Decorating, Thrifting and a Full Moon

 I can't believe it's been a week since I posted anything. Not that much has been happening. I did a bit of decorating with Valentine's Day in mind. It was just a matter of putting out the things I used in past years. My sweet Scottie dog looks like a black blob but he's actually really cute.  The roses are of course not real ones.

We went to drop off yet another box of things I had sorted out and decided not to keep. I did a quick look around and found this lovely quilted bag. I have a weakness for quilted bags and this one was only $3.  I think of the work it was to make. It's fully lined too. I did decide that I should get rid of 2 of the bags I already had. One was leather and quite stiff (probably not good quality leather) and the other had turtles all over it and was claimed by M who thought it was cute.
 

 Tonight is the first full moon of 2021. It is apparently called the Wolf Moon.  I saw it last night when it was almost perfectly round. I hope the sky is clear enough so I'll be able to see it again tonight. According to the internet this is a powerful time for releasing what no longer serves you and harnessing that good lunar energy.  Sounds like I better keep decluttering and getting rid of more stuff that "no longer serves me".

Thanks for coming by,  G.M.

This and That

 

I noticed that several comments were asking whether I could post links to the blogs I mentioned yesterday. I'm terribly sorry but I have no clue how to do that. I find that just typing in the name of the blog I can find it. I am sorry. My computer skills are very few.

A lovely morning and I had a nice walk. DH was at his volunteer job so I walked by myself. Incidentally, Gleaners, where he volunteers, just received 40,000 lbs of frozen French Fries which now have to be chopped and dried to become part of the soup mix that ends up being sent overseas to needy countries.  (The fries were seriously past their "best before date" so rather than throw them away they were sent where they could be of some use.

A couple of pics of the lake where there were quite an assortment of water fowl including a few pairs of Shovelers  whose large shovel-shaped bills and rust coloured sides make them easy to identify. They were wary so I didn't get a great shot.

I hope your week is coming along nicely. For those to whom it actually makes a difference...the week is about done.  I find that being retired every day is much like the others. Good thing I have sort of a schedule of what I do which day ( and a calendar hanging in the bathroom so I know which day it is!!)

Thanks for coming by,  G.M.

Some Ideas for Simple Living

 

 

 Do you find yourself with some free time and you don't feel like reading ( does that really happen?)  Or even doing handwork?  Would you like some suggestions of blogs (or probably they are better known as VLOGS) that are just simple,lovely and inspiring? If so here are a few that I have discovered recently. Please feel free to add any that you like along the same lines in a comment.

The Cottage Fairy         Paola Merrill is an artist and teacher who lives in Northeaster Washington State.      Her posts are quite short and full of simple wisdom. 

Fairyland Cottage is in some ways similar to The Cottage Fairy except this lovely young woman lives in Ireland. Her name is Niamh which you may or may not know is pronounce Neeve.

It's a Charming Life    A young Swedish/American couple celebrating mindful living.  Fun to watch. I've been watching them talk about how to give your home a more "cottagey" look.  Who knows?  Maybe I'll learn something new.

If you do go to visit any of the above let me know what you think and if you enjoyed it.

Thanks for coming by, 

   Granny Marigold

Baking and a Thrifty Buy

 

I baked today...scones to have with our morning coffee and cheese biscuits because I knew I was making soup for supper and soup needs something more sustaining with it.

 We also made a quick trip to the thrift store where I found something I've been looking for for a long time. Years ago we built an addition to our house which added 2 bedrooms , a bathroom and a powder room. The addition was 2 story with one bedroom over the other. The upper one was for our oldest granddaughter who was in high school at the time.  DH made a wall of bookshelves and a desk for her. Over the desk he put a double-bullet type light.  When she moved out her room became mine and I love  having lots of room to keep my books and of course my computer. But I have never liked that light fixture. I wanted something pretty.

I  have looked at small chandeliers at the hardware store and was not thrilled with paying what they cost.  Today at the thrift store I spotted this beauty for $8.00  and I knew it was coming home with us. The ceiling medallion is one I picked up at a garage sale many years ago and never found a use for. Here on the sloped ceiling it looks right plus it hides the hole left by the bullet light. The three LED bulbs are very bright. I think they give provide more light than the other one did.

 Not the best pictures but it gives you a good idea of what it looks like.  While in the lighting dept. of the store I also found an antique wall sconce light that I'm hoping my DH will be able to put up in my garden shed where the small fixture I have now doesn't give me enough light . We'll see how that goes.

Thanks for visiting, 

               Granny M.

Spring Flowers and a Card Project

 It's Friday so we went to do the grocery shopping. There was a display of colourful Primroses outside the store, I  could not resist.

The mixed planter I bought a while ago is still doing fine. The Primrose  is just beginning to fade a little but the Hyacinth is blooming and it makes the sunroom smell wonderful. There even a tiny Iris opening today.

Holly, over at The Merry Needle, mentioned how people used to recycle cardboard with pretty patterns into various objects. That brought to mind the crafts the nuns used to make when I was in school  using pretty cards ( mainly old Christmas cards),  clear,stiff plastic and yarn. I found some pictures on the internet to show you what I mean.  My Mom had one of the pieces, a chair that had a seat the lifted and she kept bobby pins and safety pins in it.  I wish I could have found a picture resembling it. I hadn't thought of it for years. Isn't this first basket lovely?

It's been another quiet week. We've been able to walk every day although on one of the days we did get quite wet. Yesterday and today were mostly cloudy but no rain. Thankfully.   We did see a dead raccoon beside the road. I thought at first it was still alive but it wasn't. It must have been bumped but not actually driven over.

Thanks for coming by, 

Granny M.

Dollhouse

Since I don't have much to blog about and since Margaret ( do visit her lovely blog Life in New Zealand)  wondered if the inside of my dollhouse was furnished I thought I'd take a few pictures and post them. Too bad I didn't check first to see if it was tidy. The kitchen especially looks a mess. But you get the idea. 

The hand you see on the right belongs to my longsuffering husband who was holding the wires out of the way. The wires that were for the tiny Christmas lights on the roof.

 

 Thanks for coming by.   G.M.

Christmas decor packed away

 I was visiting Liz over at Shortbread & Ginger, a blog I've only recently discovered, and she posted about rearranging her dresser. I said that I'd take a picture of what my sideboard looks like now that all traces of Christmas have been removed.  So here it is.  Blogger decided to put the picture of my dollhouse first. All Christmas decorations are taken down ( except I see I forgot the wreath on the door). I left the 'snow' because we could still get some.

 

Thanks for stopping by,

Granny M.

Birthday

 

 It's our oldest son's birthday today.  In this picture, taken 47 years ago, he turned 4 and I was 8 months pregnant with son#2. That's daughter Sheila gazing at the cake.  I can't remember if she was in kindergarten or grade one.

 Today we finally had a day with no rain and youngest son came over to cut down last year's Hellebore foliage.  They are showing some nice new growth. While he worked on that I started digging out Chickweed. The ground is so wet that it hardly made sense to be digging it out but if I don't it will bloom and set seed.   That's a weed I battle with 10 months of the year.

Another day with no rain tomorrow then back to rain on Friday. We've had 70mm of rain so far this month!  Oh well, at least it's not snow. 

Thanks for coming by,  G.M.

Flowers

 

 It's very quiet around here. Nothing much to blog about except maybe my pot of Spring flowers that I picked up at the grocery store. Flowers make me happy and this year I plan on buying more than ever. Oh I have other "resolutions" too but since I never really manage to achieve them I just recycle the ones from previous years. Do you make resolutions?  If you do, are you able to stick to them?

Just wondered.

Thanks for coming by.

Granny M.

A New Year

 

 

 We spent a quiet evening at home just like most other New Years Eves have been spent in the past. We're really not people who go out and about especially this past year. 

In other years I've kept all the Christmas decorations up well into January but somehow this year I felt that I wanted to put it all away and put the house in order.  That's what we did yesterday, taking down the trees and deciding what to store for next year and what to get rid of.  I have 2 very big boxes to take to the thrift store once they re-open. 

  I wish everyone a peaceful, healthy and happy New Year.

Granny Marigold