OPEN A NEW WINDOW, OPEN A NEW DOOR

It's that time again, for a window to close and time to open a new door. Where is the time going? As one can see, your Mistress has gotten a early start of the drinking above!!!!!Ready or not the New Year is finally almost here! And believe it or not, yours truly won't be braving the rain and crowds, but I'm having my usual New Years Eve dinner party at the Casa tonight, with a few intimate friends in for my usual fete and huge food spread....and of course....bow ties, corks popped, champagne swilled, drunken toasts, air kisses, glitter and glamour,a shower of peacock feathers,candle light, spinning the bottle,gorging on food,dancing in place, strip teases, a few shimmies, dilettantes, horny boys, wanton behavior, comparing under garments, sequins, and finally someone yelling TIMBER!!!! I'm off today to prepare and it's almost all set....

I really can't complain much over the past year. I'm generally very happy most of the time. And I never make any New Years resolutions. I've gotten this far just fine. As long as I have my family , good friends and my health...I'm content.

And a good gin always helps!!!

 

Hopefully I'll get my midnight kiss from the Lad....

 

On tap tonight will be my usual spread for cock-a-tails and a selection of Italian meats and cheeses, figs, nuts,calms and chilled shrimp...with endless champagne, followed by a surf and turf dinner. Followed by more champagne till????????? On tap tomorrow I have my traditional pork and sauerkraut dinner, with some greens, slow cooking, whilst the guest and I lounge all day watching Philadelphia's finest in the Mummers Parade, for some good ole Mummery fun. Hopefully the Lad can stay all weekend where we can just stay in and knock heels the rest of the time!!!!!!

 

Soooooooo..... I bid you adieu for the year of 2015. I want to thank all my readers and followers..... a HUGE THANK-YOU for always stopping by and taking the time to stop by. I look forward to your kind and witty and funny comments. I truly wish you all a Wonderful and Happy New Year, filled with much happiness, positive cool vibes and Good Health to all!!! And in the words of Mame Dennis...Live Agnes Live! Life's a banquet, and some poor suckers are straving to death!!!! I will raise my cock-a-tail to you all!

 Happy New Year-

XOXO

AND NOW.....EYDIE GORME

 

She raises a good question in this lovely holiday ditty........

GRANDE DAME... KIM CHI

This Grande Dame rounds out the last for the year....a stunning queen. As an immigrant from Korea, Kim Chi strives to represent the best of herself as a person, and the best of her Korean culture and heritage. Her name even comes from a traditional Korean dish. Since moving to the US, she is the toast of Chicago, with her show stopping performances and style. As anyone who has seen Kim Chi can tell, fashion and high-concept designs are a huge part of her drag. Kim says the elements of her drag are what allow her to stand out from the other queens in her community, with her fashion tendencies with great reverence for the art of designing. She always been fascinated by the world of over the top, avant-garde, conceptual fashion.  Kim says she loved everything Isabella Blow did visually with her crazy headpieces, and  loved Alexander McQueen and Gareth Pugh for pushing the boundaries of what constitutes a feminine silhouette. Through drag, Kim Chi is able to explore all the amazing elements of traditionally feminine characteristics that will allow her to bring her fashion designs to a whole new level.Kim Chi says this somewhat new passion has already begun to change her as a person and change the direction of her life. “Doing drag has inadvertently taught me so many things I never thought I’d ever learn in my lifetime. It helps expand my horizons as a visual artist and challenges me to push myself further.” Although she may have fallen into drag unexpectedly, like many queens, her career quickly took off from there. She'd be a hellva of a DragRacer, don't you think

THE TRADITION OF BAYBERRY

 

Do you partake of the tradition of bayberry on New Year's Eve? Or have any of you heard of it? My grandmother, ALWAYS burned a bayberry candle on New Year’s Eve.  The Legend goes as follows:  A Bayberry candle burned to the socket brings Luck to the household, and Wealth to the pocket. In Irish tradition, the candle needs to continue burning from one day into the next, so as to bring the good luck forward.  My grandmother also told me this is why we eat ham or pork on New Year’s rather than fowl – because a bird scratches backwards while the pig always roots forward! Ever since she passed on I have always continued to burn them on New Years Eve, in the form of tapers and votives. And every year my co-workers get a pair of tapers with their gifts from me for the fun of it.

 

When the first settlers arrived on our shores, every moment was one of survival. Everything was in short supply including candles. Generally candles were made of tallow, which tends to smoke and give off an odor. It didn’t take long for the early colonists to discover that the abundant bayberry bush had berries that would give off a waxy residue when boiled. They learned to collect and save the bayberry wax that would rise to the surface of the water and make them into taper candles. The bayberry tapers burned longer and cleaner than the tallow version. Unfortunately, it takes a lot of bayberries to make enough wax to make a single taper. These bayberry tapers were a real treasure to the colonists who saved them for special occasions. To have a bayberry candle was a luxury to be saved and relished. It became the tradition to burn your bayberry candle on Christmas or New Years Eve to bring blessings of abundance in the coming year. It is believed that you should light your bayberry candle on the eve of your holiday of choice and allow it to burn completely until it goes out on its own.

 

 They are also very safe to burn, and should go about 5-6 hours.  However, burn times vary so I recommend that you light the candle around 9-10pm on the evening prior to ensure it won’t burn out prematurely –  remember, you want it to burn INTO Christmas and/or New Year’s Day! If I go to bed, I have placed them in the bathtub for safety, unless their are in a glass enclosed holder, which I usually do, and it keeps a nice candle lit atmosphere of my overnight guests. And they smell INCREDIDBLE!!!! I usually switch from pine of Christmas to Bayberry all winter long. It's a fun tradition.

TICK TOCK TICK TOCK........

It seems the New Year is upon us as the pendulum keeps swing.....and that means this will be the last "I Hate Monday" post for the year. Can't complain today though. It is back home tot he Casa and then a three day work week. YAY!!!! Let's get in the mood  awhile shall we........ and Happy Monday!!

 

 

I'll be back tomorrow.

WHILE THE MISTRESS IS AWAY......

 ......it's been business as usual around here. As Social Director, it's hard to keep these houseboys from getting in things. As one can see, they have donned their finest.....

As for me, being Social Director, I know where to find the good stuff....and decided to get a jump start of New Years Eve...

 

kisses- Ms. Moorecock

WASHINGTON'S CROSSING

While I'm out for the holiday, I did a post for you all. In all the years on this blog, I don't think I ever featured this event. Just a hop skip and jump up the Delaware River is yet another quaint town...Washington's Crossing.

 

 Each December, thousands gather on the banks of the Delaware River to watch the reenactment of General George Washington’s daring Christmas Day river crossing. During this event, several hundred re-enactors in Continental military garb listen to an inspiring speech by Washington and then row across the river in replica Durham boats. The reenactment is held each year on December 25 at 1 p.m. Those who cannot attend on Christmas can watch a full dress rehearsal about two and a half weeks before the Christmas Day Crossing. This is big around these part on Christmas Day. This year I hear, they are expecting between 10-20 thousand people, and for some, this is part of their tradition to go see this.In the winter of 1776, General George Washington and his ragged army had experienced only defeat and despair. The War for Independence was going badly, with failure following failure.In the preceding months, Washington’s campaign in New York had not gone well; the Battle of Long Island ended in a loss when the British troops managed to out-maneuver the Continental Army. A series of defeats settled around Washington as he was forced to retreat across New Jersey to Pennsylvania on December 7 and 8.

As the harsh Pennsylvania winter set in, the morale of the American troops was at an all-time low. The soldiers were forced to deal with a lack of both food and warm clothing, while Washington watched his army shrink due to desertions and expiring enlistments. Now, more than ever, a victory was desperately needed.

 

General Washington hatched a daring plan to cross the Delaware River under the cover of darkness, march to Trenton and attack the Hessian outposts in and around Trenton. The boats to be used for the crossing were gathered earlier in the month in compliance with Washington’s orders, primarily as a defensive measure. Various types of boats were collected; most notable were the large, heavy Durham boats used to carry pig iron down the Delaware.

Fully expecting to be supported by two divisions south of Trenton, Washington assembled his own troops near McConkey’s Ferry in preparation for the crossing. By 6 pm, 2,400 troops had begun crossing the ice-choked river. The operation was slow and difficult due to the condition of the river. There was an abrupt change in the weather forcing the men to fight their way through sleet and a blinding snowstorm. These obstacles proved to be too much for the supporting divisions led by Generals Cadwalader and Ewing, ultimately preventing their crossing at southern points along the Delaware.

Against all odds, Washington and his men successfully completed the crossing and marched into Trenton on the morning of December 26, achieving a resounding victory over the Hessians. By moving ahead with his bold and daring plan, Washington re-ignited the cause of freedom and gave new life to the America Revolution.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

I truly wish each and every one of my readers and followers a very Happy Christmas and a joyous New Year! I hope you all are enjoying the magic and special feeling of the season, and your where you want to be! Merry Christmas!!!

*XOXO*