Tales from the Back Yard

It was interesting to sit and watch the goings-on in the back yard this morning.  We have a Hummingbird feeder that has been very popular all summer.  Both male and female Hummingbirds came often to sip sweet syrup between visits to my flowers. Now that almost all the Hummers have migrated we are left with at least 2 females one of which is very territorial. The second one was making darting visits to the feeder as often as she dared. Almost every time she was chased away by the first one. So we hung a second feeder only to have the territorial one defend BOTH the feeders. It's keeping her very busy!

Another visitor this morning was a extremely persistent squirrel. He was determined to get at the sunflower seed feeder but that feeder has proved to be squirrel proof ( as well as pigeon, starling and other larger bird proof as well). The white stuff in the feeder is probably oatmeal that my DH dumped in to see if any bird was interested. They are not).

It's very chilly again today. I didn't walk because for some reason my left foot/ankle is very painful.
I don't remember swisting my foot yesterday so who knows what's happened. I hope it goes away as quickly as it came.

Happy Halloween to those who pay any attention to it. I've turned the calendar page to November. I know one is not supposed to change the calendar page before the month begins but I did anyway. 

Thanks for coming by.  G.M.

Tuesday's Treasures

We have had the same Christmas CD's for so many years and I went looking for some 'new' ones, which the thrift store had plenty of. I found a nice mix from classical to Blue Grass which will especially please DH. I want to wait until November to play any but it's very tempting to listen to one or two sooner. I know, many of you are horrified that I listen to Christmas music so early in the season but why not?  Makes me happy!!

This adorable Susan Branch book was .50. I love all her books!! And her blog.

I make scones and biscuits often and I'll have fun browsing though this little cookbook. ( lots of coloured pictures too)

No teacups today. Oh, there were lots available but none that I really really wanted and none that were half price either.  This little bone china pitcher was marked down however and I mean to use it. One of you dear followers mentioned just recently how much nicer it is to pour milk or cream from a pitcher rather than from the big jug. I agree!

We've had chilly mornings and clear sunny days this week. Lovely weather. DH has been making some rustic Christmas trees out of used (free) wood pallets.  Yes, I mentioned the C word again. Sorry.

I hope you're having a great day!  Thanks for visiting.

Granny Marigold

This and That

I've been keeping these old milk bottles for years and I'm ready to get rid of them My oldest granddaughter, Kate, has expressed an interest so I'll ask her if she still wants them.

My DH's first job was as a milkman delivering milk in just such bottles door to door. He remembers that the cost of a quart of milk was .21 and how annoying it was to make change. Why not just .20 or .25?  He also remembers that his route took him past the local high school at noon and how students would flock to his truck to buy chocolate milk in half pint cartons ( which cost 8 cents).

My poor Amaryllis  have had no water since August but still are so slow in going dormant.  Since they'll need at least 6 weeks of dormancy they better hurry up or none will bloom in time for Christmas. ( If I'm correct then dormancy only begins when all their leaves have yellowed and fallen off).

How do you like my Broccoli tree?   It's actually one of those ornamental Kale but the bottom leaves turned yellow and limp so I plucked them off and this is the result.

I hope you're having a pleasant Sunday.  Here the sun is shining and although the temperature was just one degree above freezing this morning because the sun is shining in the windows it seems very lovely.


Thanks for coming by,  G.M.

My Morning Walk

Cloudy sky this morning and 7C  45F . No wind at all so it was so pleasant walking. I know you've seen lots of pictures of the lake I walk by but if you're like me you don't get tired of it. 

I made sure my walk would take me past the little lending library. I dropped off 3 books I was done with ( including the cute and colourful cookbook).

Sometimes when I get here the books are a mess and I straighten them out, but today someone else must have done it.

Yesterday I brought home these pretty leaves and pressed them briefly in the phone book ( heaviest book I had at hand). I didn't leave them there long enough so after I Modge Podged them they curled a bit.  I like them anyway.  I always wish I could identify the various trees we have. I wonder what tree these came from.

Besides my walk I have not done much so far. Tidied the house and put in a load of laundry. I took some pie dough out of the freezer. This afternoon I'll make an apple pie. I thought I'd add some fresh cranberries to the apple filling. I bought extra when they were on sale just before Thanksgiving.

Thanks for visiting today.  

Please leave a comment so I know you were here.

Granny Marigold

Tuesday's Thrifty Finds

After a cloudy morning the sun came out. I hope it stays out because I want to do some outside work later.  As usual I went to the thrift store this Tuesday morning and found more pretty things to prettify
 ( probably not a word) my house.  Don't worry though, I'll be putting hopefully an equal amount of things in the 'donate' box. I like to change things around if I can do it cheaply.

This cute little cupboard was the first thing I spotted. It was in a display of Christmas things but I think that thing on the front is a topiary, not a Christmas tree.

              I had just the right tiny dishes to put in it!

Black wooden lantern with the glass all intact.

I already had the white ceramic pumpkins and the pine cone. 

You must have suspected that there would be a teacup or two somewhere in my post and you were right.  These two cheery sets are not bone china or anything special but I like them ( and they were cheap).

I hope you enjoyed a peek at my 'finds'.  Have a wonderful day!!!

Granny Marigold

What I've been Reading

It's a rainy Sunday afternoon.  Later we'll be going to youngest son's to play Mexican Train (dominoes)  but for now I thought I'd share what I've been reading this week.

The first book I read was A Three Dog Life. It's the true story of Abigail Thomas and how she rebuilds her life after her husband is hit by a car and loses his memory. Because of his moods ( rages) he has to live in an institution. Sounds like a depressing book but I didn't find it so.

The next book was When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanith. The author, a neurosurgeon aged 36 is diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer. He describes how it was to go from being the doctor to being the patient.  This book was a little bit depressing because in the end he dies.

Okay on to this little Christian magazine which I've never seen before. Full of short inspiring stories
(one written by what I believe to be a good friend of second oldest daughter).

I bought this book for its illustrations and cute rhyming text.  I hope I can get M to let me read it to him. Maybe even show him where California is on the map. At 10 he's not quite as apt to listen to MY choice of reading material.

This little cookbook which promises to" provide recipes for dishes you really want to eat but without the fuss and fanfare".  As you know I read cookbooks like novels, looking at coloured illustrations and imagining how I would make it. Then I go back to the old familiars. Still, for .25 I'll enjoy it and probably pass it on when I'm done.

That's it for my reading list.  I hope you're having a lovely weekend and maybe even some sunshine.

Thanks for visiting,   G.M.

Purse Charms and an Old Bible

It's been a busy week.  Youngest son's birthday was yesterday. He and his partner and her son came for Black Forest cake in the evening.  Today is my oldest daughter's birthday and she came for breakfast which was crepes ( which is what she requested).  After breakfast she worked on some purse charms for me. You may have seen some on Pinterest or even on someone's purse! Here are a couple of pictures that I took off Pinterest.

                                              
                                     These are two she made for me.

She brought me a very heavy old Bible that she had found. It has many bits of papers and old cards in it.  Makes me think of  the Forgotten Bookmarks book that I recently bought.  There's even an old pressed rose.

One might think it was MY birthday, not hers, since she ended up bringing me gifts!

I hope your week was a good one and that you'll have a pleasant weekend.

Thanks for coming by,   GM

Apple Picking and Some Thrifty buys

We went to pick apples a last time (for this year).  The only apples left to pick were Jonagolds but that's okay, we like those.  Supper dessert will be Apple Crisp today.

I didn't take my camera along but I'll post last year's picture of myself and the rest of the pics were taken by my daughter Sheila. That's her in the second photo.

                        So many pumpkins in the field. I wonder if they'll all get sold. 

                     There are animals for children to look at,  like these cute goats.

I was given this 39" square child's quilt. Not sure exactly what I'll do with it; maybe use it as a lap quilt.

This pretty quilted placemat was priced at a dollar and as a senior I got 20% off. Couldn't resist buying it.  I'll use it a lot I'm sure.

And these hand made hearts with cross-stitch hearts on them. The backing is red gingham.  These were in the Christmas area at the thrift shop but I'll have them out all year!  I love touches of red in my kitchen. I could never make anything that turned out like these and am willing to pay for the work others put into them ( although the price on these was also a dollar).

Last but not least there's this little teacup. The pattern is called Autumn. I hope you can see it clearly; I'm afraid photography is another area where I don't do so well.

Are you still with me? Maybe too many pictures today. 

 Thanks for coming by.

             Granny Marigold

Thanksgiving ( in Canada)

We had our thanksgiving meal yesterday ( Sunday) and it was lovely.  The turkey didn't turn out dry and the ham, they tell me, was delicious. We had all kinds of sides and finished with the pumpkin pies and my DIL and GD made a vegan sugar free sort of cheesecake  ( with no cream cheese) which was so tasty.  DIL avoids sugar and my GD  avoids dairy products. The recipe they used called for cashews soaked in water for 12 hours then blenderized instead of any dairy.

It's quite a nice day again today (13C. or 55F).  I think I'll go sit on the porch and read for a while 
 ( I'll see if I'm warm enough out there).

Thanks to those who wished us a happy thanksgiving. That was sweet of you.

G.M.