This was taken towards the end of November, not far from the coast, about 4.00pm.
I do like the winter cosy, hygge, they call it in Denmark. Enjoying the winter, making the most of the special pleasures of that time of year. In among the FOMO of Black Friday and the appropriation of Christmas by the ever hungry jaws of consumerism, there are still many things to be enjoyed.
Lots of places have projects where people decorate their gardens and fronts of their houses to benefit local charities. Here's one I stumbled across the other day, raising money for the local hospice. Sometimes you turn into a road and every house is decorated.
In a nearby town, there's the Advent Doors, a Living Advent Calendar which reveals a new Advent display each day, raising funds for Thanet Shelter and Support for the Homeless.
Source Advent Doors runs every evening from 1st-24th December from 6.30-8.00pm outside a different venue each day. Here's Vincent himself (he lived in Ramsgate briefly) at Camper Van Gogh in Spencer Square on 4th December 2023.
We also had a Christmas Market and Town Trail on Thursday 7 December, linking all the independent shops in the town centre and ending at the old Fire Station, full of local artists and makers, mulled wine and mince pies. One of the places I visited was Potters - lots of ceramic pots, dishes and decor. I had been looking for some small dishes for a while. These little blue ones are the right size for some dipping sauce, or to put your spent teabag in when you didn't have time to finish making your tea before the meeting started.
I'd been looking for a little oil burner, too. This one is made by a local artist. I like to have some lovely scents from the oil burner, wrap up warm in the quilt and knit. My faithful Roberts radio isn't in the picture, but having classical music playing in the background completes the winter cosy.
Work tends to be quieter this time of year. For once, I got my Friday day off back and enjoyed running errands in the local village before sitting down to some winter cosy in the New Inn pub with a nice cup of tea and the local newspaper. I'm trying to make this a regular routine.
