Friday, December 25, 2009

Happy Christmas and a Happy New Year!


Happy Christmas to all the readers of the Bible illustration blog. I hope that this is a time of Peace and blessing for you.

My apologies that this is a very short post, but it's been a very long day!!! zzzzzzzzzzzzzz!

Update: 1 January 2010
Happy New Year!

21 comments:

Patrick said...

A Happy and Merry Christ's-Mass to you too Mr. Graham. :)

Paul Green said...

Merry Christmas Graham. Thanks for the lovely card from yourself and Alison. A white and freezing Christmas in Virginia.

deboraw said...

Merry Christmas, and a happy new year, Graham. It is not only a white Christmas here in Iowa, we have ice. Which makes it absolutely beautiful. It shimmers and sparkles when there is sun, but it is soooo hard on the trees and shrubs. Lost a lot of tree limbs, very sad face here. We were w/o electricity off and on for several days...actually our neighbors were more so than our house...we were only out for about 9 or ten hours Christmas morning. How about yourself, Mr. Paul G.? Virginia usually has quite a bit of snow, doesn't it?
Anyway, 'And God bless us everyone! Smile-- Deboraw

Paul Green said...

Happy Christmas Deboraw and Patrick as well. :)
Yes we've had lots of deep snow here in Virginia but no power outages where we live (although others nearby have suffered them). It's finally melting but more snow may be on the way next week.
How can you have been "only out for about 9 or ten hours Christmas morning" Deboraw? Was this from early morning (past midnight) to midday?

Bible artist said...

Lots of snow here in the UK too! Made worse by the fact that, because we are not used to this amount of snow, the gritters have been unable to keep roads open which has led to traffic chaos!
Thankfully the roads were finally useable by Christmas eve. More snow due here too!
What's the weather like in Japan Patrick? Sorry to hear about your power cut Deboraw. Hope you were still able to cook the turkey! Thanks for your card too Paul.

deboraw said...

Sometime between 2 in the morning (when Mrs. Santa finally got to bed) and 3:30 A.M. when Mr. Santa got up to stir the fire the electricity went out, and it didn't come on until 11:30. It had flickered a few times before I finished my tasks, but once lights go out everything shuts down. We have a gas cook stove, but electric pilots and temperature control for oven. Can light the burners on the top, but the oven shuts down. Consequently our lunch was not done until 4/5 in afternoon, but we were drifted in and the roads were iced so there was only 'the child' and us for Christmas.

Gritters? That's cute...why gritters? Do they put down sand and 'grit'? On our pavements they put down sand and a salt solution. Out here in the backwoods we have 'maintainers' or 'road graders', but they have so many miles to grade it takes awhile some storms. With a thirty mph wind there isn't any way to keep roads open.

Japan is an interesting country. I read up on it when one of my boys was stationed there. The group of islands stretch out like our (U.S.) east coastline. Therefore, Okinawa is a tropical climate, but the northern islands are ? cold with lots of snow. Depending on the part of Japan that Patrick is in, his climate could be anywhere. I have an acquaintance from Tokyo, and it seems that she said even there they can have cool weather--maybe even snow in certain places...or am I dreaming...cold weather could be getting to me? Deboraw

Paul Green said...

What a relief the power outage didn't last all day and into Christmas Day evening Deboraw. :)

They are usually very good clearing the roads around here. They use a plough. Before you ask, not the horse and plough!! Much better than in England where there is always some excuse for not doing the job. Usually a mixture of lack of money and "We don't work over Christmas" mentality.
You get a pothole in England and it becomes a permanent part of the road. LOL

Bible artist said...

Yes Deboraw, they call them 'gritters' in the UK! They grit the roads with rock salt which is a reddish brown in color and is mined from salt mines in the UK.
Thanks for the info on Japan!

The priority for the gritters has been to keep the main motorways open, but because of all the snow this year, this has been a full time job and has led to the towns and cities being neglected. As you can imagine this has caused an outcry as those in the badly affected areas have been snowed in!

deboraw said...

The winter after Chris and I were married we lived at the end of a good fourth of a mile driveway. Our electricity was out for almost a week at one stretch, but that is where we live--by choice. Smile. One can be a hermit and everyone thinks you're normal. LOL

There is something special about playing (board) games by candle/lamplight, and/or eating popcorn while listening to 'the child' (he's 16, and been playing piano since he was 5) play the old Baldwin. He plays a mean Beethoven, List, and throws in some John Denver, etc. etc. etc. I've found that life is what you make it.
If this keeps up we will need to call out the horse and plough, Paul. Smile--Deboraw

Patrick said...

A Happy New Year to everyone!
As for the weather: I'm just beside Tokyo here, where snow does not fall until mid-to-late January or February proper (darned Pacific ocean...;))
Sometimes, snow doesn't fall here at all - like last year! :o

Paul Green said...

Happy New Year Patrick.

deboraw said...

Happy New Year, Patrick. Maybe we should send you some of our snow? Make a little snow man and send him in a box. As long as it takes our son to get a LETTER from here I'm afraid even your box would be dry. Very sad face. LOL At least your temps are above zero. We started out Sat. morning -18 degrees. Smile Deboraw

Bible artist said...

Happy New Year everyone! Sorry things have been slow on the blog. You may have seen on the news how bad the weather has been here in the UK.
Much time over the last few days has been spent digging ourselves out! We've got about two feet of snow here and the temperature is expected to plummet tonight down to -20 which according to the newsman is colder than both Siberia and Iceland at the moment!
Most of the schools in the UK are shut and we are running out of salt to keep the roads open.

We also had a power cut two days ago which lasted for 12 hours. No heating from 4 in the afternoon until 4 in the morning! A kind neighbor gave us flasks of boiling water to make hot water bottles and of course a brew!

Bible artist said...

P.S.
Heard nothing about 'Global warming' on the news for a few days!!

deboraw said...

Graham, Misery must love company. LOL...but we are used to it. We had an acquaintance from Ipswich, just down the road from you, I think. Well, relatively speaking--as in Virginia is 'up the road from Iowa, and he said it gets cold in England as well as Iowa. Isn't -20 a bit unusual though? Deboraw

Bible artist said...

Yes, -20 is very unusual here Deboraw. -5 is about normal.

deboraw said...

So, has global warming started in your neck-of-the-woods yet, Graham? The temps are supposed to warm up around here, but the wind is bitter, and we still have ice on the trees (bushes, shrubs, roads, and etc.). We made it out to Church and home, but our country/gravel roads were starting to drift (shut) again. Still, it is quite awe inspiring--the sun radiating off of the blue-white snow. Deboraw

Paul Green said...

I keep getting a BX error code each time I attempt to post a message.
If this gets through the problem has been solved.

Paul Green said...

Well waddya know? It got through! :))

deboraw said...

Hello, hello, testing, 1-2-3 testing. I know what you mean Paul..LOL. Deboraw

ArTris said...

I'm looking for a biblically and historically accurate illustrated Bible. I'm specifically looking for one with simple, easy to translate, language. If anyone knows of something like that, I'd be grateful for any info. If I can't find anything suitible, I'm considering tackling the project.