THIS, THAT, AND THE OTHER TOO...

Happy Tuesday everyone!  We are one day away from saying cheerio to January 2018, which means one day closer to saying hello to spring.

You wouldn't know it looking outside here though.  Its a real January day, for sure.  Today is supposed to be a mixed bag of weather, a stormy kind of day, and I think it's safe to say, we won't be seeing any sunshine today!

It's warming up to above freezing temperatures today ( for a very short time) but the wind will make it feel like -30.  We are expecting some freezing rain, some snow, and some blizzard conditions.  The heavy snow is to the north of us, but I think we might still have some dicey conditions on highways and roadways today.

It's a good day to stay indoors.  I topped up all the bird feeders yesterday, and we went on a Walmart run to top up supplies and groceries, so let it storm!

Our closest Walmart is 40 minutes away.  Can you remember the very first Walmart you were ever in years ago?  One that was in a Mall, small, narrow isles, shelves packed all the way to the top?  Well that is the Walmart that still exists out this way.  No Super Walmart, no groceries, just a plain Jane Walmart. 

It's a bit frustrating when you are used to the larger stores, especially when you are used to purchasing a certain item from a larger store, and this smaller one doesn't carry it - but still, I am thankful for the store.

I did manage to finally find the right sized circular needle to start those adorable flower hats that I want to make for our two sweet little future grand-daughters.  So there is one project I can do on this stormy day!  And I did find yarn to finish the baby blanket I am making as well, so I have lots to keep my hands busy.

But while I find my hands are so easy to keep busy, my mind is wandering so much towards spring.  I can't tell you how many videos I have watched over the past weekend, on how to build a wildlife pond for the back yard.

I already have a lot of toads in my garden - I am constantly digging them up in the garden, but I would also love to attract frogs, dragon flies, damsel flies and such to my yard. A wildlife pond is essential for this.  I think I have researched enough to give it a try this spring - my only obstacle will be finding just the right location for it to do some good.

Oh and Walmart had seeds out yesterday - so I picked up some more varieties of herbs, and Shasta Daisy seeds - one plant I totally love, but do not have in any of my gardens here.

So, time to get this day started for real.  Whatever you do today - make it count.... this day won't come again.

Stay safe everyone!

VALENTINES UPDATE!

Thank you everyone who has responded to my "Be My Love" post.

After my husband read my post, he informed me that as he remembers Valentines Day in grade school - it was only the girls who were excited - the boys really couldn't have cared less about exchanging Valentines!

Talk about bursting someones bubble.  Does that mean that the Valentines we received with the words "Love" on them, from boys we really liked, really meant nothing at all?

Say it isn't true!

All kidding aside, thanks to some helpful readers, we have located some old-fashioned Valentine books, if you are interested.

One reader  found one on eBay.  This one is a vintage one... look at the price!  I think these were originally something like .29  !

Another reader has found a reproduction Valentine book of this type at Indigo book store, for 6.99.  Much better price and available online or in the stores.

https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.chapters.indigo.ca%2Fen-ca%2Fbooks%2Fvintage-valentines%2F9780375875144-item.html%3Fref%3Dby-shop%253Atoys%253A18-kids-valentines%253Avalentines-day-2018%253A4%253A&h=ATOo4JHt4kdLZnuPHh0sx-q6_NwSimp-rluLNXXPEq1g8oyq0fCG-IfJNAtVeAex0F0vPNo33uqeQ_ej2IpDHUAC4xfUi8i91T5hxDRSW_Q-u9TJvGHHLlZ3wmj8XY4GxrB0Kc1p4ytKeJHxQEQ






I am going to continue to look in stores out here in the country, but now I can order one online - and I think I am going to do that!

Thanks everyone - this has been fun!

Have a great weekend - be safe!

BE MY LOVE!

Have you seen these anywhere?  If you remember these, then you are at least as old as I am ...

 





I have been thinking about Valentines Day the last couple of days.  I want to send some Valentine's to two sweet little girls, but my mind is stuck on the idea of sending the kind of valentines we had in our childhood - not the kind that are available to kids today.

Do you remember  these Valentine's books?
Full of different Valentines that you had to punch out - some had little sliding signs that fit in them that had the sentiment written on them.  But the best part was the envelope.  There were sheets of them in the books that you cut out and glued together.  There was a place on the front for the "address" or person's name.  Some even had a place marked out for the stamp.

We "Made Valentine's" for weeks out of these books before the actual event occurred!

Wonderful!


Valentine's Day when I was a kid back in the early 60's was a real big deal.  Maybe it still is, but I remember when the announcement was made in school the excitement started.

In those days we did have a Valentine's Day party at school, but it was nothing like the parties kids have now.  There were no treats of food, no party in the real sense of "party".  Our party was decorating shoe boxes with crayons, or paper, cutting a whole in the top and placing the box on the corner of our desk.

This happened during the last hour of the day closest to Valentine's day, or on Valentine's day itself.  Shortly before the bell rang to announce the end of the day, we were allowed to deliver our Valentines to the appropriate boxes.

It was a disorganized mad rush to plop your valentine in the receivers box, before the bell rang.

Unlike today, you didn't make a Valentine for everyone - just the students and friends you wanted to receive one.  Thinking about that now, perhaps it was a bit harsh, but everyone who left school had a box full of Valentine's, I don't remember any child crying because they had none.

We would put on our winter clothes and head home after the school bell rang - our boxes wedged under our arms.  The girls never made it all the way home, they often sat in a snowbank and opened their box and started opening their little envelopes with the Valentines inside.  The excitement was more than one could be expected to stand - we just had to see which boys had given us a Valentine.

Of course the verses meant everything.  If a boy's Valentine said a simple "Be My Valentine", that was nice - but it a boy's Valentine mentioned the word "Love" - well now that was the real deal!

I saved all my grade school Valentines for a very long time.  I don't have them now - but I sure wish I did.

Yesterday  while I was out shopping I started my search for the "Real Valentine" - the kind like the ones in these old books.  All I found were boxes of Valentines, with a few different Valentines in the same theme.  Not what I want.

So the hunt is on.

You will let me know if you see any around, won't you?

A REALLY GOOD READ!

I just finished reading a really good book.  THE FORGOTTEN GARDEN by Kate Morton.

No, it's not about gardening, but there is a story about a garden in it.  If you like a good long book, with many many twists and turns, that don't reveal the end - until the end - then this is the book for you.

It's about family, it's about loss, its about discovery, its about life - it's also about fairy tales, dreams, and beautiful gardens. It's a story within a story, and another story within that story.

I have not read this Author before, but there is another book by her in our library that I am going to go back and scoop up before someone else discovers it. 

My nose has been buried in this book since the weekend, so not much has been done anywhere else in my house.  But that's quite okay.  Tomorrow I will get back to whatever I was doing before I started reading.

If you start reading this - don't blame me if you loose track of time - I warned you!

Happy Reading! 

THE END OF A PERFECT DAY!

When you come to the end of a perfect day,
And you sit alone with your thought,
While the chimes ring out with a carol gay,
For the joy that the day has brought.
Do you think what the end of a perfect day
Can mean to a tired heart,
When the sun goes down with a flaming ray,
And the dear friends have to part?

Well, this is the end of a perfect day,
Near the end of a journey, too;
But it leaves a thought that is big and strong,
With a wish that is kind and true.
For mem'ry has painted this perfect day
With colours that never fade,
And we find at the end of a perfect day
The soul of a friend we've made.

What is a Perfect Day?

Is it the day that the weather is nice?
Is it the day you get to bring your husband home from the hospital after a sudden life-threatening surgery?
Is it the day the oncologist tells you your cancer is gone?
Is it the day you see your family, after a long absence?
Is it a day spent with the one you love?
Is is any normal day, when you are able to get up in the morning, make your way through the day and then retire to bed, safe and well at the end of the day?

Is your Perfect Day, today?

During the month of December, our Christmas treat to each other was subscribing to TCM (Turner Classic Movies).  We watched old movies every night, and those we didn't watch, we recorded for later viewing.

I watched one of those movies last evening.

REMEMBER THE NIGHT
1940
with Barbara Stanwyck and Fred MacMurray

There is a scene in the movie where Barbara Stanwyck, a troubled woman who has been welcomed into Fred MacMurray's family home for Christmas, plays a song on the piano while the rest of the characters in the scene sing the words.

She is overcome with emotion, because she has been so lovingly welcomed by this family.

I watched the scene, but I was taken with the words to the song.  So after the movie was over, I googled it.

This song ( words and music) was written by Carrie Jacobs-Bond in 1909.  It was intended as a "Parlour" song, a Victorian term for songs sung around a piano at a home.  It was hugely successful and was recorded by many singers over many years.

Carrie Jacobs-Bond also wrote "I LOVE YOU TRULY" from her home in Janesville Wisconsin ( My Aunt Margaret's home town).  How neat is that!


If you have a minute, take a listen to Gordon MacRae singing this beautiful song!   What a beautiful voice, singing a beautiful song!



https://youtu.be/019myqmRV4M


Wishing you all A PERFECT DAY!

A WORD TO MY READERS:

A word to my readers.

I realize that not everyone who reads my blog are actual followers of my blog.  Some readers surf blogs, judge the content, like it or don't like it, stay or move on. 

Unfortunately those who don't like my blog, who are not my regular readers or followers, also think they have the right to make comments on my blog.

They do - but I also have the right as the owner of the content on my blog, to remove comments I don't want on my blog.  I seldom remove comments, in fact comments from my "Registered Followers" are never removed - I don't have to remove those, because my "followers" want to read my blog and their comments suggest that to myself and to other readers of my blog.

So that you know - I will continue to remove all comments that come from persons other than those who have registered here as my followers.  Also I will continue to remove comments from anyone who is surfing and commenting for the main purpose of only wanting to advertise their own blog or business. 

I promote the blogs and businesses that I want to promote on my blog - all others will be removed.

For anyone who reads my blog, I remind you to read my copyright article on my main page.  You may not use any of my writing, photographs, or patterns, unless contacting me directly for permission.  My photos are watermarked, and all my stories, books and poems are under copyright to me, and only me.

Thank You

Dale

JUST IMAGINE!

Our temperatures have warmed up considerably, in fact for the past couple of days, our little town has been the hot spot of the province.

Yesterday I spent a little time outside, for the first time in a long while.  I topped up the bird feeders, brushed the snow off my little old park bench, thinking I might sit there for awhile ( which I did) and catch a few birds with my camera ( which I did not).

But it was just wonderful to sit outside and smell the air.  Everyone was out - lots of people walking uptown instead of driving, small children being pulled in toboggans, and I even saw a couple of baby buggies.

You'd almost think it was spring!

My park bench sits right in front of my patch of  Echinachea,  and as any gardener would do, before I sat down, I leaned over and had a good look at the flower spikes that I left on the plants last fall.  Sure enough nestled in those prickly spikes are seeds.  I picked one and shook it in my hand, and got a fist full of seeds for my efforts.

So today I went back outside with a bag and my clippers and cut a lot of the pods off. I left enough to seed my patch, but the rest I harvested.

I have several spots in the yard where I want to start these plants, for height and for the beauty of a nice clump of these blooming late summer and fall.  Why buy seeds or plants when you can grow your own.? So these seeds will be the first I start in my nook plant room, very soon.

The warmer temperatures took their toll on my 2 snowmen today, however.  Both are now headless, and both are looking quite gaunt.  Their time has come and gone, and even though I am sure we will get more snow before this winter is over - snowmen won't be welcome in the yard!


This popped up on face book yesterday, and I just had to share it with you.  Can you imagine the time it took to plot this out, build it, run it, then rebuild it to the functioning piece you see here?  And then start all over again, and get every movement 100% correct to music?  Just Brilliant!

If you are like me, you will watch it several times in a row...

Enjoy!



https://www.youtube.com/user/DoodleChaos


Don't forget to get outside and harvest some seeds... they are prime right now!

A COLD MID-JANUARY DAY!

So, what does one do in the middle of a very cold January in Manitoba, when you can't get out much -  aside from stewing about the fact that so many people are so very sick and there is nothing much you can do about it?

You can get up in your craft room and make something?

Wrong - the craft room is off limits until it warms up significantly.

You Read?

Bingo!

Thank Goodness for books and magazines.  I happened to stop in the recycle shop on Friday after I had been to clean the library, and some nice soul had left a box of Manitoba Gardener magazines.  Okay, so they are not recent additions, but that's of little signifigance to a gardener such as I.

Even though I have had gardens for years, I am still learning. No matter how much you may think you already know about plants and soil, water, sun - there is always more to learn.  That's the true beauty about being a gardener.   Those who think they know it all - may know a lot - but you will never know it all!

So I hauled home the box of magazines, and one day has led to another, and another, and to be perfectly honest with you, I have somewhat forgotten that it's mid January in Manitoba.  I'm already months ahead in my thoughts... to March, April, May... and beyond.

I have learned the difference between Dragonflies and damselflies... and I am now researching how to bring more of them into my yard and gardens!

Have you been taking notice of the way the foilage grows on your Iris rhizomes when you transplant them?  Not I - I just transplant them.  Here's the thing!  The foilage at the end of the rhizome grows only in one direction.  So your Iris when growing in clumps are open in the centre with all the foilage growing outwards... not pretty.

Solution: when splitting your Iris, split out all the rhizomes, so each one has a single or at most a double leave blade per rhizome.  Prepare them all this way before you replant.

When you go to replant, consider each plant as a circle.  Place three of the rhizomes around the circle at 12 oclock, 3oclock and 7oclock with the foilage pointing away from the circle..

The remaining two rhizomes are placed at 11oclock and 5 oclock with the foilage direction of growth towards the center of the circle.

The result of this method of planting will be a uniform clump of Iris with blossoms supported on each of the stems in the following year.  The center of the clump will remain full and colourful as the clump expands.

Brilliant!  I didn't know this, but I certainly intend on trying it.

I have started inventorying my seeds, and I am thinking about turning my nook into a temporary plant nursery.  It would make a great place to start my plants for spring, and it would take little time to get it functional.

There is nothing like thinking about plants and the beauty they share with us to brighten a cold mid- January day!

BLESS US ONE, AND ALL!

We are back in the deep freeze, and once again I am being conservative towards the heating demands of my workspace.  That is because my attic space is not on the main heating system, but instead is heated with electric baseboards.  I refuse to heat a space, that isn't used 24/7 and pay Manitoba Hydro exorbitant amounts of cash to do so.  The last time we had such cold weather, I hauled my computer down to the main floor, but I am not going to do that this time around. 

So for the next week or so, I will only be at my desk for very brief moments, to pick some thing up, or to put something away.

Yesterday was not a great day for some of my loved ones.  A family member who went for a routine test yesterday, ended up on the operating table early this morning, having by-pass surgery, while yet another loved one received the most devastating diagnosis following a test that was done a couple of weeks ago.

My prayer list was already long, and now it has two more added to it.

I believe in the power of prayer, and even if I did not, I would say them anyway. 

So many people laugh at prayer, but prayer is something we all do -  whether we admit it or not - especially when we are helpless to do anything else. 

To the families of those on my list - I am here - always.

So lets hope this current cold snap is short lived, so we can once again get outdoors and get the fresh air our minds and bodies need to rejuvenate ourselves.

God Bless You one, and All....

SPEAKING OUT ABOUT SPEAKING OUT!

I had a completely different post written for today, but this morning I changed my mind about posting it on this day.

I don't usually comment on political or social issues that go on in our world here on my blog, but today I just really feel like I have had enough with Hollywood-driven garbage being shoved down every one's throat, wherever you happen to be - on the Internet, watching TV - even talk shows and pod casts.

As if it hasn't been publicized enough over the last several months, this past week's Golden Globes frenzy on the "Me Too" movement has fueled more fires, angry debates, fights and arguments that this world really needs to see and hear right now.

I am beginning to wonder if this is still about "Sexual Predators" or if this has just become a way for women to speak out against men in general.

I am all for "Sexual Predators" getting what is coming to them, but I also read names of people I know who said "Me Too" on the Facebook movement a few months ago.  Women I know well enough to know that they were never victims of this sort of behaviour.

So, is this how we go about "Empowering Women"?  We become followers, we jump on a bandwagon of a movement that everyone seems to be saying YES to?

I wonder - if we had a movement called "Not Me" - how would the numbers stack up against the "Me Too"?  I think we know the answer to that question.

So why don't we hear about the "Not Me's" ?

Because we are the boring women, who have worked hard in our careers and homes,  who have perhaps had a touch to our arm from a charming man a time or two, but who know that a touch on the arm, is a touch on the arm, and not a sexual deviation.  We are the women who have had enough confidence in ourselves to brush it off, call the guy an ass, and move on.  We don't need a "cause" to get us through the day; we don't need to be "Empowered", because we already are.  We don't need to feel better or smarter or prettier or sexier than anyone else - because we already are!

And how come we are not hearing the flip side to this issue? 

I cannot tell you how many times in my working career when I have been witness to the flip side.  Men who are being gushed at, fawned over, and yes given verbal sexual innuendo's by female co-workers who know full well the male is not in the least interested.

These men are out there, and I am sure they exist in Hollywood as well - why are they silent now?

Box sexes are guilty of the crime of the "Me Too" movement - whether it is talked about, or not.  Personally, I don't find it entertaining, or empowering.  I also don't agree with the route it is taking.

Yes, those who are truly guilty need to be punished - but allegations, are allegations, just like Hollywood is Hollywood.  My mind has to question why the same group of people who speak the loudest are also the ones promoting a movie where a gay male forms a sexual relationship with a 14 year old boy, in the name of a love story.  This is the movie they are promoting to be the big Oscar winner this year.

Enough said!

A WALDORF KIND OF DAY!

Today I have the day free to spend upstairs in my studio for the first time in weeks.  Late last night I snuck up there and pulled out a bunch of patterns and laid them on the floor and on my desk.  Some were crochet, some knit, some fabric, some stitched.  Talk about a way to drive oneself crazy!

But the one pattern I kept picking up over and over again was for a little knit Waldorf-style doll.

What is a Waldorf doll?

They have been around for generations. They are a small handmade doll, generally knit, but they can also be made from a very soft cloth, or a pillow case.  The material they are made from is usually a natural fiber, such as wool. 

They are crafted very simply, using traditional doll making techniques which originated in Europe.

Waldorf dolls, are based on the principals of Waldorf Education, which seeks to enliven a child's imagination.  For that reason the facial features on these dolls are intentionally simple - some even have no facial features at all.  This allows a child to use their own imaginations, they can imagine their dolls, awake or sleeping, happy or sad.

These little dolls ( 9-10 inches) are wonderful first dolls for babies and toddlers, but they are also becoming very popular for children of all ages.  Soft dolls and hand made dolls such as the Waldorf- style dolls are back in vogue.

I have had a pattern I found on the Internet years ago, of a cute little doll, designed by Beth Webber.  It is knit, using a worsted weight yarn, and Mohair for her hair.  She is knit on 2 needles, in one piece.  Its a simple pattern, even a beginner knitter can do this one, just knit and purl.

It's a great way to use up small balls of yarn, and the patterns for her clothes are also on the web site, which require only basic knitting skills.

There are also crochet versions out there.  They are just as cute, and just as easy to make, but I think I am going to stay with the traditional style doll this time around.

You can find images and all the patterns for these sweet little treasures on the website below. 

If you have little ones in your family, make some - I'll bet they would love them - in fact, I know they will.


http://byhookbyhand.blogspot.ca/2011/11/white-friday.html


Happy Waldorfing!

SO WHAT'S NEW?

Well here we are, eight days into 2018 already!  We had several weeks of extreme cold, as did much of the country, but now we are in a much milder and warmer temperature pattern, which is predicted to only last a few days -  but we will enjoy it anyway.

It was so cold here, that I decided not to heat my attic studio, so I shut the lights and heat off and hard as it was, kept my body planted on the main floor of our home.  Now that is warmer, I have returned to my "space" only to discover that I had left everything in complete chaos, since well before my Christmas sales started.   My space is a mess, and I am making my first real project of 2018 to clean and organize my work space so I can work efficiently again.

I have been doing a bit of knitting while I was stranded on the main floor, and I plan to do some more this winter with some new patterns that I acquired over the holidays.

But I have a new project, that I really hope will be successful. I am going to start giving piano and theory lessons.  I interviewed my first student's parent yesterday, and my first student is a 7 yr old boy, who loves music and has been wanting piano lessons for over a year. 

I am excited to start this new venture.  It is something I have wanted to do since we moved here, and I think it will be just as rewarding for me as it will be for the students.  So music has one again taken hold of my life.  There was time when music was the most important thing in my life.  I was singing in choirs, taking voice lessons and doing solo performances, playing in orchestras, and I couldn't seem to get enough music in my life. 

To some extent music has hit me that way again.  I am playing the organ at church, I play at the nursing home, and do music therapy there.  Giving piano lessons is a great next step, and I don't think I am quite done yet.  Next on my mind is trying to form a community choir.  I have heard some of these farm folk sing - they have pure joy coming from their vocal chords - I'd like to help them share that joy with other's. 

But I am getting ahead of myself...

Today I am heading to see the dentist.  I have a wisdom tooth that has gone bad, so I guess we will be making a decision.  I am deathly afraid of dentists - so you know it's bad if I get up the nerve to go.  At this point, I keep telling myself that the pain of having it pulled could not be any greater than the pain of it abscessed - -  yeah, that's not working, I'm still shaking!

So that's my life in a few paragraphs.

If my knees are not shaking too much when I get home, it looks like it would be a perfect sunny warm day to get outside with the camera.  You might see the results here, soon.

So get outside and play in the snow, or go for a walk, or take your camera for a walk.  It's days like this that I really miss having a dog.

Talk to you soon.... stay well...