Sunrise Gift-Wraps White Rock High Rise In New Day

Golden Tower, Uptown White Rock, BC, Photo by Maria Pavlik

The rising sun crept through the low lying fog enveloping a skyscraper in the upper portion of the small City of White Rock. Its golden hue was a bit grimy due to the pollution that commonly hovers over where there is a high volume of traffic.

The stores were still closed and the parking lot was empty when I stopped to take a picture. The haze clung to the building like a fuzzy thought that lingers in the mind just before waking. From afar, it looked like a giant jar of sticky honey.

Its luminosity coupled with a lack of clarity signaled the beginning of an unknowable day where, despite planned certainties, something unforeseen, even wonderful, could happen. The New Year, like a new day, will have a towering range of possibilities in it. Anticipating the best for 2020, I borrow words from an anonymous poet who wrote, "Each new day, a gift to be opened, sunrise slowly unties it's ribbon of hope."

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Still the kid I used to be

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Santa Is In The House & So Are We To Wish You A Merry Christmas

You would think he was Elvis with all the excitement and attention Santa Claus was stirring when he entered the Historic Stewart Farmhouse in Surrey.

The event was designed to give folks the flavour of an old-fashioned Christmas but although the furnishings were of a different era the awe and joyful spirit was the same many still feel during this holiday season.

Amid sounds of Santa's booming laughter, there were treats of pudding and cookies to eat in the dimly lit cozy kitchen.

Sparkling lights outdoors guided folks into the authentically renovated heritage home.

There are several buildings on the property. The main house on what originally was a large working farm maintains a sense of elegant charm.

You can read its history HERE as well as see my earlier post about it HERE.

Tiny tots were especially enthralled not only by Santa but by harpist Leanne Page accompanied by her son on flute and guitar. The musical duo warmed the room with their magical interpretations of timeless seasonal classics.

Gathering later in another building to make crafts,

my niece and I glued bits and pieces of paper and shapes onto glass jars.

Once satisfied with our designs, a tea candle was lit and placed inside.

With glowing jars in hand, a group of us walked towards the heritage "barn" singing Jingle Bells and We Wish You a Merry Christmas. Santa was there, having left the first building, graciously available for a photo-op with two kids at heart.

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Still the kid I used to be

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Last Rose Of Summer

A single rose in my garden survived this uncharitable season for flowers. I grasped its stem for a photograph. Later, searching for accompanying material, Safe In my Garden came into view. Written by John Phillips and recorded by his group, the famed Mamas and Papas of the sixties, the song still resonates. At that time, the Vietnam War caused political strife in America. It was the era of flower children but the tune will always be timely. There is a never-ending juxtaposition of calm and chaos in our world, destruction and re-mending. To me, the words symbolize the profound beauty and refuge that blooms when we make room in our hearts and minds for our own inner gardens. Listen to the brilliantly contrasting lyrics and harmonies HERE and below.

The lyrical first words of the song are as follows:

Written by John Phillips
(no copyright infringement is intended)

Safe in my garden
An ancient flower blooms
And the scent from its nature
Slowly squares my room
And its perfume being such
That it's causing me to swoon

See OUR WORLD to explore more sights from around the globe.

Still the kid I used to be

Visit Postcards From Penelope Puddle and Penelope Puddlisms: BC Life Is A Whale Of A Ride to view more West Coast scenes.

Because the state of our planet is the most pressing issue of our time, link up and learn about the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Report.