little organizational inspiration to prime the pump.
In some shadowy ‘70’s corner of my childhood memory there lurks a regional charm bracelet craze. While jewelry has never been an obsession for me, I’ve forever been smitten with little things (yes, especially you, My Little Fur Child), and the minute, tinkling replicas were transport to a tiny imagined world. Memory being fuzzy around the edges, as pieces of childhood are wont to be, I’m not sure who in my family had one of these mobile collections. But I recall a sense of sitting close to someone older who allowed me to carefully, charm by charm, examine each miniature, sliding the bracelet along their wrist to bring the next small wonder into place for consideration.
I think charm bracelets will always revolve back into fashion, sometimes in alternate forms. Just last weekend a friend explained the significance of each detailed bead charm on her bracelet, recalling family milestones and relationships. Thankfully, the best kinds of nostalgia never go out of style.
