Project 365 - A Peek at Week One

Here's a sneak peek at the first week's layout. I'm going simple with just background paper, photo frame, the day number, and a handwriting style font. I'm also going to do a cover page later on.

Today is Day 5 and my photo op came early in the morning as the very excited 'boys' got ready to head for the tailgate party and the first game of the NFL playoffs!

~ Go Hawks! ~

Happy Ne'erday!

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And auld lang syne!
For auld lang syne, my dear,
For auld lang syne,
We'll tak a cup o' kindness yet
For auld lang syne.
~ Robert Burns

Ne'erday, 1 January, falls in the middle of the Daft Days which end with a big party on Twelfth Night (6 January) also known as Uphaliday.

In Scotland, the official start of the new year was changed to 1 January in 1600, while England and the rest of Europe stayed with the date of 25 March for another 151 years (1751).

Here’s a recipe for the traditional Black Bun to take with you while First Footing today. (However, you really should have made this several weeks ago, (like a fruit cake) so it had plenty of time to mature.)

Black Bun

Crust Ingredients
8 oz flour
4 oz butter
1/2 tsp. baking powder
a little cold water
1 beaten egg for finishing

Filling Ingredients
2 lb seedless raisins
3 lb currants
1/2 lb chopped blanched almonds
3/4 lb flour
1/2 lb sugar
2 tsp. Jamaica pepper (allspice)
1 tsp. ground ginger
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1 level tsp. cream of tartar
1 level tsp. baking powder
1 tblsp. Brandy
1/4 pt milk

Crust Directions
Rub the butter into the flour, add baking powder, and mix to a stiff paste with water (about 4 tblsp). Put on to a floured board and roll out to a thin sheet. Grease a loaf pan (8 in by 4 in by 3 in) and line with the pastry, keeping back enough for the top crust.

Filling Directions
Mix all the filling ingredients together except the milk. Add just enough milk to moisten the mixture. Put it in the pastry-lined pan and cover with the top crust. Crimp the edges well to seal. Prick all over with a fork. With a thin skewer, make four holes right down to the bottom of the cake. Brush the top with beaten egg and cook in a slow (225F) oven for about three hours. It will keep for a year in an airtight tin.

Happy New Year!

New Years' Resolution...Take a Photo a Day

My New Years' resolution for 2008 is to participate in my own version of "Project 365." It's a fun and creative project where you take a photo a day and see your life in a whole new way.

Taking a photo a day is a big commitment but it has big payoffs...especially for a digiscrapper. Time moves so fast and I usually have trouble remembering what I did just yesterday or even last night, let alone a whole year ago! With this project I will be able to look back at any day of the year and recall things like

* what I did
* who I met
* where I went
* what I learned

Participating in Project 365 might even make me a better photographer. Using my camera every day will help me learn its limits and get more practice at composing shots. I'll definitely be forced to get more creative with my photography when I have to come up with something new every single day!

An alternative project would be to take a photo of yourself every week (I think daily would be a bit much...LOL!) and see how much you change. This would be especially helpful if one of your other resolutions was to lose weight. Or, why not use a child, pet, or even a cool tree as your subject.

Some people post them to their blog and some post them to a photo sharing web site. I think I'll just save them on my computer in a special folder. Want to play along? Click here to find out more.

31 December - Hogmanay - New Year’s Eve!

Hogmanay is when Scotland becomes one huge party where everyone is related to everyone else, and everyone is welcome!

In Scotland, New Year's Eve is called Hogmanay, where the birth of the new year is welcomed with wassail and good wishes. It is a celebration that dates from pre-Christian times and is more important, even today, than Christmas.

The roots of Hogmanay reach back to the celebration of the winter solstice among the Norse, as well as incorporating customs from the Gaelic celebration of Samhain. The Vikings celebrated Yule, which later contributed to the Twelve Days of Christmas or the Daft Days as they were sometimes called in Scotland.

The origin of the word hogmanay, is lost in time but scholars suggest that it most likely came from the French homme est né [man is born]. From other languages come these possibilities:

• hoggo-nott [the feast preceding Yule] - Scandinavian
• hoog min dag [great love day] - Flemish
• haleg monath [holy month] - Anglo-Saxon
• oge maiden [new morning] - Gaelic

As with all things Scottish, there is a lot of tradition designed to ensure good luck and involved in celebrating the end of the old and the beginning of the new year. What happened during Hogmanay was a portent of what the rest of the year would bring. This is why such importance was attached to the First Foot.

The First Foot is the first person to cross the threshold after the last stroke of midnight, embodying the spirit of someone bringing food and comfort to the house and good luck for the coming year. According to tradition, the best person to have come calling as a First Foot is a tall, dark haired man because fair-haired people were considered to be unlucky (were these the Norse invaders of old?). First Footing is the practice of going from house to house with little gifts and a bottle of whisky or wine. The host is given a token gift and a drink from your bottle and, in turn, gives you a drink from his.

The traditional handsel, or gift, brought by the First Foot is to ensure prosperity to the house being visited. To visit a house empty handed for the first time in the New Year signifies poverty will come upon the household. Each of the gifts a First Foot brings has a special meaning. A piece of coal, peat, or a small log symbolizes warmth, a coin symbolizes wealth, and whiskey symbolizes prosperity. An oatcake, piece of shortbread, or slice of black bun (a traditional spiced cake) symbolizes health.

Happy Hogmanay!

Here’s a wee freebie for your celebrations. Click on the image or click here to download it. Remember, it’s polite to send your friends here to get it rather than just share it around. How will they ever learn about Hogmanay?

Slainte! {Gaelic for Cheers!}

Merry Christmas! Nollaig Chridheil!

I hope you all have a very, very Merry Christmas!
Here's a wee word art giftie from me to you!
Click on the preview image to begin your download.


[By the way, Nollaig Chridheil is Scottish Gaelic for Merry Christmas!]