What I did Today

It was a day of wind and heavy rain so no walk for me except in the grocery store aisles as I did the weekly shopping. Once I had put all the groceries away I started on a task I have been meaning to do for some time. I have a habit of cutting out recipes from magazines, recipes that I mean to try 'someday'.  I had a thick binder stuffed full. I removed them all and sorted through them trying to decide realistically if I was ever going to  try them.  Well over half ended up in the recycle bin. I put new scrapbook paper on the cover of my binder and put the saved recipes into it. I think in another year I'll go through them again and if I still haven't tried them I'll get rid of them too.

No pictures of that chore but I did find a humorous ad on a local on-line marketplace. Someone was  selling crocheted panty pot holders.

Thanks  for visiting today,

Granny Marigold

This and That

It rained this morning but I walked anyway. My umbrella kept me nice and dry. Youngest son had a few days off work and came yesterday and also today to help DH with some work  fixing up the exterior of the workshop ( which is part of the outbuilding that includes my garden shed.)  So they worked in light rain and finished when the sun finally came out in the afternoon..

I'm sure my house plants enjoyed the sun as much as the rest of us.

I'm still going through boxes and deciding what to get rid of. I got stalled when I took these old wooden puzzles out and began to put them together.  I was having trouble with the blocks on the lower left of the picture. There was no picture to go by and I was about to give up when daughter Sheila came by after work. Her eyes lit up when she saw the puzzles and in no time she had them done. Needless to say not much clearing out got done today.

As we puzzled and visited I mentioned that I had just finished reading The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery,  and had she read it? Well! Seems it is her all-time favourite book. How is it that I've never read it!  I have Margaret  to thank for mentioning it on her blog  Life in New Zealand.
 (  Her copy was awarded to her mother as a Sunday school prize in 1940).
 Thanks again, Margaret.  I really enjoyed that book.

Thanks for stopping by,   G.M.

This and That

I don't have much to blog about these days.  Life is very quiet and the weather not conducive to doing much outside ( except my daily walk of course).

I do have a new tea cup to show off. It joins the others that I have 'made in Japan.'  I love the colour and the 3 little feet that it has.

A Primrose and a Cyclamen  to add some cheer since my African Violets refuse to bloom. Small wonder because the sun hasn't shown itself  much this month. I checked and we've had 19 days with rain this January.

I hope you are having a lovely weekend. 

 Thanks for visiting,   G.M.

My Walk and some baking

There's still some icy spots on the path by the lake but I walked carefully and didn't slip.  No water fowl to be seen which is not surprising since the lake is mostly covered with a thin coat of ice. The temperature is plus 5 C so melting is happening..

I did see some Robins and a pair of  Doves which we are quite certain are Eurasion Collared Doves, not Mourning Doves as we previously believed.  I love to hear them cooing and missed hearing them for the past month or two.

DH's brother is visiting from another province. Those two can talk a storm!! My contribution consists mainly in providing food , which I don't mind at all.  Yesterday I made a dozen buns ( using the dough feature on my bread maker)  and a couple of Blueberry Platz which is just a Mennonite version of a fruity coffee cake.

 

Now the day is mine to do with as I choose. I love days like this. I hope you're having lovely days as well.


Thanks for popping by,   G.M.

Birds

I've been so worried about our resident hummingbirds. We haven't seen any activity in the past few days. We have one feeder warmed by a trouble light and another feeding station where we would alternate feeders, taking in a frozen one and replacing it with a warm one. Nevertheless we fear the worst. Here is what I just read on FB .....

"Harsh winter weather on B.C.’s south coast has frozen out the area’s resident hummingbirds.
The Wildlife Rescue Association says it has responded to more than 75 calls in just a few days from people who have found distressed, freezing or starving hummingbirds.
The group has rescued 10 hummingbirds and expects more help will be needed over the weekend for the birds that stay in southern B.C. year-round instead of migrating south for the winter.
The centre says if people want to help, they should get additional feeders and alternate them when they freeze.
It says hummingbirds need to eat almost constantly and can consume half their weight in pure sugar every day."

The temperature this morning was minus 1 C. and we are looking forward to temperatures above freezing in the next weeks. If only the hummingbirds would have been able to make it through those few very cold nights.

On a more cheerful note we were able to go walking this morning. First time this week I think.  The paths had been cleared but there was about 2 inches of fresh snow that had fallen overnight.  I like the sound boots make when they crunch the snow. Not many people were out walking. I'm fairly sure I saw a Golden Eagle flying overhead. DH thinks he saw white on the Eagle's head but I didn't . I suppose it could have been an immature Bald Eagle. I choose to believe it was a Golden.

The first picture here ( from the internet) is of an immature Bald Eagle. The second one is of a Golden Eagle. We do see both kinds in this area but the Bald Eagle is much more common.

I hope you weren't too bored with me going on about birds today. It just so happens that's what is on my mind so of course, that's what I blog about.

Thanks for coming by,

Granny M

 

Around the House

All evidence of Christmas has been packed away.  The sideboard has a different look as does Mom`s old treadle sewing machine.  I even put out a few Valentines.

The grocery store Hyacinth is blooming and spreading its scent in the sunroom.

I haven`t killed the Poinsettia yet although a number of leaves have dried up and fallen.

If you look closely you can see some tiny new growth on the last of my  Amaryllis to come out of dormancy.

And this one has a beautiful flower and 3 or 4 buds yet to develop.  Outside you can see just how snowy the back yard is..

Thanks for visiting today.

One more picture.....  G.M.

A Short Post

Not much to blog about here. The weather continues to be cold and again today we have snow falling. I'm not about to drive anywhere so I'm taking my time and tidying the house.  I might even get to taking down the sunroom Christmas tree.

The local police have once again posted some amusing words on FB  that nevertheless have a serious warning behind the humour.   If people would a) put on snow tires, and b) slow down!! we'd all feel safer on the roads.

Thanks for coming by today,  GM

Anna's Hummingbird

It's a very wintery evening with snow, sleet and wind.  We were over at youngest son's to play Mexican Train and on the short drive home we passed an accident just as the ambulance was leaving. It appeared to be a single car that had gone over an embankment. Driving in these conditions is treacherous.

When the weather is this bad we take the hummingbird feeders in for night. I'm always amazed that such a tiny bird can survive in below freezing temperatures. This is what the internet had to say about the Anna's, which is our most common winter Hummingbird ( although I've spotted at least one Rufous as well)...


Anna’s  take advantage of the hummingbird’s motto “When things get tough, the tough go to sleep.” A hummingbird in torpor can drop its body temperature from about 40°C to about 9°C (from 104°F to 48.2°F) and reduce its respiration rate from 245 breaths per minute to 6. It can even suspend its breathing for up to five minutes. The metabolic rate of an Anna’s during torpor can be 300 times lower than when in flight. The savings are significant; they can help a hummingbird sleep through a severe weather period.
A typical winter day might find an Anna’s sucking sugar, slowly turning it to fat, and then going into torpor during the night, living off the stored fuel. An Anna’s can gain 16 percent of its body weight during the day and then burn it all off during a cold night. (Imagine waking every morning 25 pounds lighter.) The fluctuation is extreme enough without adding the energetics of flight. Regardless of the season, awake and flying, a hummingbird is always just a few hours from starvation.

The pictures of the Anna's are also from the internet.

I think it is going to be a week of staying home where it's safe and warm. I hope to take down the second Christmas tree and try to fit the various boxes into my "Christmas Closet" which is under the stairs.  In spite of taking several boxes to the thrift store I seem to have accumulated more than I started with.  I hope you all have a great week no matter what the weather.

Thanks for visiting,  Granny M.

Snow

This is my view out the front door this morning.  M was SO excited.

We walked in the park and got quite wet because the snow was wet, heavy stuff. I noticed many people were carrying umbrellas which was probably a good idea.

On the way back we passed the school  and saw many snowmen dotting the playground. You can barely make them out against the dark trees.

This tongue-in-cheek forecast was posted on Face Book by the Police.

There's no knowing how long this snow will be around. I'm off to sit in my cozy sunroom and watch it falling.

Thanks for visiting,  G.M.

Books

I've done it again.  I had just decided I was not going to buy any more books until I had read the ones I already had on my "unread stack" when what did I do but buy some more this morning. I went with good intentions. I had a number of bags and boxes to bring to the thrift store and merely walked through the book area. Mistake!  I love "coffee table" type books with lots of colour photos and information and this book of most lovely houses and interiors of houses fits the bill perfectly!!
And, the price of books is so reasonable at thrift stores... so I gave in.

Holyland Journey also has photos and so much information. I have taken some pictures of a few pages but they didn't turn out very well.  Nevertheless you get the idea.

This cute little booklet reminded me of Susan Branch . It has 25 ideas for simple craft projects that I doubt I'll ever make but will enjoy looking at. It was half price which ended up being 13 cents.

This one has stories of the various families that lived in Niverville, Manitoba, a prairie town where our family had a number of relatives. The LeBlanc school and the students and their families that lived nearby in the 1930's and 40's are the subject here. I love reading about how the people lived and struggled with life in those hard years.

This is my library book which I mentioned in my last post but failed to give any info on.
This is part of  the description on the back of the book: "In 1938, eighteen-year-old Phyllis Elsworth packs her bags, says good-bye to her anxious parents and sets off from her quiet seaside home ....to train as a nurse. At first, it is a whirlwind of long days, hard work, and new friends, but just ten months later Britain declares war on Germany and life at the hospital is transformed. Phyll's days become an endless cycle of air-raid sirens, injured servicemen, and anxiously waiting for news of loved ones"

I definitely recommend  this book.   It was first published in 2015 so is a fairly recent book and should be available.

Besides going to the thrift store I am baking bread today and later will make a pot of soup for supper.  Soup and freshly baked bread on a winter evening...what can beat that?


Thanks for visiting,  G.M.

My Day

I've been looking at my very root bound Orchids and decided to transplant them into bigger pots.
I watched some You Tube videos  in preparation. I hope I didn't kill them but if I did I won't be all that sad. They're finished blooming and from what I've found out they are extremely slow in reblooming.  I like my house plants but I need them to be unfussy ( is that a word?)

I don't like how the plastic pots fit into the terracotta ones but those are ones I had on hand so I used them.

I took this book out of the library, choosing it mainly because it is not fiction and also because it is large print and the way my eyes are now the LP books are a lot easier for me to read.
The book got off to a slow start but now I'm halfway through and it's very interesting.

It's a dark and gloomy day and I'm taking it easy. There are many things I could be doing but I'll let those wait until tomorrow.  I did walk as usual this morning. It was raining but not nearly as hard as yesterday. I'm thankful for my big umbrella.

I'm going back to my comfy chair now to read.

Thanks for stopping by,   G.M.

Back to Normal

Things are back to the more normal routine with school starting up again today. M and I had time for a few games of Hangman before he had to leave. Does anyone else play this game any more?  It sounds rather morbid but it's a great game to improve a child's spelling ( although I must admit I didn't correct M when the word he chose for me to guess was unadmissable).

I have begun to clear up Christmas decorations. Very slowly. In between loads of laundry I took down the Christmas cards we had received and put those away.  Not much of a beginning but I don't intend to rush.

It is a cold and very wet day. With the temperature a few degrees above freezing  I cam back from my walk with frozen fingers.  Luckily my shoes kept my feet dry but I had to be careful for all the puddles. On Saturday I saw a flock of Robins and I looked for them today in the same area but they were gone. I hope they stick around.

That's my day so far. I hope your week is off to a great start.

Thanks for stopping by,  G.M.

Aprons

Not having anything much to blog about today I thought I'd do a short post on aprons.  My mom always wore an apron. Her everyday ones were practical and she had some really pretty ones for Sundays. When unexpected company came down our long driveway she would whip off her old apron and quickly tie on a clean one.
 Her aprons had other uses than keeping her dress clean. She'd use it to bring in eggs from the hen house or vegetables from the garden. It was useful for drying a child's tears ( and mom was not above using it to wipe a child's nose).

I have some lovely aprons and try to remember to use one when I'm working in the kitchen. None of mine look like the ones in these ads from the early 1900 's .

Did your mother wear an apron most days?  I'd love to hear your memories.


Thanks for visiting,
          Granny M.

Random Bits

I have a Mary Englebreit card that has a pretty verse:  And let us now welcome the New Year,
 full of things that have never been.   Let's hope that those things 'that have never been'  are pleasant ones.

Random pictures today. The first is right outside our side door. DH built a ledge there years ago and for years I had birdhouses arranged there. They got old and it was time to replace them. I'm sure you'll recognize some of these teapots from previous posts.

My Christmas tea cozy that I made using a pretty place mat.

Remember my Stollen?

This was posted on the local police FB page. I thought it was cute.

Yesterday was a very wet day but the sky has cleared up and today I had a great walk. Not many people out first thing in the morning. I've been enjoying the decorations someone has hung on a few of the park benches.

Well, I will tidy the house and clean the bathrooms because DH's brothers and SILs will be coming over this evening.  I'm glad the house is still looking festive. I intend to leave the trees up for a while yet.

I hope your month/year is off to a great start. Thanks for coming by,

Granny Marigold