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!