Saturday 31 January 2015

WELCOME FEBRUARY


Some pages from The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady by Edith Holden. She quotes
"One month is past, another is begun,
Since merry bells rang out the dying year,
And buds of rarest green begin to peer,
As if impatient for a warmer sun."

Aren't we all impatient for a warmer sun!!






Friday 30 January 2015

Have a Magical Weekend

                                                                                              I HOPE YOU'RE HAVING A MAGICAL WEEKEND.






                 

Thursday 29 January 2015

Me and my dog

A lovely sunny day with 10 degree temperature C ( I think that would be 50 F.) after a frosty morning. Nothing much is happening around here so I will post some pics taken on our walk in the park.  Our Black Lab, like most all dogs, likes to go for walks and although he doesn't walk as well as I'd like,  with the new "pinchy" collar he pulls less. I love the sunshine and hope the weather holds.










Anything happening out your way??
                                                                 Granny Marigold

Monday 26 January 2015

Snowdrops

I brought a tiny bouquet of snowdrops in today. These images are off the internet; my clumps are definitely  not as lush as these. For some reason snowdrops tend to disappear after a few years instead of naturalizing as they are supposed to do. Next Fall I'll once again plant some bulbs and hope those will thrive.



I haven't been posting much because I've not been well.  This cough just will not go away.
Nevertheless we went to get another load of lovely black soil this morning and took advantage of the nice weather to spread it out. With mild weather the Daffodils are poking up everywhere!! I removed the mulch covering the Primroses and I am hoping they will soon show signs of growth.

In the kitchen today about all I did was make a Banana Loaf. That had to be done before the bananas were beyond using. I hate to waste food. Also made some small jars of jam...Apricot and also Cherry.
Being Monday I had laundry to do , in fact the dryer is still running and I must go see if the load of jeans is dry.  I hope your day went well.
                    Granny Marigold

Friday 23 January 2015

Primroses

As I have confessed before, I have difficulty giving a name to my posts, so although this one is called Primroses there's not a lot about them really. I did buy two and put them in a basket that I had and I have been enjoying them. A spot of brightness in a winter's day.

I have not been able to rid myself of this cough and  if I didn't know that many others are also suffering from it I would go to the clinic but apparently it's viral and it's a matter of time and patience. Patience, which is NOT my strong suit.


Yesterday I decided to get out a quilt I bought at a garage sale quite some time ago.  I don't think I bothered to measure it when I got it because it didn't look like a queen size. Which it isn't. So I put it across the bed and I'm trying that look. Something different.  I like the pale mint green with the pink floral rectangle in the middle. The quilt is reversible and the other side is that pink material with solid pale pink.  The quilt is obviously hand made and doesn't look as if it was ever used. There's cute label sewn in that states "made for you with LOVE".
 


               Here you can see the reverse side.


Here is a pic of my newest mug. It has cute cats and kittens all over. I'm more a dog person than cat but nevertheless find cats cute. As long as they belong to someone else.You can see that I didn't learn my lesson re having my mug of tea by my computer.  It's just that that is where I like to sit and sip my Earl Grey. I try very hard to be careful.

Happy Friday and I hope you have a nice weekend whether you are going out or staying cozy at home.    

                Granny Marigold.




Sunday 18 January 2015

Monday...wash day




Monday and another week begins. I'm glad I don't have to do my laundry with a tub and wash board. I have my mother's old wash board hanging in my laundry room and seeing it reminds me how fortunate I am.  Even if I don't much like my washer. ( Don't get me started!!)

I have spent three days coughing and feeling rather awful. I'm ready to feel better and get on with life. We have had a lot of rain and wind but mild temperatures. Needless to say I haven't been out walking but hopefully I'll feel up to it soon. I noticed some bulbs are starting to poke their heads out and it's time to get a load of nice "garden mix" soil and spread a couple of inches over  everything.

I hope we all have a great week ahead.      Granny Marigold

Friday 16 January 2015

A few of the Things that make me Happy

Now that all the Christmas things are put away I had empty space.... I assembled some of my Marjolein Bastin things here on this drop leaf table.  I sit and have my tea next to this table.



                 I got my paper dress banners out and hung them over my computer.

   

   How do you store your necklaces?  I have so many due to the fact that I buy them at garage sales also my oldest daughter makes jewelry and has given me many.  I like having them hanging on this board behind my bedroom door.


                            These two headless ladies hold quite a few.


         This is my ribbon-bulletin  board.  I find I like it when I don't have to make a thumb tack hole in  something that I want to display.


I wish I could have gotten a better pic of this poster that has a line from a favourite poem by W.E. Henley on it.   " Night with her train of stars and her great gift of sleep".  It hangs on my door and I enjoy seeing it whenever I come or go.

Last of all is this room blessing that hangs over top of my bedroom door. It's quite old, sweet, and makes me happy.  I hope you have enjoyed seeing some of the things I hold dear.


I wish you a wonderful weekend. I'm still trying to shake this cold so it will be a quiet one here.

             Granny Marigold

Thursday 15 January 2015

An Altered Book

This is an on-going project that has been fun to work at. I took a thrifted photo album and added an assortment of odds and ends including unwanted CDs, an old watch, a chain with a pendant, and stickers, greeting cards, and plain old torn paper bits.  The album had a pretty cover, I added the butterfly and dangling bead on the upper corner.   
Hah!  Behind my album you can catch a glimpse of my very old name plate from the days when I worked in a bank.



                      This is what the unadorned pages looked like.




















 For some reason my computer insists these next two pictures have to be vertical although I took them as horizontal. Oh well.





That gives you a good idea of what I've done to alter this book.     Granny Marigold.

Wednesday 14 January 2015

A January walk

It was a chilly but perfectly clear morning and we decided to drive to a Bird Sanctuary about half an hour away and walk around. We plan on going there at least once every month this year. Although some birds stay around all winter others will be coming back in March and April.  This sanctuary is called The Great Blue Heron Sanctuary and the herons do live there all year but we didn't see any. Lots of other birds were around, especially a variety of ducks.




            Any tree not protected by wire was apt to be chewed down by the beavers.


    The Chickadees were very tame and happily landed on an outstretched hand.  Next time we go we'll bring sunflower seeds for them.



We sat on a park bench near the Interpretive Center where the birds congregated on and under this bird feeder. Until I wanted to take a picture, then they all disappeared. 


Tomorrow we will be back to clouds and showers but we enjoyed our sunny day. What did you do today?

             Granny Marigold