One of the great holiday pleasures we have is the availability of fresh nuts in the shell. They used to be more readily available but now we only see them at the holidays. We can get shelled nuts year round but it's just not the same.
I've been enjoying not only eating them but the textures of the shells. Pecans are so smooth and shiny--their skin would make lovely veneer if you could get a large enough piece flat. Almonds are really intriguing me this year, with their fibrous inserts. I had thought about incorporating this web in a stitching project but it became very brittle very quickly, so it's probably not a good idea. But I can still enjoy the full sensory experience.
We bought a tree for the first time in several years. It's in our garage for now; we'll put it up this weekend. It was sold by a volunteer group to support the Circle Pines Center in Delton, MI. The mission of Circle Pines is to teach peace, social justice, environmental stewardship and cooperation. The Center aims to demonstrate cooperative alternatives for economic and social issues and to teach cooperation as a way of life. Sounds pretty good to me. It's the first time I've heard of this center but I hope to visit it next summer.
