Merry Christmas everyone!

Moonlit Owl by Kirsty R Walker for the Alzheimer’s Society

After a relentlessly dismal 2020 it’s time to sit back and admire all the Christmas cards we have received.

Last Christmas I was expecting an imminent hip replacement for my husband but the Covid pandemic put paid to his operation date in March, at the last minute. He has been in agony and shuffling with a Zimmer frame for months but finally had the hip replacement last week – and he came home to me on Christmas Eve a much more cheerful man! So we hope “things can only get better” as long as we can avoid the dreaded virus.

Is it just me or did Christmas cards seem a bit subdued this year? Anyway, here are just some of the designs that caught my eye. As usual, click on the image to go to the source if it’s a charity.

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Garnering ghosts for Halloween

There is such a creature as a ghost jellyfish (Cyanea nozaki), but I rather like this cute interpretation by pikaole on DeviantArt

It will soon be Halloween. At this time of year in the past I have looked for images of Jack o’ lantern and Will o’ the wisp, owls, cauldrons, skulls, black cats and bats.

This time I am running out of ideas. I could have chosen spiders, but that might put some people off their breakfast. So instead I have picked some ghosts, especially where they are connected to nature. Click on each image to find the source.

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Merry Christmas everyone!

One of the cards I sent out this year, from the RSPB – Moon Gazing Hare by Judith Yates – I’m not sure why hares have become Christmas symbols…

After a hectic 2019 at work – and a year dogged by my husband’s ill health, from meningitis to his imminent hip replacement (we hope), it’s time to sit back and admire all the Christmas cards we have received. Here are just a few of the designs that caught my eye. As usual, click on the image to go to the source – mostly charities.

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Merry Christmas everyone!

Top Hat Snowman (and robin) Christmas card for St Benedict’s Hospice and Centre for Specialist Palliative Care in Sunderland – click on the image to go to the charity’s website

After a hectic few weeks writing Christmas cards and letters and buying gifts, it’s time to sit back and admire all the cards we have received this year. Here are just a few of the designs that caught my eye. As usual, click on the image to go to the source – mostly charities.

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Some batty images for Halloween

Cute bat from Andrew McIntosh (based in Australia) – I love the light through the translucent pink skin

With Halloween this week I thought I would put together one of my galleries of appropriate pictures that have caught my eye. This year the theme is bats and as usual I have chosen many of these images from the excellent DeviantArt website. Click on each picture to go to the source.

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Merry Christmas everyone!

This was one of the RSPB Christmas cards I sent out this year – it’s Twilight’s Keeper by Dawn Maciocia. Click on the image to go to the RSPB website…

After a hectic few weeks in my new job at County Hall and spending all my spare time writing Christmas cards and letters, it’s time to sit back and admire all the cards we have received this year. Here are just a few of the charity-card designs that caught my eye. As usual, click on the image to go to the source.

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Black cats for Halloween

Halloween cat by Alina Kurbiel

It will soon be Halloween. At this time of year in the past I have looked for images of Jack o’ lantern and Will o’ the wisp, owls, cauldrons and skulls. This time I decided to choose some images of black cats, believed by some to be witches’ “familiar spirits” or animal guides. Click on each image to find out more about the source.

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Merry Christmas everyone!

This was the main card I sent out to people this year, although thinking about it I’m not sure what makes it Christmassy – Moongazing Hares by Dawn Maciocia for the RSPB rspb.org.uk

As usual I wish you a Merry Christmas with some of my favourite designs from the cards I have received this year. They are all charity cards so click on the images to go to the charity websites.

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Merry Christmas everyone!

Art for Susan Hill’s story Can it be True? by Valerie Greeley and used on a card by Oxfam

As usual I wish you a Merry Christmas with some of my favourite card designs from those I have received this year. Click on the images to go either to the artist or the charity’s website.

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Merry Christmas everybody!

A long-tailed tit features in this Christmas card designed by Sue Waddicor for the RSPB (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds)…

I’d like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas with a few of my favourite festive cards from charities this year. I sent out the one above to many people – and I received the same one from someone else, too. It’s a lovely long-tailed tit in a berried wreath – the berries look like mistletoe (very translucent like pearls) and perhaps snowberry (Symphoricarpos). And the leaves are a bit autumnal, very appropriate with our British winters starting later and later these days. See the RSPB website: rspb.org.uk.

Then there are my favourites from the cards I have received…

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