That’s Jeffervescent! By Jefferson Airplane

This is our Friendship Tree.

Well, it’s the friendship that adorned the Friendship Tree.

This past Christmas, a friend in the United States had a wonderful idea of an ornament exchange. So we received all these beautiful ornaments from pals all over the United States. Some were handmade. Some were reminders of shared memories. Some were really old, beautiful antiques. And they were all wonderful. And then more friends sent us ornaments and we received more amazing things from all over the UK. And then we added gifts from Taipei and Australia and Bulgaria. So we had, for the very first time, a Friendship Tree. It was a tree that we decorated with all these beautiful gifts from friends all over the world! And we put all the notes and letters and cards on there too. It was amazing!

And then, when packing up all the Christmas ornaments, we decided that we didn’t want to pack the Friendship Tree away. We wanted to keep looking at our friends’ messages and gifts all year round. But we couldn’t keep a tree up all year round (although Bulldog Drummond disagreed on that point). So we had to think of a way that we could enjoy the ornaments every day. Just like our friendships! So we chose a part of the stairway where the sun shines in every morning and where we go past every day. And we found some frames and mirrors from around the vintage stores. And we made our Friendship Nook! We had thought about windows, but we didn’t find any (yet!). But we got some lovely picture frames, because all good art deserves a frame! And we got some mirrors too. And not just because Howard Spring loves mirrors (although he really does, you can even see him in one in the photo). A mirror is special because it means we can also see ourselves in our friendships! Time to reflect!

And the Friendship Nook means a lot to us. We all go past it every day. It is the part of the stairway just near the Lookout Library, one of our favourite places. Howard and I gallop up and down the stairs every day, and so far we haven’t knocked any over. And the kitties run up and down the stairs every day, but so far they haven’t tried to rearrange any of the ornaments. We sniff them though. But that’s how we say hello!

So that’s our Friendship Nook. It’s like a gallery of friendship. A meeting place!

And every day we see our friends.

And that means a lot to us.

Friendship every day! That’s Jeffervescent!

Dedicated to Molly and Susie.